People held candles and white roses on the tsunami-hit island of Phuket, tearfully embracing as they grieved, in a poignant symbol of the mood which darkened New Year celebrations across the globe.
In contrast to the usual revelry, sadness hung over this year's festivities after more than 124,000 people were killed and millions left homeless by last Sunday's massive tsunami.
Australia led the world in a global minute of silence, parties were canceled and trees on Paris's grand Champs Elysees were shrouded in black yesterday.
In New York thousands of revelers crowded into Times Square observed a moment of silence at as they waited for US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell to cue the drop of a traditional glittering crystal ball at the stroke of midnight.
Sydney, the world's first major city to start celebrations, went ahead with its annual New Year's Eve firework displays, but the estimated 1 million revellers who flocked to the harbour foreshore were urged to remember those killed.
Sydneysiders were asked to observe a minute's silence in remembrance of tsunami victims. Party-goers in Australia's Melbourne and in neighboring New Zealand similarly paused to remember.
In Sri Lanka, where more than 28,500 people died, President Chandrika Kumaratunga canceled all New Year celebrations and declared a national day of mourning. Thailand called off outdoor celebrations in memory of its 4,500 victims and Malaysia decided against official festivities. In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for muted New Year celebrations and a fireworks display over the Marina Bay area was cancelled.
The Asian disaster has cast a long shadow over global celebrations, particularly in Europe. Europeans made up the majority of the more than 2,200 foreign tourists known to be dead and 7,000 missing. Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany planned to fly flags at half mast to start 2005 as a mark of respect for their many dead and missing.
Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson called for national solidarity amid muted New Year's celebrations following the devastating tsunami that may have killed more than 1,000 Swedes.
"We can greet the New Year as welcome ... and at the same time think of all the missing," Mr Persson told a crowd of several thousand in a central Stockholm park, a traditional venue for national celebrations of all kind, but now more sombre.
Paris draped black mourning crepe on the trees lining the Champs Elysees to pay homage to the victims.
Thousands of Parisians traditionally collect on the tree-lined boulevard in the center of the French capital on New Year's Eve. Istanbul, with memories of a massive earthquake that rocked northwestern Turkey in 1999 and killed more than 18,000, cancelled a concert and firework display in the city center.
A number of Italian cities abandoned plans for major New Year's Eve parties, deciding instead to send the money saved to charities helping the victims.
Near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, where a million people typically throng on New Year's Eve, flags were being flown at half-mast. Around 1,000 Germans are missing after the disaster. Germany urged revellers to donate some of the