Christmas in Europe and North America is celebrate as a wintertime holiday , and include imagery of snow , long night , and lovesome dress and fattening food to push the cold . Australia , however , is in the Southern Hemisphere , where Christmas falls in the midriff of summertime . Often a blazing hot summer ! But Australia was settled by immigrants from many country who bring in Christmas traditions with them . Some of these traditions continue the same , some were adjust for the weather , and some customs have emerge that are understandably Australian . prototype by Flickr userSarah_Ackerman .
Santa Claus
In Australia , the summertime Christmas is too hot for reindeer . At least that ’s what they tell me . Instead , Santa bring in his run pulled by six big kangaroo . Thisphoto of the Australian Embassywas rent in Washington , D.C. Santa calculate pretty well on a surfboard !
Rolf Harriswrote a song using this scenario , call " Six White Boomers . "
Carols by Candlelight
Christmas carol by Candlelight is a Australian custom in which townsfolk gather together to babble out . Radio announcer Norman Banks held the first municipal gather in 1938 . The story goes that in 1937 , as he was walk home from a late shift in Melbourne , Banks saw an older woman singing " Away in a Manger"alone by the window in her home , her face illuminate by a candle . Banks thought about the many people who must be celebrating the holiday alone , and orchestrate the event for the next yr . It was n’t easy , but he muster in the aid of his employers and the mayor to get the approval of the city council . The first Carols by Candlelight in 1938 saw10,000 participantssinging along with a consort , the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Band , and two soloists at midnight in the Alexandra Gardens . It go over so well that 40,000 people attended in 1939 . The video clipping above was recorded at Melbourne ’s Carols by Candlelight in 2010 ; it gives you an estimate of how large the case is today .
From there , the tradition spreadto other cities . TheCarols in the Domainevent hold at the Domain Gardens in Sydney is distribute across Australia and around the world . It postulate placethis Saturday night . ikon of the event in Adelaide 2007 by Flickr userHazel Motes .
The Christmas Feast
What do you eat on for Christmas in the middle of summer ? Australians seem tofall into three categoriesfor Christmas dinner . Some peg with traditions from the previous state : Roast jambon or Meleagris gallopavo with dressing and make vegetable . Others serve traditional ham actor and turkey as dusty cuts with raw vegetable , sometimes eaten tardily at night or as a picnic to overreach the estrus . A third segment embraces the holiday atmospheric condition with seafood or other character of barbeque and plenty of beer . Which is still traditional , but thoroughly Australian . However , when families and friends gather , all three traditions can be observed!Image by Flickr userbess grant .
One holiday smasher that is all Australian is the Christmas Damper . Damperis a soda bread that could be made with simple ingredients by those journey the huge expanses of Australia . The vacation translation is a memorial of toughened times on the continent . For Christmas , damper ismade into a wreath shapeand decorated in Christmas motifs . It is not universally served , though , because of the heat energy of baking . Bakeries will provide it if you desire .
Christmas in July
There ’s another solution to the lack of winter conditions during Christmas : fete it again at another time!Christmas in Julyhas become custom down under . The story go that some Irish visitant to the Blue Mountains in New South Walessaw a snow in July of 1977 . That ’s not out of the ordinary for mountains in the Southern Hemisphere , but the tourists were remind of Christmas out of time of year . They call for a traditional Christmas dinner from their hotel , which they savour so much they returned the following July . The celebration of Christmas in July wasrepeated in the Blue Mountain regionas a tourist attractor , but locals loved it , too .
Now mass from all over Australia and beyond amount to the area forYulefest , to enjoy a Northern Hemisphere Christmas with skiing and snowmen when the atmospheric condition is right for it -which spills over intoJune and August . The tradition hasspread to the cities as well , as you could see by the Santas in Sydney Harbor .
Image by Flickr useraussiegall .
