12 Dec Christmas in Australia
Christmas in Australia might surprise you. Those of us in the northern hemisphere associate Christmas with snow and cold. We sing about white Christmases and dashing through the snow in open sleighs. Even though Australia is in the middle of summer when Christmas arrives, they also celebrate the season with Christmas trees, images of Santa Claus (wearing shorts!), and snowy scenes. This is because most of Australia’s immigrants came from England and Ireland, bringing their Christmas customs with them. Here are more fun facts about Christmas in Australia:
Decorations
Australians decorate their houses with bunches of “Christmas Bush,” a native Australian tree with small green leaves and cream-colored flowers. During the summer, the flowers turn a deep red usually by the week of Christmas in Sydney. Many families also put up Christmas trees.
Carols by Candlelight
Carols by Candlelight is one of the most popular traditions in Australia. The tradition started when a man named Norman Banks walked home on Christmas Eve and passed by a candlelit window. Inside, he saw a senior women sitting by herself singing Away in a Manger along with the radio. He wondered how many other people spent the holidays alone. So in 1938, he organized a public sing-along of Christmas carols at midnight. Everyone holds a single candle. Many cities, towns, and schools hold their own Carols by Candlelight, with local choirs sometimes helping to perform the Christmas carols.
Christmas Day
Families and close friends gather together on Christmas Day for a midday dinner. Some families head outside to the barbie (barbecue) to grill Christmas dinner in the sun, while others prepare a British Christmas roast and plum pudding. And some families go to the beach or have a picnic since it is summer. One thing that is usually at every Christmas dinner is a Christmas Cracker. The Christmas Cracker usually holds a small toy, a joke, some candy, or even a fortune teller fish.
The 12 Days of Christmas
Most of you are probably familiar with the Christmas carol, the 12 Days of Christmas. Well, the Australians have made come up with a few variations to this carol with their own unique Australian animals. Give it a try!
On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me . . .
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- An emu up a gum tree
- Two pink galahs
- Three jabirus
- Four kookaburras
- Five kangaroos
- Six platypuses
- Seven koalas climbing
- Eight possums playing
- Nine wombats working
- Ten lizards leaping
- Eleven numbats nagging
- Twelve parrots prattling
Not sure what these Australian animals are? Do a search and find their pictures!
Have Some Fun!
Download this candy-cane kangaroo activity and bring a little Australia into your Christmas.
Want to Learn More about Australia?
Don’t miss the Pack-n-Go Girls Australia adventures. Mystery of the Min Min Lights–now in audio book form too–and Mystery of the Rusty Key.
We’re happy to be part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs Christmas in Different Lands. Scroll down to find out more.
Welcome to our seventh annual Christmas in Different Lands series! Each participating blogger will share about Christmas in another culture or country. For even more glimpses of global Christmas celebrations, see our series from previous years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, plus follow our Christmas board on Pinterest!
Welcome to our seventh annual Christmas in Different Lands series! Each participating blogger will share about Christmas in another culture or country. For even more glimpses of global Christmas celebrations, see our series from previous years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, plus follow our Christmas board on Pinterest!
Follow Multicultural Kid Blogs’s board Christmas Around the World on Pinterest.
Participating Blogs
December 6
Crafty Moms Share on Multicultural Kid Blogs: Christmas Season in Ethiopia
December 9
Crafty Moms Share: Christmas in Hawaii
December 10
the piri-piri lexicon: 10 Children’s Songs in French for Christmas
December 11
Kids Spanish Book Club
December 12
Pack-n-Go Girls: Christmas in Australia
December 20
Let the Journey Begin
Don’t miss our other posts about Christmas in different lands, plus our printable pack Celebrate Christmas Around the World, on sale now!
ale now!