Time does fly by so fast. Can you believe it? It was Christmas last week! Every family has their own Christmas traditions but, are you curious about what an Australian Chrissie (Australian slang for Christmas) is like? If yes, then this post is for you.
For those of you who do not know, I’m someone who has just recently moved to Australia from the Philippines, so last week was my first ever Christmas here! In this post, I will be sharing with you a few Aussie Christmas traditions that I have observed or know of and of course, a little sneak peak of my Christmas this year.
Not A White Christmas
When you think of Christmas, you’d probably think of a ‘white’ one. A Christmas where ‘Santa wears his winter clothes as he rides his sleigh through the snow’. That’s not the case here. Christmas in Australia happens to be in summer. And let me tell you, summers in Australia are very very hot! This is coming from someone who came from a tropical country, mind you. For example, on Christmas day this year, Perth has recorded a temperature of 37.5C at around 11:30AM! It was surprisingly not as hot as I was expecting where I was though as it rained a little bit.
Christmas Festivities
Christmas Decorations
I started seeing some Christmas decorations being sold in stores here by early October. However, I only started seeing some houses being decorated for Christmas at around late November. Not all houses were but it is not uncommon to see quite a number of houses going all out. My neighbour, for example, had a huge Santa, snowman, Christmas tree, candy canes, etc. all over his lawn. He also almost had the whole place covered with different types of Christmas lights. Some even visit specific streets to see a series of Christmas decorated houses.
Christmas Parties
During the days leading up to Christmas, there would be Christmas parties here and there. I started getting invited to Christmas parties at around the third week of December. I would say that I have a pretty small social circle but I was invited to at least five Christmas parties so if you’re very outgoing, you would most likely be invited to more. There would be Christmas parties amongst families, friends, school, and work.
You may be invited to a bring-a-plate (a.k.a. potluck) party. I have read stories where new immigrants thought that they needed to literally bring their own plate! That’s not what this party calls for. What you need to bring are some food to share with everyone.
You might also be invited at a party at a restaurant. I don’t know about where your from but in the Philippines, when you’re invited to a party at a restaurant, most of the time, that means that they have rented the restaurant or a portion of it as the party venue and this usually includes food as well. Here in Australia, being invited to a party at a restaurant usually just means that you would have the party there and you would all pay for yourselves.
When you’re invited over at someone’s house, they would usually be in-charge of food but it’s usually polite to still bring a little something.
Australians’ social calendars seem to be packed around this time of the year but on the actual day of Christmas though, most people just spend time with their family.
Other Christmas Activities
Christmas is a family affair and each family has their own Christmas traditions. My family, like most Australian families, just stayed home and spent time with each other. I know of people who celebrate Christmas on the road, camping while some go to the beach (this is usually reserved for boxing day). If your family practices attending a Christmas mass, the churches around you should have some arranged throughout Christmas day or the night before.
Christmas Crackers/Bon Bons
This may not be new to everyone but it certainly was new to me. It’s a fun activity that you do with your family on Christmas day. I find it a bit difficult to describe but you would hold one end of the Christmas crackers and someone else would be holding the other end. Both of you would pull each of your ends at the same time and whoever gets the longer ‘half’ gets the surprise inside. In them, you would find a Christmas joke, a little toy, and a paper crown.
School/Work
Do we have school/work around Christmas time? Students should be on their school holiday already. As for work, it would depend on where you work. Some would still have work up to the day itself and some would be on their holiday for a week or more prior.
On this account, I would like to mention that most establishments including supermarkets/grocery stores would be closed on Christmas day (there would be a few open) so it would be best to get everything that you’d need as soon as you can before then. The earlier the better, if you’re wanting to avoid the Christmas rush.
Note that these are only based on my observations.
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Christmas Food (My favourite part)
Unlike in the Philippines where the Christmas meal is traditionally done on Christmas eve (dinner at 12 midnight), here in Australia, we have a Christmas lunch. As I have mentioned before, Christmas in Australia is in the middle of summer so the Aussie Christmas spread is something that makes sense for this kind of weather.
Australia is one of the most diverse countries in the world. I think this is reflected in the Australian Christmas table as no table is the same as the other. Still, there are food that you could consider as Australia’s Christmas food. These are:
Prawns
The prawns that most people here usually get for Christmas are the precooked ones that you’d see in grocery stores. They’re eaten cold but some families throw fresh ones on the barbie. Other fresh seafood, such as oysters, are also enjoyed on this special day. This year, more Aussie families were able to serve lobsters for Christmas as it has become affordable as a result of China’s ban on Australian lobster imports.
Christmas Ham
A huge piece of meat that is mostly served as the centrepiece of an Aussie Christmas spread. This will generously feed a family not only on Christmas day but till a few weeks after! A traditional Australian Christmas ham would be bone in (as shown above). This year, we bought a bone in, half leg ham. I think it was $8 per kilo. We bought the smallest leg we saw which was worth around $35. There were also smaller and more affordable options that were being sold (spiral ham, heritage ham, etc.) .
Worried that stores would quickly ran out of Christmas ham, we bought one around a week and a half before. It seemed like they had enough in-stock though as I saw that there were still plenty on display even at the last day that the stores were open.
Other Proteins
You might see some other type of meat being served on Christmas in place of or incorporated in your usual Australian Christmas spread. I know some families who, aside from serving the usual’s, also cooked roast turkey or roast pork. My family is one of them as I included a delicious roast pork belly for lunch.
Barbecue
Summer in Australia is barbecue season so for a lot of Aussie families, Christmas includes cooking their favourite snags, prawns, etc. on the barbie. This Christmas, my husband barbecued some sausages.
Trifle
I have heard from someone (a stranger lol) that it is NOT Christmas if there’s no trifle! Honestly, I have never heard of trifle prior to this but it is a staple Christmas dessert. I think this is one of those things that are a part of the British culture that Australians still have to this day as this dessert originated from the UK. There are different layers to a trifle (in no specific order): jelly, liquor soaked sponge cake, custard, fruits, whipped cream. Since I have also baked a cheesecake and made some mango float (Filipino dessert), I have decided to just make mini trifles (trifle cups) instead of the full sized ones.
There are also other desserts that you may find in Australian Christmas spreads such as, pavlova and Christmas pudding. Pavlova is a meringue based dessert that is crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. It’s topped with whipped cream and fresh fruits. A Christmas pudding (another British influence) is a steamed/boiled dessert that is fruity and rich.
Alcohol/Beer
Is it even a celebration without having a bevvie or two?
Christmas Songs
I know of two very Aussie Christmas songs that I thought all of you should know about. Listen to the songs below.
Conclusion
One cool advantage that you could benefit from when migrating to another country is that you get to practice new traditions. This means that I get to follow the Christmas traditions here in Australia and Chrissie here is unlike no other!
Have I missed anything? Know of more Australian Christmas stuff that I didn’t mention above? Comment below. I’d really love to know more.
Disclaimer All content and information in this post is for purposes of sharing my experiences only, does not constitute professional advice and does not establish any kind of professional-client relationship.
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3 Comments
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