There's still time to enter my Mad Blogs competition, but I have to put this post up before Christmas while it's still relevant...
So I was just thinking about the difference between American Christmas and Aussie Christmas.
As I remarked on Simon's blog, when he was sent an Aussie Christmas card,
Awww, an Aussie Christmas.
You just want to eat nice cold leg ham, prawns and salad because it's so effing hot, but you have to also have a turkey and a lead-weight pudding because it's just not Christmas without inappropriately hot European foods.
Christmas in the Southern hemisphere, of course, is in the middle of summer, and in Australia, it is quite often the high point of bushfire season*.
One year the bushfires were particularly bad and their effects were noticeable even far away in the city. We ate Christmas lunch under a blood-red sun which hung sullenly in the grey, ash-choked sky. The wind carried little flakes of ash that fluttered onto our plates, disintegrating at the touch.
It was like gathering at the end of the world.
*Similar to wildfires in California. In fact, the increase in wildfires in California in recent years has been attributed by some to the popularity of eucalyptus or gum trees (native to Australia) which are chock full of eucalyptus oil and therefore extremely flammable. I don't know if this is true or not, but it sounds about right.
12 comments:
"It was like gathering at the end of the world." --I really liked that.
It isn’t a real Christmas if you don’t make a snowman. I’m sorry, but those are the rules. I don’t make them up.
I watched a show on australia yesterday and I was amazed at how nice it was there, I don't understand why someone would leave!
I guess I'd miss the changing seasons that I get here in ny, but christ australia seems so nice.
Hmm, so if you burn eucalyptus oil in a biodiesel car, would everything smell all menthol-y?
I have an aunt from Australia and it's always fascinated me that the months I automatically associate with cold weather are the opposite in Australia. Did that mess with your head when you moved here?
Hunter - Thank you! It really was strangely apocalyptic.
Simon - What about a sandman? Or an ashman???
Mr C - The grass is always greener... it's just nice to experience something other than what you're used to.
Eric - Heehee, I never thought of that!
Kat - Not really, I think it would be more jarring if the climate was more extreme, like if it snowed here. But the sun is still shining here, even if I do have to wear a scarf!
Christmas in Australia sounds like October in California. We get a lot of fires, but I think it's more a combination of the arsonists and Santa Ana winds more than the eucalyptus.
Although we have them everywhere, and the wind cracks off huge limbs and throws them around the neighborhood.
I loved Aus. when I visited there in the Navy. Everyone was just wonderful and friendly!
Vic - Yeah, a lot of the Aussie bushfires are started by arsonists too, but the theory is they wouldn't be so bad without the super-flammable gum-trees.
SkyDad - Aww. *wipes tear from eye* I'm so glad you came away with a good impression!
I have a few relatives in South Africa and I always wondered how different it must be to have Christmas in the middle of summer. Then I had a Christmas in Hawaii and realized that giving gifts in a bathing suit and sunblock is actually VERY nice!
come visit america next year for christmas :)
Cora - Aww yeah, Christmas on the beach! the only bad part is if you get sand on your food. And the twelve million other people on the beach.
CA - Um... I'll do that.
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