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Living Down Under - Outback & Co
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    Christmas Down Under - Santa arrives on a surfboard  
  Santa Claus It would not be very healthy in Europe, but the Australians are used to celebrate christmas wearing t-shirts. The 24th of December is in the middle of summer and with temperatures well around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (+30° C), a lot of Australians spend the day outside in a park or at the beach. (Not without a hat and high UV protection, of course.) At Sydney´s famous Bondi Beach, Santa Claus arrives on a surfboard or on a life-saving boat.       Ozzies celebrate christmas in the English or American tradition: they have turkey dinners and christmas plumpudding. In times of the gold rush they used to be bake little nuggets into the pudding. It is not gold any longer, but nowadays the Australians still hide a little surprise in it. The one who finds it is believed to have a lucky next year. Beside the christmas trees the Australians have "christmas bushes", a native Australian plant with little green leaves and red blossoms. Use this link for a more detailed description of celebrating Christmas Down Under and this one for "miscellaneous information" on other Australian recipes.
      Each christmas eve, a lot of people gather everywhere for a tradition that came up in 1937: the "carols by candlelight". Tens of thousands of candles burn in the centre of Melbourne (77K-jpeg) when people come together to sing their favourite christmas carols. This tradition is celebrated all over the Fifth Continent; you can join "carols by candlelight"-meetings even in some of the most remote parts of the country.
 
 		 
    An average Australian and other adventurers Links, links, links: Australia in general  
    Christoph Hage@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Last update: 26/03/02.