Australians often celebrate Christmas Day by enjoying a Christmas lunch or dinner with their closest family and friends. The meal usually consists of a selection of hot and cold dishes, including fresh seafood.
Decorations: Much like us, Australians will decorate their homes with Christmas trees (though often not real ones), lights, and hanging wreaths on their front doors.
Frequently Asked Questions About Christmas In Australia
What is Santa Claus called in Australia? These days most Australians call Atnas (his real name) “Santa”.
The song, popular with school-aged kids, explains that Santa's reindeer get a rest while six white boomers (boomer is Aussie slang for a male kangaroo) lead Santa's sleigh through Australia! After all the toys are delivered, they even help a little joey (a baby kangaroo) find his mommy.
Santa is known as 'Sheng dan Lao ren' in Mandarin, which translates as 'Christmas Old Man', and he is seen as a non-religious figure who lives in a fairytale Arctic Christmas Village in China's North Pole.
In England and Australia, you'll often hear Happy Christmas, but in the US and Canada, Merry is the star of the show.
In China, Christmas has not always been a publicly celebrated religious holiday. However, as China becomes more global, it has started to welcome a commercialized version of Christmas, known as "Sheng Dan Jieh" or the "Holy Birth Festival," with both religious and secular Chinese Christmas traditions.
The most common verbal greeting is a simple “Hey”, “Hello”, or “Hi”. Some people may use Australian slang and say “G'day” or “G'day mate”. However, this is less common in cities. Many Australians greet by saying “Hey, how are you?”.
From the 19th century onwards, the tradition of erecting Christmas trees, the sending of Christmas cards and the display of decorations spread throughout Australia. Since that time, Christmas in Australia has remained an officially observed holiday and is celebrated as a traditional summer-time occasion.
The children in Australia believe in Santa Claus. However, since it is summer, it would not be unusual to see Santa dressed in a lighter, cooler version of his red and white suit. Shorts can even be seen! Santa does use reindeer to pull his sleigh when delivering gifts to children in Australia.
The colour - one of the first things you notice about a cherry - is usually a dark, rich red. Red is one of the two big colours associated with this holiday season; the other colour being the forest green like our Christmas trees. The deep red hue also offers a wonderful seasonal pop to any kind of dessert or dish.
There's even an Egyptian Santa, called Baba Noël (meaning Father Christmas), who climbs through the window to leave presents for the children in exchange for some Kahk el Eid (traditional sweet biscuits).
Does anyone say "Happy Christmas"? Yes! For starters, it's important to note that "Happy Christmas" hasn't faded completely—it's still widely used in England. This is believed to be because "happy" took on a higher class connotation than "merry," which was associated with the rowdiness of the lower classes.
Carols by Candlelight is an annual Australian Christmas tradition that was popularised in Melbourne in 1938. The tradition has since spread around the world.
Interestingly enough, while Christmas is considered a Western Christian holiday, Asia countries have long taken to the festivities too. In fact, many celebrate much like in the West, with family gathered around with a meal to share, while in some countries they've made some traditions of their own.
In Japan Santa is known as サンタさん、サンタクロース / Santa-san (Mr Santa) or サンタクロース / Santa-Kurosu (Santa Claus). (Another Japanese gift bringer is Hoteiosho, a Japanese god of good fortune from Buddhism. But he is NOT related to Christmas.)
China. Santa is known as Sheng dan lao ren – Old Christmas Man. On Christmas Eve, which the Chinese call Peaceful Evening, no food or drink is left. Instead, people exchange apples – chosen because the Mandarin word for apple and peace rhyme.
Secret Santa in Australia and other Western cultures has its origins in the Scandinavian tradition Julklapp, or “Christmas knock”. Secret gift givers would knock on someone's door and try to quickly throw a present inside as the door opened, and then run away before their identity was discovered.
Australia. Australian children set out cookies for Santa, but instead of milk, they leave him an ice-cold glass of beer. After all, December is summer in the land Down Under. The children leave carrots for Santa's reindeer to munch on, too.
“Santa Baby” is a cheeky, relatable Christmas song for those of us who want to receive only the most extravagant of gifts this year. The song was written by Joan Javits and Phillip Springer, and sung by Eartha Kitt in 1953.