Christmas in Australia © 2017 Stacey Jones at Simple Living. Creative Learning All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means without prior permission of the publisher. This workbook is licensed for personal/family use only. YOU MAY: • Use these files for personal use only. • Use in your personal classroom • Download the files to your personal computer. • Print as many copies as you would like to use for your personal use. • Direct other to our website: https://simplelivingcreativelearning.com YOU MAY NOT: • Edit any of these printables. • Share the files with anyone else. • Store or sell them on any website. • Claim them as your own. • Print and sell or distribute them to others Graphics and Fonts: My Cute Graphics Yvonne Dixon An Aussie Christmas Christmas in Australia is very different to Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere. Let’s find out more about how they celebrate Christmas in the LandDown Under! © Simple Living. Creative Learning Preparing for Christmas Christmas is celebrated during the summer school holidays when the weather ishot. Many families go away during this festive season to visit family or go campingtogether. To prepare for Christmas, people decorate reusable plastic Christmas treeswith baubles, lights and tinsel. The Christmas presents are placed under the treeor in stockings. Many Aussies also decorate their housesand yards with light displays. There are competitions for thebest displays. Many families spend nights together driving around and checking out all of the light displays. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Carols by Candlelight In the weeks before Christmas, all majorcities and towns host a local Carols by Candlelight event. These are outdoor events, so crowds gather and sit on picnic blankets or fold up chairs and sing Christmas carols whileholding candles. On Christmas Eve, themajor ‘Carols by Candlelight’ which started in Melbourne, Australia in 1937 by Norman Banks, is held. These ‘Carols by Candlelight’ are televised around the whole country. This event features many of Australia’s most popular singers and television personalities. A similar event, the Carols inthe Domain, is held in Sydney the week before. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Christmas Day Christmas Day is celebrated on the 25th December each year. The first Christmas celebration was held in 1788 at SydneyCove. As Christmas Day is celebrated duringsummer, many families spend this day outdoors at the beach , the park or go campingtogether. Swimming, surfing and cricket are also popularat this time of the year. While preparing the table for the Christmas meal, bon bons are placed beside or on each person’s plate. These are also known as Christmas Crackers. Before eating,each person grabs one end of their cracker and another person holds the otherend and they pull. The bon bon makes a loud, crack sound and a paper hat, small toy and a joke can be found inside. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Christmas Day Christmas dinners vary with somefamilies celebrating at lunch and others at dinner time. The meals usually consist of turkey, ham, seafood and salads. Meat is often cooked on the barbecue. The meal is often followed by dessert which usually consists of pavlova, ice cream, custard and plum puddings or fruit cake. During the afternoon, families go swimming or play a game of backyard cricket. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Boxing Day The day after ChristmasDay is known as Boxing Day. It is a public holiday. Many things happen on Boxing Day. Boxing Day Sales This is the day that many stores begin their post Christmassales, also known as the Boxing Day sales. It is a great day to grab a bargain. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Boxing Day Test The Boxing Day Test also starts on Boxing Day. This cricket test match is always played at the MelbourneCricket Ground with thousands of people watching. It involves the Australian Cricket team which verses an opposing national team which is touring Australia that summer. Every four years, this test forms part of the five-match Ashes series againstEngland. Between 1999 and 2007, the Australian cricket team won all the Boxing Day Test matches. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Sydney to Hobart Yach t Race This annual race is hosted by theCruising Yacht Club of Australian and begins in Sydney, New South Wales on BoxingDay. The race covers a distance of approximately 630 nautical miles or 1,170 km, following the east coast of Australia. It is considered oneof the most difficult yacht races in theworld. This race has grownconsiderably since the inaugural race in1945. Competitors from around the world come to be a partof it. The current recordwas set by Wild Oats XI in 2012 with a time of 1day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Christmas Stamps Since the 6th November, 1957, Australia Post has released a special set of stamps every Christmas. Design your own Christmas Stamp. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Six White Boomers Since it is so hot in Australia at Christmas, it is said that Santa changes out of his suit into shorts, shirt and thongs to keep cool. Instead of using reindeer to drive his sleigh, he usessix white boomers. Boomers are malekangaroos. The names of the six boomers are:Jackaroo, Curly, Bluey, Two-Up, Desert-Head and Snow. The Chorus goes: Six white boomers, snow white boomers, Racing Santa Claus through the blazingsun. Six white boomers, snow white boomers, On his Australian run. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Aussie Food Pavlova This is a famous dessert that is often served at Christmas. It is soft in the centre and crunchy on the edges. It is topped with cream and fruit. White Christmas This is another traditional Australian dessert that is eaten during the festive season. It used to be made with copha, milk powder rice bubbles and red and greenglace cherries . Along with these, you will find coconut ice and rum balls. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Surf Life Saving With many Australians spending summer days at the beach with unpredictable surf conditions, lifeguards are there to keep everyone safe. Surf Life Saving Australia is committed to reducing coastal drownings. The most important flags are the red and yellow ones. These flags show that the lifesaver service is operating in between these flags. If you cannot see these flags, youshould not go swimming. A plain red flag indicates that the beach is closed. A red and white checkeredflag indicates that a shark has been sighted in the water. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Natural Events Christmas falls in the middle of the Australian Storm Season which brings lots of natural events/disasters. There are many thunderstorms, cyclones, floods and bushfires. The SES is a group of volunteers that help out in emergency situations. SES standsfor State Emergency Services. They help with things like search and rescue, getting emergency supplies to flooded communities, temporary/ emergency repairs and the removal of fallen trees. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Christmas Plants There are a number of native Australian plants that flower over the Christmas season. These plants have becomeknown as ‘Christmas plants.’ Some of these are Christmas bells, the Christmas bush and the Christmasorchid. When the Europeans first arrived in Australia, they used these flowers as decorations at Christmas. Yo u can find more information about Christmas Plants here. PhotoCredit. © Simple Living. Creative Learning Christmas Beetles Beetles belonging to the genus Anoplognathus, are commonly known as Christmas beetles in Australia because the adults emerge around thattime of the year. These beetles arearound 25mm long and are creamy-gold with dark parallel grooves on their wing-covers. They are mostly active at night and are often attracted to lights. These beetles feed on eucalypt leaves. You can find more information about Christmas Beetles here. Photo credit. © Simple Living. Creative Learning An Aussie Christmas What is Australia also known as? What season is it at Christmas time in Australia? a. summer b. winter c. spring d. autumn Where is Australia located in theworld? a. north of theequator b. south of theequator Australia is surrounded by making it an . What do many families do during the festive season? __________________________________________ © Simple Living. Creative Learning An Aussie Christmas Australians decorate plastic trees with tinsel, lights and baubles. Decorate the tree: How do some Australian families decorate their house? _________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Many Aussie families use ______________________, reusable trees instead of real ones at Christmas. © Simple Living. Creative Learning An Aussie Christmas What event happens on Christmas Eve and is televised throughout Australia? __________________ ________________________________________________ Where do the crowds meet to sing Christmas Carols? ________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Aussies like to cook their Christmas meals on a ________________________________________________. What is a dessert that many Australian families eat at Christmas? _______________________________ ________________________________________________ © Simple Living. Creative Learning Surf Life Saving Who keeps everyone safe on the beach? __________ ________________________________________________ The most important flags