圣诞不一定是白色的~

夏天里的“澳式”圣诞节怎么过？

Bush fire fighter

救火

Because it's so hot at Christmas time in Australia, there are quite often massive bush fires across the country. Many volunteer bush fire fighters are involved in saving people and property and travel from all over Australia to help in other states.

是的，你没看错，就是救火！由于12月底天干物燥，山火频发。很多住在rural area的居民同时也是消防队的志愿者，如果遇到突发的森林火灾，他们会义务地抢救人们的生命和财物。

Candlelight晚会

In each State capital city there is a large Carols by Candlelight service. Famous Australian singers like The Wiggles, John Farnham, Anthony Warlow, Colin Gery, Niki Webster and many more help to sing the carols. These carol services, held in different cities, are broadcast on TV across Australia. There are also huge Christmas pageants in each state capital city that are also broadcast across the country. Most towns and cities have festivals and parades. In some places, there is a fireworks display at the local park.

Candlelight演唱会可以算得上是澳洲人民的“春晚”，几乎每一个大型城市都会有自己的candlelight concert。澳洲的本土歌手会上台表演，如Niki Webster，Dami Im等等（相信不少中国同学都会黑人问号.JPG，表示不知道他们是谁…..）。除此之外，还有很多其他的露天表演~这些演唱会都会在之后几天里在电视，调频里循环播放。

圣诞彩灯

People also decorate their houses and gardens with Christmas Trees and Christmas lights. Neighbors sometimes have little competitions to see who has got the best light display. The neighbors often visit each other to look at the light displays at night. Sometimes the displays are put out as early as December 1st. One street in Sydney raises over $(AUS) 35,000 every year for charity with their co-ordinated street display!

澳洲人民另一个比较常见的习惯，就是会给自己的院子和房子装上彩灯。很多社区都会有“Best light display”的竞赛。这可让不少小伙伴大饱眼福咯~比较出名suburb有Ivanhoe等等，有的人家，甚至提前一个月就把院子装饰好，迎接圣诞咯~

Christmas Bush

Australians also decorate their houses with bunches of 'Christmas Bush', a native Australian tree with small green leaves and cream colored flowers. In summer the flowers turn a deep shiny red over a period of weeks (generally by the week of Christmas in Sydney).

Christmas Bush也是经常用到的装饰品，它是由一种澳洲土生土长的植物制作的，特别是在悉尼，当圣诞到来的那一周，这种植物的花朵变得火红。是不是很好看呐~

Christmas Carols

Many towns, cities and schools also hold their own Carols by Candlelight services, with local bands and choirs sometimes helping to perform the Christmas Carols and songs. As it is the middle of Summer in Australia at Christmas time, the words to the Carols about snow and the cold winter are sometimes changed to special Australian words! There are also some original Australian Carols.

When he gets to Australia, Santa gives the reindeer a rest and uses kangaroos or 'six white boomers' (a popular Australian Christmas song!). He also changes his clothes for less 'hot' ones!

很多的社区和小镇，都有自己的合唱队~当快要接近圣诞节的时候，就会唱起圣诞赞歌。但由于澳洲的圣诞在夏天，那么自然，传统的圣诞歌曲就不合适了。大家会进行一定程度上的改变，让其带上了浓浓的“澳式”风情，例如，将歌中的驯鹿换成袋鼠之类~

Christmas meal

Most families try to be home together for Christmas and the main meal is normally eaten at lunch time. Most people now have a cold Christmas dinner, or a barbecue with seafood such as prawns and lobsters along with the 'traditional english' food. On Christmas Eve, fish-markets are often full of people queuing to buy their fresh seafood for Christmas day. Australians often have Christmas Crackers at Christmas meal times.

与其他地方不同，澳洲的圣诞大餐是在中午进行的~食物也不是刚刚出炉的烤火鸡，或者肉桂红酒之类的，而是常常以海鲜，和冷餐为主~当然，怎么会少澳洲国宴barbecue的身影呢！