|
Christmas traditions in Australia and New Zealand have many similarities to British and United States traditions, owing to the shared history between the nations, including traditional Christmas symbols featuring winter iconography. This means a red fur-coated Santa Claus riding a sleigh, carols such as ''Jingle Bells'', and various snow-covered Christmas scenes on Christmas cards and decorations. However, the timing of Christmas occurring during the Southern Hemisphere's summer season has resulted in the development of some local traditions as a result of the warmer weather. ==Shared traditions== The traditional Christmas tree is central to Christmas decorations and strings of lights and tinsel are standard. Decorations appear in stores and on streets starting in November, and are commonplace by early December. Many homeowners decorate the exterior of their houses. Displays range from the modest to elaborate, sometimes with hundreds of lights and decorations depicting seasonal motifs such as Christmas trees, Santa Claus, reindeer, or nativity scenes. Particular regions have a tradition for elaborate displays, and attract a great amount of pedestrian and vehicular traffic during the Christmas season. This is despite the longer days, resulting in dusk occurring as late as 9.00 p.m. in the southern latitudes.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sunrise and sunset times for Hobart, Australia in December )〕 Most workplaces conduct a "Christmas Party" some time during December, but rarely on Christmas Eve itself. As many people take their holidays between Christmas and New Year's Day, and many workplaces completely close for that period, these parties are effectively an end of year or break-up party and frequently feature little or no reference to Christmas itself. Likewise, schools, TAFE (vocational training), and universities break for summer holidays. Schools typically end in the week before Christmas, to recommence in late January or early February. Following Christmas, many churches will change their evening meetings to a less formal format, while many hobby clubs also suspend or alter their meetings in this period. On Christmas Eve, the children are told, Santa Claus〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Letters from Santa Claus your Kids will love! Santa Claus Letters )〕 visits houses placing presents for children under the Christmas tree or in stockings or sacks which are usually hung by a fireplace. In recent decades many new apartments and homes have been built without traditional combustion fireplaces, however with some innovation the tradition persists. Snacks and beverages (including liquor) may be left out for Santa to consume during his visit. The gifts are opened the next morning, on Christmas Day. Families traditionally gather for a Christmas Day lunch similar to the Anglo-Celtic traditions that include decorated hams, roast turkey, roast chicken, salads and roast vegetables. Christmas crackers are pulled before eating. More recently, as appropriate to the often hotter weather of the day, it has become increasingly popular to serve local seasonal produce such as cold meats, seafood and salad.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Christmas in New Zealand )〕 Similarly, dessert also includes a mix of traditional winter Christmas food (such as plum pudding with brandy butter, fruit mince pies, and trifle) alongside local traditions such as pavlova,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Christmas in Australia )〕 a New Zealand dessert popular in both countries, and fresh fruit such as berries and kiwifruit.〔 Candy canes are a popular confectionery in Australia for the children's table in the Christmas period. As Christmas falls in summer, the watching of television is not a strong part of Australian or New Zealand Christmas traditions, unlike in the United Kingdom, in which it is one of the most important days for television ratings. Television ratings in Australia are not taken during the summer and schedules are mostly filled with repeats of old programs or previously cancelled shows. Some locally produced programs have a Christmas special, though often it will be shown early December and not on Christmas Day itself. Many television stations rerun old Christmas-themed films in the weeks leading up to and including Christmas Day, such as ''Miracle on 34th Street'', ''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'' and various film versions of ''A Christmas Carol''. The Queen's Christmas message is broadcast at around 7:00pm local time on Christmas evening. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Christmas in Australia and New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|