How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

Hi all

this is probably a really silly question but my kids asked me and i had no idea,

do they celebrate halloween? if so is it a big deal , also other events like november 5th, guy fawkes, i know this is a british celebration but do they do it in Australia, also what other holidays etc do Australia have and do they celebrate any english traditional holidays or events

michell

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

I was told that they celebrate November 25th but firework displays are only done proffesionally due to fire hazards ?
Some places celebrate Halloween but some don't apparently, depends where you'll live. (part of me is a bit sad but the other part if me would be grateful I don't have to carve near a dozen pumpkins out).

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

No we dont. But 1% go out to get lollys on Halloween

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

We dont celebrate Bonfire Night here - but Halloween is pretty much the same as the UK.......well its getting there. The first year we were here hardly any kids were out on the streets but last year it was pretty busy. There was a good idea too whereby those who wanted to be 'trick or treat'ed ' put something orange at the front of their house. Made it better for the kids to know who they could or couldn't knock. There werent thay many houses but those who did take part, some really went to town decorating the front of their house. I've got a photo actually of one of the houses........I'll go and find it and put it on here :)

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

Hi michell,

Hallowe'en isn't a big thing here. It gets a mention, but the supermarkets aren't full of pumpkins and plastic witch paraphernalia. Neither have I seen any trick-or-treaters in the two Hallowe'ens I've been in Melbourne. There again, we live in an apartment block, it may be different in the suburbs.

The Fifth of November is certainly not commemorated here. I've never understood exactly why it was celebrated in the UK: A guy [no pun intended] tries and failed to commit a terrorist act and was hanged for his troubles. It is illegal in most (if not all) Australian states to sell fireworks to the general public, so we don't see many of them around, except at organised events, such as New Year's Eve.

As for holidays...

New Years Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day you and your children will probably be familiar with, even if the seasons are the wrong way around.

Then there are the Australian celebrations. Australia Day is 26 January and people wear green and gold, drink beer and barbecue stuff. ANZAC Day, 25 April, is more like Remembrance Day.

Other holidays vary from state to state. In Victoria, the second Monday in March is Labour Day, so called because nobody does any. The second Monday in June is deemed to be the Queen's Birthday and so we all drink beer.

If you're lucky enough to live in Melbourne, you'll get the first Tuesday in November off for a horse race. Seriously!

Hope this helps;


--paj

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

Your up early as usual Brian lol

Iv been awake since 2.30am when Michael decided to come home drunk from city with no bloody keys.

Megan Is still out.

Im gonna kill the buggers today, thats if I can stay awake:blink:

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

There's a definite pattern here :lol:

You forgot that on ANZAC Day, after the dawn parades and paying your respects, you should all head to the nearest RSL and .... yep ... drink beer! Also you get to play two-up, which I always thought was a completely different kind of activity :blink:

As for fireworks, it's correct that it's illegal to sell them in most states. In the Northern Territory, people are allowed to buy them in the lead up to Territory Day (July 1st), so on that day, the sky just goes mad with bangs, screams and whistles. We used to live in an apartment block with views over Mindil Beach - where all the public firework displays were held - so we could just watch from our balcony :thumbup:

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

More fireworks here than in uk... LOADs of FREE events too... Evry where has there own display AND there are the seriously big ones in the cities...

totally stunning...:thumbsup:

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

Here in Queensland we also get a day off for the local agricultural show - ie the 'Show Day' holiday.

We get the first Monday in May off for the Labour Day marches and rallies. I usually go and march with my union 'cos it's a lot of fun, and you get a free TShirt, plus free BBQ with drinks. I also get to meet old friends from various aspects of my slightly anarchistic (eg Fabians, anti-racism etc)activities.

Our sons are Army reserve officers and they march on Anzac Day, and as mentioned before, it's off to the RSL club (Returned Services League) afterwards for a big booze up. One son usually sleeps in barracks that night as it takes him 24 hours to sober up enough to drive!

A few kids come round here 'trick or treating' at halloween, but it's just to get some sweets (called lollies here).They are usually slightly embarrassed about it, aware that some folks regard it as just a daft American custom that has no place here. We just laugh and give them some lollies.

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

Not much Halloweening goes on around here - there was a bit of a trend a few years back of trick or treating which sort of went down like a lead balloon when some egging occurred and we havent been bothered for a few years since. Lots of other things though with fireworks displays galore - we even had a fireworks "ceremony" (according to the tv news) for the Torch Relay a few weeks ago. We also have Canberra Day in March.

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

Nicely spotted!


Thanks for the reminder. It must be about time for a beer!


Nice one!

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

What's November 25th :confused:

As for the halloween thing, it's a personal thing as opposed to a community thing. You're hard pressed to find halloween stuff in the shops around here. Bonfire night's non existent thank god.

We only get fireworks on NYE, Aus Day and Show Day. Can't remember any other time. And, because they're illegal, you don't get them going on for days and days and days before or after an official day :thumbsup:

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

We only get fireworks on NYE, Aus Day and Show Day. Can't remember any other time. And, because they're illegal, you don't get them going on for days and days and days before or after an official day :thumbsup:[/QUOTE]

Thank god for that, they often start here on the 25th October..... and are pretty consistant every night til around January 2nd :blink:

A peaceful end to the year :) another plus at moving

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

Thank you all for your replies, have told the kids that halloween is not really celebrated, went down like a lead balloon as our cul-de-sac has always made a big thing of it for the kids, carving pumpkins, parents taking the kids round to houses in groups, all dressing up, but they have got used to having it and will get used to not having it, as for nov 5th then in my opinion i would rather go to arranged events myself, hubby not happy , he loved to have his fireworks once a year, but he wil have to get used to it also,
thanks everyone

michell

Re: How or do the Australians celebrate,Halloween etc
 

We used to celebrate Bonfire Night in big style, but the government clamped down on it due to safety reasons, and the date was moved to July (which is wetter and theoretically safer, unlike the hot dry days of November). Since then, it has died off quite a bit.

An anonymous Australian once referred to Guy Falkes as "the only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions".

:D