Special Days Around the World

We have written about many of the special days in England on our website.

Linda wrote to tell us about special days in her country, Australia:

“Thank you Woodlands Junior School for your wonderful website. I was looking all over the internet for the date of Mothers Day next year for the calendar I send to my parents in England-I like to write a little message on the days that are special to them and me-and I couldnt find it until I looked in your website. Thank you too for the information about the Simnel Cake, I have often wondered the significance of it.

Here in Australia, when we go to church on Mothers Day, which is the 2nd Sunday in May (13th next year 2007) we Mums get presented with small handmade items, like flowers or bookmarks. I have a bookmark that has some pretty beads threaded onto a length of plaited embroidery silks.

Fathers Day is the 1st Sunday in September and small handmade items are given to Dads when they arrive at church too.

And because I now live in a country that has palm trees, on Palm Sunday, we are sometimes given small crosses made from palm leaves. I am english but I moved here in 1991. I live in a small suburb called Bethania, which is about 35kms from the city of Brisbane, on the southside, in the state of Queensland. Qld is on the east coast of Australia.

Christmas
All our grade 12 young people finished school mid November, our grade 10 & 11s finished on 1 December and the primaries (Juniors) will finish the first or second week of December. This is the end of our school year, which begins at the end of January, so our main summer holiday is December and January. When you are having your main summer holiday, we have a couple of weeks winter holiday. For the temperature to drop to 0, you have to be up on the ranges (high ground) and usually heading west. The further up the State you travel, the warmer it gets because you are heading towards the equator. If we go South into New South Wales, in winter, we will find snow. And I believe a lot of schools include a “snow trip” for the seniors. There are people here who have never seen snow, except in pictures.

On 26 January, we will all be out and about celebrating “Australia Day“. It is a public holiday here and families and friends get together and BBQ (barbecue)in their backyards, in parks (all parks have BBQ facilities) and on the beach.

Another special day here is Anzac Day, that too is a public holiday, for the purpose of remembering all those people who fought and died in many wars for freedom of all people and to stop injustice. We have parades here, just like you will see parades in November for Remembrance Day, but here the children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren will march alongside the veterans, wearing the medals of the grand/parents. The parades are usually held very early in the morning, just as the day dawns. Special Anzac services will be held in schools the day before.

The other main public holiday we celebrate, in all the states, is “Show Day“. Each State will hold an annual show that last for around ten days, its when the country people come to the city and show us some of their way of life. They bring their cattle, sheep, dogs, fruit and veggies, chooks (chickens)and horses. Here in Qld it is called the “Ekka”, short for Exhibition and the different suburbs of Brisbane will have a day set aside to go to the show. The show in Brisbane is held mid August. There is also a fair at the show and a whole pavilion set aside for “show bags”. Once these were free and held merchants samples, now they cost anything from $2.50 up to $50, depending on what is in the bag you want. They usually contain sweets (lollies)and a toy, maybe something to write on or colour in.

We celebrate Easter and Christmas at the same time you do, the only difference is the climate. This is a really long comment but I thought you might like to hear a little of our culture.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays and God Bless you each.”
Linda

Please tell us about the special days in your country.