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Eden
Guest
I’ve been wondering what Christmases are like for all of our Australian posters. Thanks for sharing what your Christmas is like. It was fun to read about.
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mgy100
Guest
You are off centre with this.
Many Orthodox in the USA will be celebrating the Feast of the Nativity (Christmas) on December 25, meaning this coming Monday, as a matter of fact most Orthodox in the USA will be celebrating Monday.
Orthodox always celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25.
It just happens that the Old Calender (Julian) Dec. 25 falls on the civil (new calender) date of Jan. 7th. So for most of the world outside of the USA (and there are still many parishes in the USA that use the old calender) Christmas will be Jan. 7 (which is Dec. 25 on the old calender).
The difference between the “new revised calender” and the “julian/old calender” is 13 days. So, like Saint Nicholas day was Dec. 6 new calender, it was dec. 19 old calender.
And even though the two calenders have different dates, they still celebrate Easter according to the same tradition (different than the western tradition of dating easter).
Confused yet? hehehe
See, sometime they switched calenders, they totally skipped like 11 days so many hours etc… to bring the calender in line with what the civil calender is today. Although sometimes the gov’t comes out and says, “we’re subtracting a second from the day to more align the time correctly to the whatever makes time more precise.”
It just happens that in days gone by, dates didn’t really matter, periods of the year did more, like when to plant crops, etc… so hence, not everyone exactly was in a rush to switch the calender to the modern dating system.
Except the calculation of Easter, that has been different in Eastern Christianity for, well, a very long time.
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kellie
Guest
Hi Eden,I’ve been wondering what Christmases are like for all of our Australian posters. Thanks for sharing what your Christmas is like. It was fun to read about.
I found this web site that explains a lot of what we do here.
**With opposite seasons to the Northern Hemisphere, Christmas in Australia is quite different from the traditional European concept. Instead of white, snowy scenery, Australia is filled with blue skies and sunshine and intense heat sometimes up to 35 degrees Centigrade (100 degrees Fahrenheit). In Australia on Christmas Day, families might gather for a traditional Aussie barbecue surrounded by family and friends or spend the day at the beach. With the Australian Christmas in the middle of the long summer school holidays, many families spend their Christmas Day away from home - in a caravan or flat at the beach, in a tent in the bush or with other family members in another city or state. **
Many Australian Christmas dinners look (and taste) like traditional English and European feasts - with roasted meats and vegetables, special fruit cakes and puddings. In the Australian gold rushes, Christmas puddings often contained a gold nugget and this tradition continues today with a coin (once upon a time, a sixpence) often baked inside. However, lately, more Australian families are having Christmas Dinners which reflect the summers. Eating a hot meal in the middle of a 35 degree day isn’t much fun so more people are beginning to eat cold meats and salads, seafood and tropical fruit like mangoes and pawpaws, rockmelons, watermelons and stone fruits like plums, apricots, cherries and peaches. Often the main meal is eaten at lunch time rather than at night, although it not unusual to share one meal with one side of the family at lunch time and another at tea with the other relations.
Australians enjoy Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve which is broadcast on TV across the country. Traditional carols are sung as well as some Australian ones like “Six White Boomers” and “Santa Never Made it into Darwin”. Many people attend church services both on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day and celebrate the religious aspect of Christmas and the Birth of Jesus. Santa Claus brings the children gifts on Christmas Eve and the children leave a piece of cake or biscuits and a glass of milk or bottle of beer for Santa to see him on his long journey. Early Christmas morning, the children eagerly wake tired parents to come and see what Santa has left them under the tree.
Australian shops and homes are decorated with tinsel and bright Christmas decorations and have Santa available for a chat with the children or for a photo. City squares and other public places like Shopping Centres have many decorations and giant living Christmas trees. Most homes have a Christmas tree - with many people now having a pine tree growing in a pot which is brought inside once a year. Some people decorate the exterior of their homes with special lights and displays to share Christmas with their neighbours and any cities have competitions for the best decorated house and street etc.
The Boxing Day Test Match (cricket game beginning on the day after Christmas) and the beginning of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race on Sydney Harbour (also on Boxing Day) are two sporting events of significance which happen each Christmas, so many Australians spend Boxing Day in front of the TV. Other people spend Boxing Day travelling to or from their summer holiday destinations.
Most Australian schools finish a week before Christmas for the summer break and recommence after Australia Day on 26 January. This is known as the Summer Vacation. Australia’s worst Christmas was in 1974, when Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin in the Northern Territory. More than 60 people were killed.
rochedalss.qld.edu.au/xmas/austchristmas.htm
Our school years go from January/February to December, which I think is different to America, where the school year ends in July to coincide with your Summer (correct me if I am wrong here).
Today in Melbourne it was 38 degrees Centigrade, but I think Monday it is going to be slightly cooler.
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valient_Lucy
Guest
Jehovah’s Witnesses are NOT Protestants, and they are NOT Christians.
Just a clarification.
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Eden
Guest
Thanks again, Kellie! I hadn’t realized that your school year was different, although I should have figured. It’s so hard for me to imagine Christmas being during summer vacation! But it sound like a lot of fun. Mmm… prawns on the barbie or a day at the beach- very nice. I’ll have to add “Christmas in Australia” to my “Hope I Get to Do Someday” List. 
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Gottle_of_Geer
Guest
++ Their Christology takes care of that. And they regard God the Holy Spirit as a force, not as a Divine Person.
Besides, they regard all other forms of religion as false & satanic - a satanist, a Muslim, an animist, a Lutheran, an Orthodox Christian are all much of a muchness as far as they are concerned; so to call them Protestants is ludicrous; they don’t like Protestantism any more than they like Catholicism or Buddhism or Mormonism.
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kellie
Guest
Where in America are you Eden?Thanks again, Kellie! I hadn’t realized that your school year was different, although I should have figured. It’s so hard for me to imagine Christmas being during summer vacation! But it sound like a lot of fun. Mmm… prawns on the barbie or a day at the beach- very nice. I’ll have to add “Christmas in Australia” to my “Hope I Get to Do Someday” List.
Do you have the traditional white Christmas?
I would love to make a snowman on Christmas Day.
Maybe we could swap houses one year lol
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Eden
Guest
Now there’s a thought! Unfortunately, I’m not living in a “White Christmas” zone right now. We live just outside Las Vegas but we are moving to San Francisco at the end of January (which, unfortunately, also never gets snow). I grew up in Pennsylvania, so I’ve had many Christmases with sledding and snowmen though.
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lak611
Guest
I live in Cleveland and normally we do have snow on Christmas, but this year it is probably not to be. They are predicting rain. I think it’s due to some weird weather pattern with El Nino’s someplace off the ocean. But i’ve had plenty of White Christmases in the past.
I would like to visit Australia for Christmas. I HAVE to see those cute galah’s some day!
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kellie
Guest
hehehe galahs
It is amazing what we take for granted isnt it?
I see them all the time, never think much of them
Do you know that in Australia, it is a colloquialism to call someone a galah instead of fool? hehehe
So yes we do have LOTS of galahs here hehe
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inJESUS
Guest
Church History since the time of the late first century has attested to a late December birth. Hyppolytus in the second century AD argued that this was Christ’s birthday. In the fourth century, John Chrysostom argued that December 25 was the correct date.Chrysostom taught that Zechariah received the messageabout John’s birth on the day of Atonement and John the Baptist was born sometime in June or July, and the birth of Jesus took place 6 months later,in late December or early January. There was never a question about the period of Jesus’ birth in the East or in the West; only in the recent years was this date challenged.
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ALLFORHIM
Guest
Hi,
A question just popped into my head. Do you think any of the disciples or apostles asked Jesus or Mary when his birth was? Does the CC say anything about that maybe in tradition. ai was also wondering when christians started worshipping Christs birth on Dec. 25th.? What did they do before this day was decided? I bet you the early christians may have not celebrated it IMHO. Who started all the presents and decorations? I think it was the Germans and then they brought it to the US and now look what we have turned Christmas into
Im wondering that maybe we were not suppose to know when Christ’s birth was because God didnt want it to turn into worshipping a specific day–which I guess it turned into anyway
Im ranting Im just upset at how we treat the birth of Christ
Ok my rant is over:thumbsup:
A question just popped into my head. Do you think any of the disciples or apostles asked Jesus or Mary when his birth was? Does the CC say anything about that maybe in tradition. ai was also wondering when christians started worshipping Christs birth on Dec. 25th.? What did they do before this day was decided? I bet you the early christians may have not celebrated it IMHO. Who started all the presents and decorations? I think it was the Germans and then they brought it to the US and now look what we have turned Christmas into
Im wondering that maybe we were not suppose to know when Christ’s birth was because God didnt want it to turn into worshipping a specific day–which I guess it turned into anywayIm ranting Im just upset at how we treat the birth of Christ
Ok my rant is over:thumbsup:
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Blue_Serenity
Guest
I heard that Jesus was born in March.Hi,
A question just popped into my head. Do you think any of the disciples or apostles asked Jesus or Mary when his birth was? Does the CC say anything about that maybe in tradition. ai was also wondering when christians started worshipping Christs birth on Dec. 25th.? What did they do before this day was decided? I bet you the early christians may have not celebrated it IMHO. Who started all the presents and decorations? I think it was the Germans and then they brought it to the US and now look what we have turned Christmas into
Im ranting Im just upset at how we treat the birth of Christ
Ok my rant is over:thumbsup:
My mother was watching the history channel on this topic and said that Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel in June.It kinda makes sense because in the Bible, Luke 1:26-27, it says that the angel came to visit her in the sixth month. The only thing I can think of is that maybe they don’t go by the Gregorian calendar.
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Sabda
Guest
ALF,
Why did Jesus receive gifts if we are not supposed to celebrate His birth? Also, if we celebrate the births of the leaders of our country and those who have been most influential to us than doesn’t it stand to reason that we should be celebrating the birth of the one who saved us all for eternity? I don’t see why the earliest Christians wouldn’t have celebrated His birth.
Why did Jesus receive gifts if we are not supposed to celebrate His birth? Also, if we celebrate the births of the leaders of our country and those who have been most influential to us than doesn’t it stand to reason that we should be celebrating the birth of the one who saved us all for eternity? I don’t see why the earliest Christians wouldn’t have celebrated His birth.
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frnate
Guest
My godchild attended a Church of Christ school (only because his rich grandfather paid for it and he had to) and they completely omitted Christ from Christmas. Instead they focus on Santa Claus and any other thing they can use as a distraction. Their logic is that since it is impossible to be absolutely certain of the exact date of Christ’s birth then it must not be celebrated. They just celebrate the secular version of xmas. It was truly horrifying. I don’t know if this is general practice in the COC but I witnessed it with my own eyes locally. (Chattanooga, TN)
Peace,
+Nathan
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