Australians as a whole are friendly, sociable people who love to get together and have a great time. Considering this spirit of camaraderie and penchant for merry-making, you can be sure that they make the most of their yearly holidays, celebrating them with a gusto and joie de vivre that you can feel in the air. Buy Gift Cards Australia, and a few other countries can match their proclivity for festivity!
Along with loving to have a good time on every holiday on the calendar, Australians are generous people. It’s common practice to buy gift cards in Australia to mark just about any occasion, not just birthdays and Christmas!
Put your party hats on, because it’s time to take a look at Australia’s biggest holidays and how they celebrate them!
Here Are the Australian Celebrations and Festivals
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve Down Under is a big deal, the celebrations rival those held in other famed New Year party locations like New York, London, Paris, Montreal, and Rio de Janeiro! Sydney Harbour is the biggest, it’s the Times Square of Australian revelry, featuring music, fireworks, light shows, and of course, great food! Thousands gather there to ring in the New Year in robust Aussie style! If you aren’t in Sydney, don’t worry, there are parties held all across the land, it’s a great time guaranteed!
Australia Day
This day is dear to the heart of many Australians, it commemorates the landing of the first fleet on January 26, 1788, with special celebrations, barbecues, and fireworks. The day is marked all across the country with festivities, but considering the fleet landed at Sydney Cove, the harbour is once again the site of the biggest, most extravagant parties. It should be noted that indigenous Australians don’t celebrate the day, but are too polite to admit they wish the fleet had never arrived in the first place. In any case, it’s one of the country’s largest celebrations, and it’s usually wild! Buy Gift Cards Australia.
Dreaming Festival
Just because they prefer to stay home on Australia Day, doesn’t mean the nation’s indigenous peoples don’t enjoy a good celebration! This one is for them and by them, although everyone is most graciously welcome to attend. The festival is held in the tiny hamlet of Woodford, a short drive from Brisbane, and takes place from June 8 to 11. The event showcases the nation’s fascinating indigenous culture with traditional dancing, music performances, and craft workshops. There are also cooking events- if you have never tried witchetty grubs, this is your chance, this traditional delicacy is actually quite tasty, kind of like a nutty shrimp. Whatever you do, be sure not to miss the incredible storytelling these unique and ancient people are the masters of, they make the dream really happen! The Dreaming Festival is always a riveting and heartwarming experience, it’s a must-see.
Halloween
Leave it to the Americans to take a perfectly morbid vigil for the deceased and turn it into a chance for kids to run around dressed up like monsters and God knows what while eating way too many sweets! Although not the big deal it is in the US, Australians do enjoy Halloween because of its fancy dress and delicious treats, and adults have been known to throw some pretty wild parties on October 31 once the trick-or-treaters have gone to bed after their sugar crash. Buy Gift Cards Australia
Anzac Day
This solemn day of remembrance marks the anniversary of the First World War campaign that caused major casualties for Australian and New Zealand troops. ANZAC is an acronym that stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were collectively called Anzacs. The day is one of the most important national occasions for both Australians and New Zealanders, it is observed on April 25 each year and features parades and ceremonies to honour the veterans of all foreign wars. Buy Gift Cards Australia.
Easter Sunday
While being a Christian holiday, many Australians of various, or no, faiths mark the day with elaborate family dinners, and chocolate egg treats are hidden in the garden for the children to find, said to be brought by the mysterious Easter Rabbit, a mythological figure that probably dates back to pre-Christian fertility deities. Many Australians replace the rabbit with a native animal, the marsupial Easter Bilby which is a type of bandicoot. The bilby is threatened by the invasion of foreign rabbits, and bilby-shaped chocolates are sold to fund conservation efforts, although sadly this is not supported by European confectionery giant Cadbury, which has ceased their production, but Darrell Lea and Haigh’s Chocolates still make them. Another popular Easter activity in Australia is the baking of delicious hot cross buns, a sweet, spiced pastry filled with raisins. Buy Gift Cards Australia.
Well, a list of Australian public holidays is all we have time for, hopefully, next time we can do Christmas, but it will need a whole page unto itself, so Kris Kringle will have to wait!
Here is the official list of Australian public holidays to note. Come Down Under for some holiday fun, it’s always a great party!
