| Sweating in the afternoon heat of a summer day in Sydney I pass a huge Xmas tree at Martin Place and I wonder why you would bring this humungous tree in here. Only after few seconds it occurs to me – Christmas is looming.
Initially the idea of Xmas in these circumstances seems ridiculous. But there is more evidence…all shop windows have put excessive tinsel decorations, and inside the Xmas songs overpower the frantic shoppers with ubiquitous bell ringing tunes (it is the Santa sledges probably). So this is really Xmas! It does not seem to make any sense to me, but I finally give in and decide to stop analyzing and rebelling, instead I just accept it. No white Xmas for me this year. It is time to celebrate my first Xmas in Australia!
The Xmas routine started with numerous catch-ups for drinks with friends, weeks before the actual two-day celebrations. The offices started throwing Xmas lunches (did you also find a pocket torch or a nail clipper in your cracker?) and Xmas parties, where everyone seemed to enjoy the lighthearted spirit despite some embarrassing booze induced mishaps occurring occasionally. To spice things up some companies came up with the idea of a theme party – one could tell by the number of disorientated, dressed up people roaming the streets of the Sydney CBD over the weekends coming up to Xmas.
After the exchange of Xmas cards and all the niceties at work, it was finally time to take few days off and to celebrate Xmas with the family. With all my relatives back in Poland I was spending this Xmas with my boyfriend’s family at the Greek house in Dubbo, NSW. It was a very interesting experience for me. It was a strange hybrid between European, but orthodox style, celebrations, and the Aussie, laid back attitude.
What struck me mainly was the different Xmas menu and the fact that the 24th of December – Polish Wigilia - which means a Vigil (waiting), has no significance whatsoever. Polish people can be Xmas food fanatics. We are transfixed with the idea of a big feast (something bordering on gluttony really) with the choice of herring entrees, sauerkraut dishes, carp and borsch with little pierogi on the table. It all happens on the 24th and it is by far the most important day during Xmas.
This year I actually slept through it. Instead of watching out for the first star in the sky I dozed off with a book in my hand, just to open my eyes when it was already dark and I realized that I missed this magical moment for the first time in 26 years’ of my life. Well, to make up for it, I made a long phone call to Poland and I finished the day with going for a drive around Dubbo to watch Xmas lights.
The next day – the Xmas day stared with the 3.5-hour mass at 7.00am. Yes, if you happen to complain over the fatigue during one-hour mass at midnight in
Poland, try the Greek Orthodox Church. All the services take about 4 hours - every weekend and on special occasions. Every mass finishes with the communion with wholly bread (real bread) and in smaller communities, like Dubbo or Orange, everyone is invited to stay for a cup of Greek coffee and cookies at the church hall. Surprisingly on the Xmas day, very sociable Greek crowd dispersed quickly. Everyone seemed to go home unusually early to celebrate Xmas lunch in a close family circle.
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Menu in a Greek house, regardless of the occasion and the season of the year, is dominated by one type of meal - a lamb roast. Our Xmas lunch was additionally exhibiting a delicious stuffed turkey and some other Greek specialties, like rice and meat wrapped in vine leaf and a wide selection of seafood, including fish but no carp (which officially is a pest in Australia).
Xmas dinner later in the day consisted of a fantastic organic lamb …made on a spit at the real Aussie farm. The farm I went to with my boyfriend’s family is a huge mass of land in Dunneedoo (in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in NSW) owned by a befriended Greek family. I absolutely loved the tranquility of the vast space around me, its fantastic nature and the atmosphere in the Greek house, with at least 10 kids running around.
All in all, the trip to the farm was a definite highlight of my Xmas this year. Spending time with very friendly and hospitable Greek-Aussies reminded me of home, which alleviated my homesickness. The completely different surrounding helped me to transport to a new reality – I was in the Australian outback having lamb on a spit, the cows and kangaroos were lurching in the fields around … no, this year we didn’t make a snowman.
Text & photos by Magdalena Kopydłowska
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