Christmas is celebrated in many ways by communities in Australia. We look at festive traditions on the North Shore and Northern Beaches.
Traditional Ukrainian food: kutya, borsch,
dumplings and cabbage rolls on the festive table. Image credit: Oleg Batrak.
Ukrainian tribute to those under siege
Narraweena local Boris Levin and his family have been living in Australia for over two decades. They moved from Ukraine in 1997, and with a strong sense of tradition and orthodox background, Christmas is an unmissable tradition for them.
To Boris, maintaining his country’s traditional celebrations is very important. However, he says it’s been nice to adopt Australian customs allowed by the summery weather, like having seafood on the festive table and enjoying carols in the park.
“Hot weather, beach time on Christmas day and no snow, alas! In the old country, kids find their presents under the tree on New Year’s Day. This is, however, different for various regions. Santa Claus (also known as Uncle/Grandfather or Jack Frost) plays the same role everywhere in the world. He is also thought to be the one (who started the tradition) of bringing the New Year gifts.”
For the Levin family, there is also a deeper meaning behind the celebrations. Boris explains: “This religious event marks a new beginning in the history of humankind and the starting point of the path to salvation.
“There are many dimensions to the understanding and significance of Christmas in our family and within the Ukrainian community.
“It is usually associated with hope for improving personal lives and the community. Ukrainians around the world hope and pray for Ukraine’s victory in its war against the aggressor. (For our family), the Christmas Eve dinner is a special event and an opportunity to gather around the table and reconfirm ties,” he explains.
In Ukraine, community celebrations are concentrated mainly around the church, with two special services on
Christmas Eve and the following morning. People also attend markets set up around the festive season to buy gifts and authentic food.
“Our Christmas Eve dinner has exactly twelve dishes, and no alcohol is allowed. And the tradition of divination on Christmas night is older than Christmas itself in Ukraine. Girls there still predict their fate on that day.”
But the main change will happen this year. Boris said that historically, Christmas was celebrated on 7 January, but in 2023 they will join the December festivities due to the war with Russia.
“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church used to follow the Julian calendar. This year, they changed to the Gregorian calendar, and the celebrations will take place on 25 December,” Boris explains.
To him, maintaining the Christmas spirit and cultural traditions alive is fundamental.
“Keeping ties to one’s cultural and historical heritage not only serves as a channel for some spiritual communication with the old country but also with numerous Ukrainians who have settled in different corners of the world. The traditions, language and literature form parts of the common platform of values we share.”
People of Indian origin celebrated Diwali at the
Crows Nest Community Centre in November.
Diwali is like Christmas for some Hindus
Diwali is the Hindu festival of light, and it’s celebrated in late October and early November each year by
many Indians in Australia. Bijinder Dugal, an Indian woman who has lived on the North Shore since she arrived
in Sydney in 1975, says Diwali is like a Christmas celebration for Hindus.
“The whole concept of Diwali is the rise of good over evil,” Bijinder says. “It’s the biggest festival for Hindu people and it’s not only celebrated in India, but now here in NSW. Every council celebrated it in (November) and Premier Chris Minns declared Diwali an official celebration,” she added.
“We have sweets and everything at Diwali. It’s strictly like Christmas and people give gifts and share everything.”
The whole concept of Diwali goes back to Roman times when the God, Rama, was there in exile. There was another king who was evil and they killed him. When Rama returns, people celebrated it. “It symbolises good over the evil and that’s what we’re celebrating,” Bijinder explains.
In mid-November, Bijinder and others of Indian origin celebrated Diwali at the Crows Nest Community Centre. They showed the audience how to do some Indian dancing and there was a lot of Indian food and Bollywood music.
“We had a Bollywood dancer, who had the people getting up and participating.”
Bijinder says many of the very traditional Indian people will not celebrate Christmas on 25 December because they’ve already had Diwali. But for Bijinder, she says because her family has been in Australia for a long time, they observe Diwali and then enjoy Christmas day with her son and grandchildren.
“We celebrate Diwali as well as Christmas because of the children,” Bijinder explains.
“We give gifts and the whole family has lunch together with friends. But for many of the very traditional Indian families, Christmas Day is like a normal day. Or if they have some Australian friends, they might get invited to have lunch with them,” she said.
Children of Tibetan origin are taught all aspects of their
culture on the Northern Beaches, including dancing.
A Tibetan Christmas on the Beaches
About 1,300 people of Tibetan heritage live in the Northern Beaches. The council even added a Tibetan
language section to Dee Why Library in June.
The Tibetan people follow the Buddhist faith, with the Dalai Lama is their spiritual leader, so they do not celebrate Christmas in a religious sense.
The Dalai Lama said: “Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.” In a true example of this, the local Tibetan people think of others in the community who celebrate Christmas and offer to work on Christmas day to give others the day off.
“We don’t really celebrate (Christmas) particularly, but we try to understand those who are celebrating,” says Passang Kyipa, president of the Tibetan Community of Australia (NSW).
“Most Tibetans try their best to pick up a shift and allow others to celebrate and spend time with their families. We understand how important family is and a sense of community.”
Although Tibetans do not celebrate Christmas as such, some members of the local community who are not working get together at a park on Christmas Day with their families for a celebration. Everyone brings food to share, has a barbeque, and plays games with the children, who each receive a little gift.
“We just focus on the children,” says Passang. “We do a sausage sizzle and a barbeque to give them a sense of a
celebration like Christmas.”
Passang, who arrived in Sydney in 2007 and has one daughter, says that the Tibetan community settled on the
Beaches because locals understand the Tibetan work ethic, and there’s a sense of belonging.
Passing the Tibetan culture onto the children is very important to the community, and there are Tibetan language classes for 109 children every Saturday on the Beaches.
The Tibetan community has many celebrations throughout the year. Lunar New Year is usually in February or March, with Saga Dawa on 15 April to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. Throughout April, Tibetans don’t eat meat, and they pray. It’s a significant celebration. “It’s like a Christmas time,” says Passang.
By Paula V. Arenas Santa Maria, Pamela Connellan and Aoife Moynihan