I've been reading through some fantastic posts about family traditions and am feeling a little bit envious! There really are some fantastic ones out there. Check out the beautiful cakes, etc on Mrs Slaviero's blog or the very special traditions of giving from Susan Heydt.
For many years, family traditions in New Zealand for many families, especially those whose heritage is English, Scottish or Irish, centred about traditions brought to this country with our ancestors. We seem to have fiercely hung on to so many of these, particularly the Christmas traditions of our Northern Hemisphere ancestors who are in the middle of very cold winters at this time of year.
This often means we have enormous Christmas dinners with all the trimmings. Hot meals; turkey, ham, new potatoes, peas, etc., followed by traditional pavlova, trifle and Christmas pudding. This is wonderful food, absolutely delicious but...temperatures on Christmas Day in New Zealand can reach into the mid-30s! As for Australia - parts of that fantastic country hit the mid-40s. (Celsius not farenheit!!) Yet, we still persisted with this for so many years because it was, and still is for many, an important family tradition, perhaps a link to our ancestors.
We're starting to change and find our own way as a country and create our own traditions. For many this means a change to this special celebration meal. Many now head to the beach or at least have a barbecue and relax outside with family and friends. Much more sensible!
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| Pavlova - source of great argument between Australia and New Zealand over who created it. For the record, the Kiwis did! Named in honour of the ballerina Anna Pavlova |
What does my family do? We still have the full-on traditional Christmas dinner and celebration. I'm grateful for this tradition as it brings us together. We perhaps need to create some of our own traditions! (I'm still going to bake the Christmas cake in the heat of November and we'll never let go of the Pavlova though!)
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| Christmas Cake - one slice is never enough! |
Yum! Christmas cake- a favorite to some here as well!
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