Shared values: Australian Christmas traditions and Paskong Pilipino

Maligayang Pasko, mates!

Christmas this year is special for me and my family as this will be the first time we spend Christmas Day right here in the Philippines.

Like my Filipino friends, Australians regard the festive season as a time to take a break and to spend some quality time with family and friends who you haven’t seen throughout the year.

Although this is my third year as Australia’s Ambassador to the Philippines, I and my better half Chris have traditionally returned home to Australia for the holidays. As a diplomat, I have spent many years away from home but at Christmas time, family and friends draw me back home.

But, as people say, home is where the family is, and this Christmas it will be Chris’s and my turn to welcome family members to the colourful, musical, bright and warm celebration that is Paskong Pilipino.

Our Sydney family travelling to Manila (which includes our elder son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren) will, I am sure, feel quite at home in this archipelago where warmth is the norm — both for the temperature and for the hearts of the people.

For Australians, the Christmas season falls right in the middle of the summer, so we’re not used to a traditional White Christmas. But, for many years, Christmas celebrations in Australia were heavily influenced by the traditions brought all the way from the Northern Hemisphere. So even in my hometown of Townsville in tropical North Queensland this meant roasted turkey and steaming plum puddings for lunch on Christmas Day, while the hot summer sun was beating down outside.

More recently we Australians have come to our senses, and so we now go for cold treats of seafood salads and outdoor barbecues for our Christmas lunch (although some of us still like the Christmas pudding for dessert).

Other Australian traditions have evolved around Christmas time — mostly based on our love of the outdoors in summer time. After lunch on Christmas Day, while grandfathers and grandmothers take a quick nap, the rest of the family will have a game of backyard cricket, or have a dip in the swimming pool or a trip to the beach.

On Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, families gather to watch the start of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race and the Boxing Day Test Match (an exhibition game wherein Australia plays against a visiting cricket team).

Boxing Day, by the way, doesn’t refer to the sport in which Manny Pacquiao is rightly revered, but rather to the day after Christmas where service and tradespeople receive a gift (a “Christmas box”) from their bosses or employers, a British tradition that has, thankfully, thrived in Australia to this day.

Since it’s the middle of summer in Australia, bushfires are more common this time of year. So another Christmas tradition among Australians is to volunteer for teams that help put out and control such fires and hazards.

 Christmas has also been a time to think of others, so many Australians volunteer for organisations such as the St Vincent de Paul Society (“Vinnies”) or the Salvation Army (the “Salvos”) to lend support to the less fortunate. While highlighted at this time of year, the Reason for the Season is actually ingrained in Australian society year-round. We call it “mateship.”

While we identify “mateship” as a very Australian value, we recognise this also as a very fundamental Filipino trait…only you call it by a different name: “bayanihan.”

Christmas is a happy time for most, but for many it can be a difficult time. For those far away from family, maybe living overseas, struggling to make a living or with ill health or recent loss, the time away from loved ones can be particularly sad.

So for those of you out there helping to make the world a brighter place on this important day of the year, I dedicate my Christmas wishes to you.

To the Barangay ng mga Bayani, the Ship of Heroes: may your tribe increase and your dreams be fulfilled this Christmas and all the Seasons to come!

Merry Christmas and I will be back again in these columns, I hope, in 2015!