Christmas songs Down Undah

Since Australia lies south of the Equator, December occurs in summer there.

“Jingle Bells” and other winter themed songs are out of place there.

What Christmas songs are played there?

Hell’s Bells perhaps?

We still sing basically the same ones. They just tend to be wildly inaccurate.

Paul Kelly’s How To Make Gravy. You can read about it here.

The whole theme of Christmas being about snow and reindeer and fir trees just doesn’t fit in with anywhere in the southern hemisphere and never has. Why we don’t come up with a more summery theme I don’t know, other than the overpowering influence of US and UK pop culture.

There are attempts made to have a less winter-oriented stylistic flourish by some citiy councils or retail outlets, but it doesn’t manage to make much of a lasting impact, and most of the time it’s still all robins and snowflakes and frosted windows.

There are plenty of good Australian Christmas carols that stress the summer theme:

The Three Drovers

The Carol of the Birds

There’s a whole CD here that my choir recorded. They’re not as well known as the more traditional northern hemisphere wintry ones because they don’t get as much exposure. It’s cheaper and easier, for example, for department stores to buy recordings of the older carols (usually recorded with hideously cheesy American accents).

You should learn Mele Kalikimaka beacuse “Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright. The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night.”

In fact if you could switch out the Hawaiian word with an appropriate Aboriginal word you could make it quite appropriate.

Six White Boomers - Rolf Harris
The Little Drummer Boy - The Hoodoo Gurus

I had that same question 'round Christmas time…

Well, most genuine Christmas songs (“Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” “The First Noel,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” et al) are religious songs that have nothing at all to do with snowmen or frost or cold weather. Obviously, Australians, New Zealanders. South Africans (or , for that matter, Floridians and Southern Californians) can sing all the religious hymns without worrying about what season it is).

Of course, if you go to Miami at Christmas time, you’ll see all kinds of snow-related decorations, and you’ll hear “Winter Wonderland” playing on the mall stereos, even though there’s no chance of snow. I’d hope Australians would be a bit more sane and level-headed than that, but who knows?

In theory, of course, there’s no reason Australians couldn’t sing “Jingle Bells” in July or August when it’s actually cold… but do they?

We can do it in December, simply by making a few changes to the lyrics

(Linked site has translations of some of that, don’t worry… :smiley: And thongs are flip flop sandals, before you ask… )

Course, most people have never heard of them, including me!

Having spent most of my early childhood in Canada I don’t feel Christmassy without cold weather so I mostly go through the motions here. It makes it easy to accept work on Xmas day though, and the penalty rates are great!

No less odd then hearing those songs in December in Las Vegas while getting into your car in the parking lot and having to turn on your airconditioner.

By the way, last year they started selling Christmas decorations in the local Walmart on August 30th. A little hard to get in the mood of “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” when you are wearing shorts and still applying sun screen on your face when you go into the backyard. Jack Frost ain’t exactly nippin’ at your nose.

Kevin “Bloody” Wilson has a Christmas album, although it’s not exactly for the whole family. :smiley: