21 Christmas in South America
December 16, 2007 
From Christmas ’07: Too cold for you? Then travel to South America with the Christmas Stocking to see how they celebrate there. Then let us know how you celebrate at MyChristmasStocking.net. Email me at TopElf at MyChristmasStocking.NET.
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Background music:
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”and “Ding Dong Merrily on High” by The Mambo Folk (from “A Latin Christmas Fiesta- A Rhythmic Collection of Seasonal Sambas, Merry Mambos & Christmas Cha Chas!”)
(Classic Fox Records)
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Featured music:
“See Amid the Winter’s Snow” by The Mambo Folk (from “A Latin Christmas Fiesta- A Rhythmic Collection of Seasonal Sambas, Merry Mambos & Christmas Cha Chas!”)
(Classic Fox Records)
Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon
More On This Album
More information:
An Indian website (as in India), Christmas-Day.org, has a great overview of some South American Christmases, as well as many other traditions from around the world that have influenced their celebrations.
Wikipedia.com has a tour of Christmas around the world. This link will take you to the South American section of the page.
“Christmas historian” Bill Egan looks at Christmas in Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina.
The Christmas Stocking 
HI – Just found your show and I’m listening to all the back shows on my iPod here in Brisbane, Queensland Australia. I particularly enjoy hearing about Christmas customs from history and from around the world, but I noticed you haven’t done a show about Christmas in Australia.
We have a real mix of cultures here but tend to keep to the European Christmas traditions, although we have adapted them slightly. The full roast dinner is frequently replaced by cold salads as our weather is hot and (depending on where you are) very humid. Still, you will usually find a roast turkey or chicken somewhere on the table. Many families have a BBQ lunch in the shade. Another big Christmas favourite is seafood, with prawns (shrimps) being in great demand. There are always cold drinks on offer, although in the evening you could tempt us with Irish Coffees and egg nog.
A big difference with celebrating Christmas in our climate is that a lot of emphasis is placed on the outdoors. Children spend a lot of time outdoors, and our days are very long in Summer so there is a lot of time to play. Pool parties are common, and many Christmas functions are held in parks and at beaches. Our days are long but the nights are the coolest time to be out, so many of us take the time to drive around or walk around our neighbourhoods and look at the Christmas lights. Nearly all carol services are held out of doors, although we do usually have stand-by arrangements in case of the evening thunderstorms which also tend to occur around this time.
Talking of carols, we have our own beautiful Australian carols. My favourite is “the Three Drovers” (a drover is like a cowboy) and you can see the lyrics and hear a midi file of the song at http://tww.id.au/c/drove.html and if you go to that page you can also link to other Australian Christmas songs and carols including “Six White Boomers” (Boomers are the kangaroos that Santa uses down here as it is too hot for his reindeer) and “Carol of the Birds” which is a particularly beautiful song about nature welcoming Christmas day. We do play all the “winter” songs though, and they are usually pumped out through the speakers in our air-conditioned shopping centres (or malls). It makes the heat just that bit more oppressive when you walk out of the air-conditioning.
Santa doesn’t get down many chimneys in Queensland and across the top of Australia, as it is the rare house that has them. Chimneys tend to be on the houses in our Southern states as they get colder winters. Instead, he uses that magic of his to either make a temporary chimney or get through key holes somehow. I’m not sure as I’m always asleep! Also, due to the time difference, Santa visits Australia before he visits the United States as we start celebrating the day about a half a day before you.
Anyhow, thanks for the great show and if you mention my post, a big hello to my friend Lisa who lives in Hawaii and is married to a wonderful bloke currently serving with the Marines in Afghanistan.
Merry Christmas 🙂
Hi, Sarah!
Welcome! Thanks for listening! Funny you should mention Australia. The episode after next (as I write this) will look at Australia. And now you’re going to be featured! I actually had already written and voiced it, but I hadn’t produced it yet, so with a little luck, I’ll be mentioning your comment.
Thanks for all the information. It’s great. I’ll refer my listeners to it for more info.
Merry Christmas!
–Lee