Yesterday, the 14th of November, was the Christmas Pageant day. 250,000 people from the area came into the Adelaide CBD (“Downtown” as I would call it back in the states) and lined the 3.3 Km rout of roads taken by the 63 floats, 15 bands, 9 walking sets, 10 dance groups, 1 DJ, and 3 choirs, with over 200 clowns interspersed throughout the parade.
To help prevent heat related health issues, there was a lot of water stations and First Aid stations that provided some free water, fans, and fruit. My favorite strategy they used was this tanker truck full of water that drove the route. It passed by about 10 minutes before the parade itself.
Not so much this float, but there were some floats I felt were a little disturbing.
I am a strong believer of the Thanksgiving rule as far as Christmas is concerned (well, I must admit that when at home for Thanksgiving, it is very difficult to resist turning on some Christmas music while preparing the house and food for the Thanksgiving Dinner), and yet it was pretty fun to see this parade. It was a very new experience for me as well. I don’t remember going to a Christmas parade in person before, so that was a first. But what was more interesting to me, was the whole idea of celebrating a holiday that I have always experience during winter, in the summer.
I found it interesting that a majority of the performing bands were Scottish/Irish in style. I now wonder if there is a high concentration of immigrants from those areas here as compared to British immigrants.
I don't know if it is technically offensive for me to have taken this photo, but there was a small group of Aboriginals (or of Aboriginal decent) present.Adelaide is just starting to come out of a heat wave that is the hottest for November that it has seen before. For over a week, the temperature has been over 34 C (93 F), and several days during this heat wave, the temperature has broken 40 C (104 F). However, despite this difference in temperature, Christmas decorations here are not that much different from what I’m used to. Fake holly branches, Christmas trees, Santa in a heavy winter suit, sleighs, and lots of wrapped presents. It is very odd experiencing these “normal” decorations and spirit of the holiday… while my calves get sun burnt as I watch the parade.
It seems Elvis was here too.
Although the snail wasn't THAT impressive to me...
I REALLY enjoyed that they included a "slime" trial behind it by spraying a little water underneath it.Later I caught some more rays, enjoying the heat wave within walking distance of St. Vincent Gulf. Finished the day with a visit to a pub. Laura is the first of the four of us returning to the States. Our two exams are on the 17th and 19th, and Laura is flying from here on the 20th. This being her last weekend here, she was in the mood to dance, and all four of us liked the idea of going for one last pub visit together. It was a very good day.
After this float, there were two short columns with small groups that allowed each religious group to be represented. It was a nice gesture, but to me it was a little annoying that each religion's culture was represented...ie they didn't have a float for each religion, just a group of 10-20 people walking behind the Nativity float.
And of course Father Christmas finished the show.Cheers!
Wait, i was confused about your whole thing about Tiger. Did you see him? Or just on TV? That parade looks like it was pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteOops, perhaps I should have been more clear about it. I watched it on tv. He played in Melbourne which isn't far from here, but I was not only not interested in going down to see him, but wouldn't have been able to anyway (because of timing... had to study for exams). It was interesting to see they hype he got, as well as being able to empathize with some of his comments about being in Australia. I still feel it was just a little odd how much the Australians appreciated the fact that he came over here, and were overjoyed when he won! A lady at a press conference afterward was literally out of breath because of how excited she was that he played and won in Australia. If I had been one of those good professional Australian golfers, I think I might have been offended!
ReplyDeleteAbout Tiger: they might be extra excited about him winning because he might feel more like coming back to defend his championship. But hype is hype!
ReplyDeleteAbout Scotch/Irish: I read an historical fiction that involved the prison colony in Australia, and I think that, given it was a British prison colony during a time when England was pretty hard on the Scotch and Irish (especially on those Irish who tried to revolt) it would make sense for there to be a strong contingent there. Wasn't the Dad in "The Man From Snowy River" pretty Scottish? . . . yes, I am basing this entire comment on fiction . . .
About Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere: I went with Nicola to South Africa over Thanksgiving one year back when we lived in Boston. I distinctly remember how weird it was to sing the Christmas hymns in church there with the windows wide open and me sweating profusely in my suit. Really, really weird. But then poor Nicola has to endure Christmas here without any camping or summer fruits . . .