All the Matsuyama store Xmas trees are now
hanging with glittering trinkets and flickering lights. Xmas songs are being
played over the sound systems and fat ruddy Santas are dressed up in warm coats
singing out Ho Ho Ho! But something is amiss, something just doesn’t feel
right. I realize what it is as I bike through town wrapped up in a woolly scarf,
gloves and hat. It is not hot.
In
New Zealand, contrary to what the English high school textbooks suggest, Santa
is not riding a surfboard but is fully dressed in his thick warm winter coat.
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Our
windowpanes are adorned in fake snow and our Xmas tables are laden full with the
traditional British feast of roast beef and piping hot Xmas puddings. Even
though many of Mother England’s descendants, now living in New Zealand, have
never visited her shores, the traditional British wintry Xmas is still being
practiced in the hot New Zealand summer.
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English Academy