Shedding some light on the subject

Candle-dipping is a bit of an institution around these parts. And you can see why. A winter Christmas lends itself rather well to nights peppered with candles and fairy lights and boughs decked with snowy baubles and all things twinkly.

So I took DS and DD down The Hill yesterday to do their bit for the candle population of the world.

It seems that in and around Zürich there are a number of events based on tradition and a long cultural history (such as the Räbelichtliumzug and Weihnachtsmarkt or Christmas Markets), which are really quite charming when you've just arrived from a relatively young (if you're not Aboriginal) cultural environment steeped in such traditions as the cricket, the Christmas day BBQ, and the Boxing Day sales.

In fact, I was at a bit of a loss last night in my First German Class Ever, when we were talking about different countries' traditions. When asked what the biggest national celebration was in our own country, and what we do on that day, the Italian and Spanish students had a lot to say, as did the Sri Lankan and Croatian students.

I could barely keep up, except I did get that in Spain they have to wash the streets afterwards (must be big, whatever it is - I'm thinking something to do with tomatoes?); and also that the Italians don't eat until 5pm and then only until about 7pm (OK, I really didn't understand that one).

Teacher: And in Australia?
Me: Er... New Year? Australia Day? (I wanted to say 'Election Day'.)
Teacher: Und wie feiert man das Fest? (What does one do for this celebration?)
Me: Essen und trinken? Und Feuerwerk? (Note: all my answers are actually questions these days.)
Teacher: Gut. Warum macht man dieses Fest? (Good. Why do you have this celebration?)

Indeed. I couldn't answer in German, and I couldn't even think of an answer in English. I kept thinking, 'What is Australia Day anyway? Surely it's really the day that Captain Phillip declared British sovereignty over indigenous lands? Surely that's not very PC... Surely we don't still celebrate that? And what about the whole multi-cultural thing?'

So after the class I wandered up The Hill in the sub-zero but very candle-lit and twinkly night, to Google it. I discovered with some relief that on the Australia Day website, the 26th of January is now a day for 'celebrating and reflecting on our national spirit'.

Well that cleared that up. Now I just have to work out how to say it in German.