Our Identity
We are a diverse community of learners. Our classroom community is made up of individual students, each of whom brings a unique personal cultural experience to our classroom community.
We would like to share our cultural identities in the hopes of better understand one another. Please view the comments below to learn more about the students of 6KK 2013. Feel free to leave your own cultural story. The story you share may draw on your national/international identity or your family identity.
(Answer the following questions as a blog response, aim to have your response written as two separate paragraphs within your post.)
What is an example of a tradition that is part of your unique cultural experience?
Is there a celebration or a custom that reflects your values?
Here is an example of a couple of responses, written by students from 2012, to guide your thinking and ensure a high quality response.
By KW 2012
My background is Malaysian. I was born in Malaysia and so were my parents. My two sisters were born in Australia. I celebrate Chinese New Year with my family and each other’s birthday mainly with our family but sometimes with our friends. We also celebrate Christmas.
To celebrate Chinese New Year my family goes around to houses like my aunts’ place or my cousins’ place and many more houses. When we get to someone’s house we greet them as usual. Then we all gather around, give each other tea to drink for respect and then we usually get red packets and they have money inside them. Reason why it’s got money in it is because it gives us luck (I think).
To celebrate things like Christmas we spend the Christmas day at my aunties’ place. They will make dinner and everyone that’s coming will bring some small contribution to the dinner. Same with a birthday party. We just have the party in our garage.
By MD 2012
I live in Australia but was born in South Africa, then South Africa was still safe but starting to turn unsafe in fact so unsafe people started buying guns for safety.
The most known event in South Africa is a weekend Braai (BBQ in Afrikaans) at Braais we usually put a steak on an open fire not a gas fire, then we sit down outside in the beautiful sun and we talk and catch up in our friends lives.
Sometimes when we are really festive we get a big steal pot and put in Lamb or Cow neck with a whole lot of vegetables that taste delicious with all the exotic spices and sauces that are put in the pot of meat, we call this festive and delicious dish Poikie (a nickname for pot food).
My background is mostly Australian. I was born in Australia but my mum was born in Sri Lanka, and my grandfather on my dad’s side was born in Italy. We celebrate Australian Christmas. We also celebrate our birthdays mainly with our family and sometimes with my friends. We don’t get to see my grandparents as much on my mum’s side because they just flew up to Sri Lanka and I hardly no them. I also don’t get to see my uncle and auntie as much only on special occasions because they live up at Queensland.
For celebrating Christmas we normally decide who’s place where going to go to. We are renovating our house and with luck we had to have the Christmas party at our house this year. At the Christmas party we have fun games like we have a partner and the partner has to rap toilet paper around you to look like a mummy we also play musical chairs and so on. We also have a big feast with pizza ,sausage rolls, pies and hot chips.
My background is Chinese. My mum was born and raised in Indonesia. My dad was born and raised in Laos, but he left home at 15 years of age. I am also partly Laos and Indonesian except I am mainly Chinese. I was born in Australia and so was my brother. I am also Christian as my mum was too. I celebrate Chinese New Year, Easter and Christmas.
We celebrate Chinese New Year by going out and having dinner at a Chinese restaurant which is normally Yum Cha. My dad’s birthday is also on Chinese New Year too. We buy a cake and have it at our house. We also get little red packs with some money that was put inside. These packets are called ‘hong bao’(红 包). The packets are normally coloured red with gold. Those two colours are symbols of luck for the Chinese. I get quite a lot in money sometimes.
On Easter, sometimes I go to church. I seldom go to church, but I might if my mum asks if I would like to come. I normally only get to come if the church is having a holy communion on the holidays as I can’t come on Saturday because I have golf and Chinese school.
When we celebrate Christmas we normally either go out or stay at home. I get presents and unwrap them and try, watch or play them. Then we either go to the buffet or Yum Cha. On boxing day we have a mini shopping spree and normally spend $800 at Westfield.
I was born in Iran in 2001, and I came to Australia in 2002 with my mum and dad. My mum cooks me delicious Persian cuisine that her mum used to cook. My favourite dish is green beans, some meat and rice on a plate. My little stepsister is the first generation of my family born in Australia, and she is very cute. She loves watching television and dancing along to music. I am twelve years old now, and my birthday is close to the day of Persian new year, called Norooz. The reason it is called Norooz is because it is the first day of spring at that time. I also have a Persian stepdad. Some things about me is that I love videogames, (who doesn’t) watching movies, reading and surfing the internet. For my birthday party that is coming up soon my friends and I are going to play laser skirmish at Darkzone. Thank you for reading my post.
My background is Australian, Greek and a tiny bit of Russian. My sister brother and I were all born in Australia. My mum and dad were also born in Australia, but all of their parents were born in Greece. My great grandparents and my great- great grandparents on my dad’s side are all Greek. My great grandparents and my great-great grandparents on my mum’s side are Russian and Greek.
My family celebrates Greek Easter. We have the family come over and we have a lamb on the spit after everyone has been fasting. I only fast for a week and a bit, but my grandparents fast for 40 days. My name day is on Greek Easter, which is the 5th of May on a Sunday. We dye hard-boiled egg to a deep red colour. On Easter Sunday we have competitions to see which egg cracks when two eggs smash against each other. Sometimes I put my egg in the freezer so that it is really hard and that I can win. The winner gets good luck for a year. On Saturday morning before Greek Easter, we go to the church to drink religious wine and eat blessed bread to help keep us healthy .Than at midnight we go back to the church to walk around it with candles. The priest talks to us about how Jesus came back to life.
My background is Indian. I was born in Australia. My brother was born in Saudi Arabia. My parents and the rest of my family comes from India. My brother is 17 years old. He is in year 12. I celebrate Ramadan and Eid-Ul-Adha. I sometimes celebrate them with family and friends. We have a lot of fun.
In Ramadan we have to fast for a month. We wake up really early in the morning and have breakfast. We can only eat for a certain time. We have to finish eating before Fajr. Fajr is the early Morning Prayer. We break our fast before Maghrib. Maghrib is the evening prayer. We break our fast with a fruit date. At the end of Ramadan we go to the Mosque and pray. We get money and presents from family and friends.
In Eid-Ul-Adha we go to the Mosque and pray. We have to wear new and clean clothes. In Eid-Ul-Adha we shave the wool of a lamb. We get give and get each other money. Sometimes the adults give lollies to the children. We get free food in the mosque. It is very tasty food. We sometimes go to other people’s houses and celebrate after we go to the mosque. It is very fun and I enjoy celebrating Eid-Ul-Adha and Ramadan.
My back ground is Sri Lankan. My brother and I were born in Australia. We celebrate Deepavali with family and friends. We also celebrate Indian New Year. My favourite celebration is my birthday.
I celebrate Deepavali by going to the temple. The meaning of Deepavali is the celebration of lights. All my cousins come as well. At the temple they would be activities you can do. They will be a ferris wheel, rock climbing and many more. When you get to the temple we pray first then we can start the games. There is also free food. The food we eat is rice, curries, yogurt, and pappadum and for dessert is a Sri Lankan desert is called paiasum.
I also celebrate Indian New Year. In India if it is the Indian New Year they through colourful powder at you for fun. It is similar to April fool’s day. In Australia you can’t do that so we invite family and friends over for lunch or dinner and have a nice conversation. We sometimes give presents to each other.
My background is Greek. I was born in Melbourne at St. Vincent’s Hospital in 2002. My grandparents were all born in Greece but my mum and dad were born in Australia. I have I sister, she is 9 years old. I also have 1 dog, I also have 1 bird. As Greeks we celebrate Greek Easter which is always on a Sunday. On the Friday before Easter we go and walk around the church. On the Saturday before Easter in the morning we go to church and drink religious wine and eat bread. At midnight on the same day we go to the church again and the priest says a prayer, then we go home and have hot chocolate. On Easter day we eat roast lamb and we crack red eggs as a symbol of new life and a new beginning. We celebrate Christmas as well and have a special cake called saragli.
On Greek Easter we did a Greek game we always do, we get an egg that is dyed with 2 colours blue or red then we get an egg and one of us cracks them together, whoever’s egg is not cracked is the winner and they get good luck.
We all had a big feast and my grandfather would always cook the meat on the BBQ. The meat he would cook is chicken, steak, lamb, pork and my grandmother would make roast vegetables in her oven.
For my presents, most of it was chocolate eggs with some dinosaurs with it and my mum got me Luigis Mansion 2 on 3DS.