Becky was here in the month of Monday holidays. Half of the Mondays we had off because of public holidays and one of those days was Anzac Day. Since I am so used to quoting sources at this point because of my paper I will plug Wikipedia and state that “Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all those who died and served in military operations for their countries.” (don’t worry, I usually reference my works properly and I don’t use Wikipedia :) )
There are many traditions on Anzac Day including playing two-up at all pubs, surf clubs etc and dawn services. Originally, Todd, Becky and I were planning on bike riding down to Currumbin for the supposedly best and biggest dawn service on the coast. It started at 5am or so and we would have had to be up at 3 in order to bike the 13K. Well the night before we got a little crazy and were playing cards with some of Todd’s friends, Stef and Kristy, so we ended up deciding to sleep more that 3 ½ hours and we drove down to Coolie (Coolangata) for the service instead. This is the city I have mentioned many times (where the airport is, good surfing, Al’s place etc).
The Anzac Day dawn service was extremely impressive. It was set against a bay leading into the ocean and throughout the service we watched the sun rise as speakers discussed the bravery of the Diggers (slang term for Australian and New Zealand soldiers) and the other soldiers still fighting today. Dawn services occur all over Australia (there were 3 happening between Mermaid Beach and Coolie where we went) and they all contain the following elements: introduction, hymn, prayer, an address, laying of wreaths, recitation, the playing of "The Last Post", a minute of silence, "Reveille", and the playing of both New Zealand and Australian national anthems. As we discussed later, Becky and I stood there linked arm and arm both thought about how respectful and well done the service was. There was no more than 150 people and we were all linked together in this incredible spot to pay tribute to fallen soldiers. I have never experienced something so simple and considerate in relation to Veterans Day in the states. I would say my only experience that comes close is during Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) at Hillel, all 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust are remembered as their name is read aloud in a continuous cycle that often lasts for 28 hours or so. In any case, standing there watching the Anzac Day dawn service unfold made me think about what an incredible country I have been living in the past year and how much I will miss elements of it when I go home.
Of course Australians cannot have a remembrance day or a holiday in general without some extra hubbub at the local pub. For Anzac Day the key event is a game called two-up, the simplest form of gambling ever. The game is played as so: one person calls out an amount they are betting such as $5.00 on heads and then someone else in the pub that is standing around in the circle will take that bet and say $5.00 on tails. The spinner (the person flipping the coins) flips three coins in the air and best 2 out of 3 wins that round. Nothing more complicated than that! Of course one can lose a lot of money very quickly this way (not that gambling in general is a big money maker). This game is only played on Anzac Day in remembrance of the Diggers as they played this game to pass the time in the trenches. We didn’t actually play any two-up as we ended up going water skiing later that day and then passing out early because of our crazy card session the night before ;) but it was really fun to learn about another unique Australian tradition.
Ps. Happy Mother’s Day to all you special women out there! :)
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