oh yes i forgot about how that vegetable is said different I say it brocolee but i remember when watching the Simpsons when younger or the power puff girls they said broccoleye.

I have a question for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere! One of the big traditions for Halloween in the USA at least, is pumpkin carving. Do you have pumpkins for Halloween? I was curious as it'd be Spring where you all are, and pumpkins are a Fall/Autumn thing up here.

I have a question for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere! One of the big traditions for Halloween in the USA at least, is pumpkin carving. Do you have pumpkins for Halloween? I was curious as it'd be Spring where you all are, and pumpkins are a Fall/Autumn thing up here.

No, sorry, we don't do pumpkin carving for Halloween, though I did see some largish pumpkins on display at Coles or Woolworths that just might do the trick, if people did want to give it a try. I'm not even sure what variety pumpkin it is which you use for traditional jack o' lanterns. I've only eaten gramma (pumpkin) pie once or twice, when my Scottish-born sister-in-law made it for us when we came to visit, and I'd have to ask around to see which shops stock gramma pumpkins, if that is the traditional variety of pumpkin. Normally we buy jap, butternut, or our normal greyskin or blueskin pumpkins, often already cut up in half & quarter pieces, so people can judge for themselves what they need, and so avoid waste of the rest of the pumpkin.

Along with other Halloween trimmings, we can buy plastic pumpkin ornaments, if we want, from those bargain shops or Dollar marts, where they sell a lot of party gee-gaws, along with other ornaments and gimcrackery. But for the bulk of Australians prior to WW2, Halloween was very much something that could only have been celebrated by migrants, especially those who arrived as "£10 Poms" or as post-WW2 European refugees. Otherwise, Halloween was a mysterious holiday we only saw celebrated in USA comics/television programs/films rather than something we bothered about ourselves. I did learn about the connection with Samhain through reading books by authors like Geoffrey Trease, Rosemary Sutcliffe and others from UK.

Of course I am answering from an Australian perspective, specifically from the POV of Sydney, where of late there has been more emphasis on Halloween. It may be different in other states, and different again in NZ, or in other parts of the Southern Hemisphere. I was wondering if they would have Halloween in South America, for instance.

I'll be hanging out a witch on a broomstick off our front veranda later on this afternoon, and we have some sweets and lollies on hand for those children who want to parade around, in fancy dress, collecting sweets and lollies. Usually they come in groups with supervising adults, or maybe an older brother or sister, and by nightfall, around 7.00 pm, they will be back home for dinner and homework.

At this time of year, most teenaged children are up to their eyeballs in the HSC, the International Baccalaureate, or other final end-of-year examinations, and Halloween is just a short break from the daily grind. It is a nice day, today, not too hot, so maybe I should dress up myself, in a pin-stripe business suit, fedora hat, and carry a large briefcase with "THE TAXMAN COMETH" written on it. That would be a costume far more scary than most I see, since today, 31st October, is the deadline for 2012-2013 tax returns here.

Next Tuesday is Melbourne Cup Day, a more traditional Australian festivity, especially for the "Mexicans" south of the border, down Victoria way. Victoria even gets a public holiday in honour of this race, which is held at Flemington Racecourse, near Melbourne, and is an international event. The rest of us have to work, though workplaces across the rest of Australia may hold office sweeps and stop for an hour or so, whilst the actual race is being run. The only connection with pumpkins is if serious punters who place bets on the horses, find their "dead-cert" winners have turned into pumpkins at the starting gates.

I have a question for Northern Hemisphere Halloween celebrators, also. Do you get any holidays for these fun and games? Or is it just a spare-time festival, to keep everyone amused?

I saw some large pumpkins advertised for Halloween at my local supermarket this year but not many people actually carve them compared to the US. I took my little brother and sister to go trick or treat.

Thinking of seasons, as many of you are aware in the southern Hemisphere we have Christmas in summer. This song by Tim minchin captures what an Australian Christmas is(well for a non-religious person):

As for the Melbourne cup, it has never really been my thing. Actually going would be alright but watching the race is of no interest of mine.

as many of you are aware in the southern Hemisphere we have Christmas in summer.

So...maybe this is a dumb question, but what time of year do you have school? What I mean is, here, we have "Spring Break", so does that mean you have break right now while we're in school? Or do you have "Winter Break"? Silly, I know.

I have a question for Northern Hemisphere Halloween celebrators, also. Do you get any holidays for these fun and games? Or is it just a spare-time festival, to keep everyone amused?

Technically, it's considered a holiday, but it's not like anyone gets off of work or anything. It's a big thing for people: parades, festivals, parties, haunted houses and hayrides, candy, the costumes, contests for said costumes...that kind of thing. But it's on our own time. It's basically whatever you feel like, we just do trick or treating.

Your costume sounds very funny! Did you end up doing that? Also, do you have mischief night?

Thanks for the answer, Aslanschild. From the amount of effort put into the socialising and festivities for Halloween, that we see and hear on TV, Internet, etc, I thought people must have had actual holidays to celebrate, or else the festivities were incorporated as part of work, or, better, as part of school activities.

As for the Melbourne cup, it has never really been my thing. Actually going would be alright but watching the race is of no interest of mine.

Yes, the razzamatazz connected to the Melbourne Cup would be fun to see in reality, but unless staff are in any workplace office sweeps, students have an hour or so off studying, exams or lessons, or anyone likes to bet on horses, there doesn't seem much point to it at all. I rather enjoyed office sweeps, seeing which horses won, and wearing silly hats during the day, or even just while the race was on. We used to put up a TV for the students whilst the race was on, and even have nibblies on the library counter for them, since we couldn't get away for the Students' Association Party, usually held in the college canteen at that time for students and staff. It was the same story in other places where I have worked, not necessarily in the library.

Your costume sounds very funny! Did you end up doing that? Also, do you have mischief night?

In the end, though I could find a briefcase, I couldn't dress up in a pin-stripe suit, since even if my husband had one, even the jacket would have been too large for me. . But the groups that came around did like the idea. Also, I thought I should really practice what I was aiming to scare people with, and get my own tax return completed, which I did - by the following morning. Er, what, exactly, is 'mischief night'? Is it something like the end of school muck-up days we used to have, before they got out of hand?

So...maybe this is a dumb question, but what time of year do you have school? What I mean is, here, we have "Spring Break", so does that mean you have break right now while we're in school? Or do you have "Winter Break"? Silly, I know.

Not silly. School terms vary slightly across Australia, since the state or territory Education departments control them, whereas Australian universities are part of the Federal jurisdiction. In ACT, NSW and Victoria, the school year ends on 20 December, 2013, and recommences the week after 26th January (Australia Day) 2014. We have a 4 term school year, with an autumn "break" or school holiday in April, usually between Easter and Anzac Day (25th April), another school holiday in the first two weeks of July, which is winter, here, and a third holiday in the last week of September and the first week in October, which co-incides with the Labour Day public holiday, and which you might term a "spring break".

Do you guys have seasonal candies that show up depending upon the holiday? For instance we've got traditional peppermint candy canes at Christmas, Peeps (blech!) at Easter, and around Halloween my favorite of the seasonal variety, candy corn.

It's a candy that's either highly loved or deeply reviled depending upon whom one asks.

as many of you are aware in the southern Hemisphere we have Christmas in summer.

So...maybe this is a dumb question, but what time of year do you have school? What I mean is, here, we have "Spring Break", so does that mean you have break right now while we're in school? Or do you have "Winter Break"? Silly, I know.

This is the gist of the school holiday system. Though university is different.

summer break= mid December to the start/mid February( depending on your state).
Autumn/ Easter break= 2 weeks starting with the Easter long weekend usually
winter break= 2 weeks at the end of June/start of July
spring break= 2 weeks at the end of September.

shadow: I can only really think of seasonal fruit.

As for accents:
I don't know if I have mentioned this before I don't hear any difference between state and state in Australia unlike The USA. Some people think there is but I can't hear it. I can't just hear someone and say they are from Tasmania.

I also recently found out the term public school has the opposite meaning in the Uk. In Australia a public school is government funded and what I gathered from reading David Mitchell's autobiography that a public school in the uk has none or every little government assistance( we call those private schools here) and I believe government funded schools are called state schools in the uk?( In Queensland they call them state schools too).

I have decided I will post a new accent video. So I need some suggestions.... so anything you have wanted to hear in female Australian accent( If you wanted one that sounds like those in the movies sorry I can't help you) suggest now.

Yes, in Britain a "public school" is a highly exclusive and expensive private school; government-funded schools are called "state schools".

As for Hallowe'en, it's nothing like as big a deal in Britain as it is in the States, though it is becoming more popular. It's not entirely a good thing, as "trick-or-treating" can be quite intimidating for residents (especially older people) and potentially dangerous for children, if they go out without adequate supervision. When I was a kid in the Seventies, hardly anyone paid much attention to it. For one thing, it's too close to Guy Fawkes' night, November 5th, which is our main night for fireworks during the year in the UK. And no, we don't get that day off work either. The only holidays that we get off work automatically are New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the first Monday in May, the last Monday in May, the last Monday in August, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

As for school terms, typically they are: Autumn Term: beginning of September to around 20th December; Spring Term: beginning of January to just before Easter; Summer Term: after Easter to middle of July. The Christmas and Easter holidays are usually about two weeks each, and the summer holidays are about six.

I have a question for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere! One of the big traditions for Halloween in the USA at least, is pumpkin carving. Do you have pumpkins for Halloween? I was curious as it'd be Spring where you all are, and pumpkins are a Fall/Autumn thing up here.

Fantasia kitty, I did find this Reader's Digest guide to our usual Australian pumpkin varieties, and also this Sydney Morning Herald article which shows that pumpkin carving might just take off in future, thanks to some farmers in Bowen in Queensland & in Broome, in WA. The article also mentions candied pumpkin sweets for Halloween, which I've never seen before.

Do you guys have seasonal candies that show up depending upon the holiday?

Apart from the above mention of candied pumpkin sweets, which I have never seen, let alone tried, easter eggs, and something that always seems to be around at Christmas, called "White Christmas" I doubt it. I do remember getting red and white peppermint Christmas canes, which looked like the traditional barber's pole, but not everyone likes peppermint. The "White Christmas", which includes coconut and Turkish delight, sounds much more edible. And, of course, at Easter, we get masses and masses of Easter eggs, some of which are filled with associated fillings, such as the Darrell Lea ones. For Anzac Day we get anzac biscuits which are made with golden syrup, butter, flour and oatmeal, and are not sweets.

In Australia a public school is government funded and what I gathered from reading David Mitchell's autobiography that a public school in the uk has none or every little government assistance( we call those private schools here) and I believe government funded schools are called state schools in the uk?( In Queensland they call them state schools too).

Ilf, in Sydney, in particular, we used to have these "Greater Public Schools" which may have been similar to the UK ideas about public schools, which you mentioned, and in King Erlian's post above. Otherwise, in NSW, public schools were government primary schools, in contrast to the State high schools. The Greater Public Schools were the top notch boys' schools, often with histories going back to the 1800's, and not all of them were independent of government funding.

These schools included Riverview (St Ignatius-Catholic), St Joseph's (Catholic), Scots (Presbyterian), Kings (C of E), Shore (C of E), Newington (Methodist or Wesleyan), Grammar (Govt? - selective) and Sydney Boys' High (definitely government -selective). These are the schools which compete in the yearly April head-of-the-river at Penrith, whose ex-pupils once dominated sport, government and the professions, and whose current students were often the sons and grandsons of ex-pupils. But, in 1964, when I sat for the Leaving Certificate, as it was then, and when there was no government funding directed to private or Catholic schools, it was our own ordinary state high school which topped the state in the final exams, not necessarily a GPS school, or even an ordinary Catholic high school, and so there was agitation for change.

There has been a lot of changes since those days, including from three terms per year to four terms, and the shifting of the Head-of-the-river from its original Nepean River location, since the 2000 Olympics. Nowadays, the various governments in NSW, both federal & state, have extended state aid (ie taxpayer's money) to all independent schools, including the wealthy GPS schools, and as well, there have been so many changes in the HSC etc. And so, nowadays, a State school is one which is directly run and funded by the State government and "Greater Public Schools" are just considered Independent schools.

The only holidays that we get off work automatically are New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the first Monday in May, the last Monday in May, the last Monday in August, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

How is it you get two public holidays in May? What are they for? And what is the August holiday for? I thought it would be Bank Holiday, a UK tradition, as far as I know, celebrated on the 1st Monday in August, which isn't a public holiday here, except for banks. The others are holidays we also get here in Oz.

Speaking of public holidays, what are the USA public holidays? And I'd also dearly like to know what are the public holidays in Canada and New Zealand, and what are they for?

Thanks for the answer, Aslanschild. From the amount of effort put into the socialising and festivities for Halloween, that we see and hear on TV, Internet, etc, I thought people must have had actual holidays to celebrate, or else the festivities were incorporated as part of work, or, better, as part of school activities.

Well, as I said, it's on the calendar, so technically, it's a holiday, but it's not "public" and it's on our own time so...take it as you will. But it seems once again, America has just blown it out of proportion. Although my Halloween seems very similar to yours, very simple, very quiet.

Er, what, exactly, is 'mischief night'? Is it something like the end of school muck-up days we used to have, before they got out of hand?

Uh, yeah, kind of; mischeif night is always on the night before Halloween, it's basically for troubles-makers to do...whatever, particularly throwing eggs at cars, smashing peoples pumpkins, jack o' lanterns, and everyone's favorite : stringing toilet paper on your property, TP-ing.

Thanks to everyone for your explanation on school terms and Halloween. It's funny that Australia is on break about the same time as us, while the UK is off by a few weeks, our summer break starts on average, the 1st or 2nd week in June till the last week of August or the 1st in September. Other breaks varied, (that was one of the advantages of being homeschooled) , but Christmas was about two weeks in December and the first week in January.

& Our public holidays would be:

January 1 New Year's Day
Third Monday in January Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Third Monday in February Presidents Day
Last Monday in May Memorial Day
July 4 Independence Day
First Monday in September Labor Day
Second Monday in October Columbus Day
November 11 Veterans Day
Fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day
December 25 Christmas T

Ha I was just thinking of all those times of possible confusion I caused in that home-schooling thread by saying I went to a public school.

I looked up what guy Fawkes day is. It sounds interesting.

I might as well list The Australian list of public holiday's( It slightly differs between states):

Tuesday 1 January New Year's Day
Monday 28 January* Australia Day
Monday 4 March Labour Day
Friday 29 March Good Friday
Monday 1 April Easter Monday
Thursday 25 April Anzac Day
Monday 3 June Western Australia Day
Monday 30 September** Queen's Birthday**
Wednesday 25 December Christmas Day
Thursday 26 December Boxing Day

I Belie Tasmania and New zealand how 8 hour day( to do with working hours , child labour etc) and SA has a day just called march public holiday(that makes me laugh a bit). so hours are mainly around the end and the start of the year.

How is it you get two public holidays in May? What are they for? And what is the August holiday for? I thought it would be Bank Holiday, a UK tradition, as far as I know, celebrated on the 1st Monday in August, which isn't a public holiday here, except for banks.

For many years there was just one in May, on the last Monday, which roughly tied in with the celebration of Pentecost (Whit Sunday). A few years ago a Labour government decided we should also celebrate May Day as a traditionally socialist holiday, so the first Monday in May was also made a Bank Holiday (i.e. a universal public holiday). It's a bit of a nuisance as it means we can get four Bank Holidays in a relatively short space of time, if Easter is late in April, while we don't get anything between the end of August and Christmas.

As for the August Bank Holiday, I don't know what the historical significance is, but to add to the confusion, the last Monday in August is a Bank Holiday in England and Wales, while in Scotland they have the Bank Holiday on the first Monday in August instead. Very confusing if you work in England and have customers in Scotland.

I found it very interesting to read about public holidays in other countries, I'm in the process of looking them up on wikipeida to learn more about them.

here's a list of public holidays in Russia

December 31st/January 1st--New Years (largest holiday in Russia, it's just HUGE and so over done )
January 7th--Christmas
Feburary 23rd--Defender of the Fatherland Day
March 8th--women's day
May 1st--Labour Day
May 9th--Victory Day (celebrating the end of WWII, second biggest holiday in Russia)
June 1st--Children's Day
June 12th--Russia Day
August 22nd--National Flag Day (though this day is not a day-off)
November 4th--National Union Day

(I think that's it, lol, there's a saying that Russians love to party; and a ne'er truer saying is hard to find. It's common that if a holiday is on a weekend, they'll make a work day a day-off as well; cause what's the point of having a holiday if it would have been a day off anyway )

Yes, in Britain a "public school" is a highly exclusive and expensive private school; government-funded schools are called "state schools".

oh, I didnt know that, how interesting in Russia government-funded schools called "state schools" too