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Airdate: Christmas spirit with Christine Anu

Compass special with Christine Anu celebrates Christmas from the Torres Strait to Adelaide Hills.

A Compass special, Christmas spirit with Christine Anu, screens on ABC on Tuesday night.

From hot, sunny summer days and motorbike riding Santas to the vibrant mix of cultures that have contributed their own flair to the annual tradition, join Christine Anu as she uncovers what makes Christmas in Australia like nowhere else in the world.

Christine shares memories from her childhood in the Torres Strait and shows how Christmas songs first inspired her to sing. She also joins children from around Australia in a special performance of her iconic song ‘Island Christmas’.

Celebrating the resilience of Australians, Christine visits families around Australia. She learns how migrant families use Christmas to connect with their community and recreate traditions from home. In the Adelaide Hills, Christine hears how a community rallied together when the 2019 Summer Bushfires cancelled a decades-long Christmas light tradition. Before reconnecting with her own family as they sing the Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’.

Heading back in time, Christine shows us how to make a traditional Christmas Pudding recipe from the 1800s, while food historian Jacqui Newling tells us the history of our edible traditions. And we discover the earliest example of an Aussie Christmas carol, our very own ‘Australian Christmas Song’ from 1863.

Get in the Christmas spirit with Christine Anu this December as she explores the reason for the season.

Production Credits: Producers: Louise Heywood. Editors: Deb Prince, Philippa Byers. Researchers: Mary Tran, Wendy Boynton. Executive Producer: Jessica Douglas-Henry.

8:30pm Tuesday December 21 on ABC

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