Anzac Day - How we commemorate

Image Via Anzac Portal

This week Australia, New Zealand, and other countries around the world remembered and commemorated Anzac Day. For those of you who don't know, Anzac Day (standing for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) falls on April 25 in commemoration of the landing these forces made on the beach of Gallipoli, Turkiye on April 25 1915. 

It is traditional to read the ode, We Will Remember Them (from Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen, 1919). This is such a moving ode, and I recommend that you listen to it if you can, followed by the playing of the Last Post. These two pieces never fail to make me cry. You can listen to a rendition of the ode and the Last Post here. A minute's silence is observed, usually at 11am.

The term Anzac has come to represent many things for Australians and New Zealanders. I don't claim to speak for all of us, but some of the things that I think of when I hear this term is courage, camaraderie, determination and loyalty. Australia was very young as a Federation (only 14 years), when fighting in the Dardanelles broke out and we were still very closely aligned with Britain and British foreign policy.  It was this relationship that compelled the 16,000 odd men to follow the orders from their British officers into the disastrous and ill-fated Turkish campaign.

It is important to remember this day every year. To remember the lives lost and what they stood for. I am not a big fan of war, in fact the opposite could be said most of the time. However, I will not fail to recognise the bravery these people showed under horrible conditions, nor will I tolerate a watered down version of history because it may be too painful to recall. 

Instead of debating or discussing more on the military history of the day, I'd like to share with you what we do to remember and reflect on Anzac Day in our house. Of course, we bake Anzac biscuits. You can read the history behind these delicious, oaty biscuits here. This year, my ten year old daughter wanted to be the baker. The biscuits that are darker were kept longer in the oven and are therefore crunchy. I, however, prefer the lighter, chewier ones. As my girls have dairy allergies, we substitute the butter for a dairy free margarine with no problem.

Here is the recipe we always use (courtesy of the Australian Women's Weekly). 

If you do try these delicious biscuits, please let me know how you like them!

Another thing we have done for the past couple of years is to create a wreath. We have a perpetual wreath on our front door. For a long time, I decorated it seasonally with plastic flowers, but now I use whatever is in the garden to decorate it. For Anzac Day, I chose calistemon (bottlebrush) flowers and rosemary sprigs.I hope you can see how striking this wreath is with the bright red, green and delicate rosemary purple and sage green.

It is important to me that we have traditions in place to commemorate important days like this. I want my children to understand the history of their nation, and its place int he world. It's funny, this year, my children asked why was Turkiye our enemy during World War I, and the truth does seem quite farfetched as they were so removed from our country and the everyday lives of Australians at that time. We looked online for some reasons, and this reflection by the Kemal Atatürk:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

[Kemal Atatürk Memorial, Anzac Parade, Canberra]

Please let me know how you commemorate Anzac Day, or any other significant day in your nation's history. I believe it is so important that we don't forget these defining moments, nor gloss over them with a sanitised view of history. We need to understand the past, before we can move into a future that reflects who we are, where we have come from and what we value.