ANZAC Day

Today is ANZAC Day here in Australia, the day veterans are honored and remembered. From Wikipedia: The term ANZAC originated as an acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, an army corps of Australian and New Zealand troops who fought against the Turks in 1915 at the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was disbanded in 1916 and other ANZAC formations were then formed and fought during that war in the Middle East and on the Western Front. Within Australasia, ANZAC came to stand not just for the troops in World War I, but for Australian and New Zealand soldiers in time of war more generally. Anzac Day is observed annually in memory of those soldiers who died in war.
There aren't any big weekend shop sales (like there would be at home) instead it's a real day of remembrance. There was a dawn service this morning at the memorial downtown. We talked about going and decided not to, however we ended up just missing it since we were awoken at 6:45 this morning when the fire alarm went off. There's a parade at 10 that starts with an air force fly over.
We went to a BBQ last night and Travis asked around about some ANZAC day traditions...I'll pass the blogging over to him now so he can let you know what he learned.

TTM here:
To really be in the ANZAC spirit, you will get up and go to a dawn (5:15 a.m.) military-style service, with bugles and some speakers and readings. Virtually every town and suburb has a service. Following the service you go and have a soldier's breakfast of sausage, eggs, and rum. Later in the day you will play Two-Up, a betting game involving flipping of two coins. The game has Irish/English roots, and was played extensively by Australia's soldiers during WWI. The game is illegal outside of casinos in Australia except on ANZAC Day, when it is played in the serviceman's clubs and hotels (pubs).

ANZAC day is taken seriously by Australians and Kiwis and most will take part in the remembrance. Many regard ANZAC day as a spiritual day and it has not devolved into a commercial holiday. Since Australia has a relatively small population (~22 million) just about everyone here has a close connection to someone in the military.