Culture Corner

The capital cows had a surprise for everyone: a giant game of Culture Corner, laid out on the grass like a field of playing cards.

"Each country has four cards," explained Canberra. "A greeting, a favourite food, a festival and a famous animal. Find all four and you've made a match."

Little Thunder rubbed his hooves together. "Easy."

He flipped his first card. A picture of a panda. He flipped another. Spaghetti.

"That's not a match," said Suzy gently. "Pandas live in China. Spaghetti is from Italy."

Beijing wandered over. "In China, we say nǐ hǎo for hello, and at Lunar New Year we have lanterns and dumplings."

Suzy found the cards: nǐ hǎo, dumplings, lanterns, panda. A perfect match! The cards glowed gold.

Spike went next. He found a card with a kiwi bird on it, then one that said kia ora.

"Aotearoa New Zealand!" said Wellington proudly. "Kia ora means hello, and the kiwi is our famous bird. We share hāngī, food cooked in an earth oven."

Spike flipped the hāngī card and then one showing Matariki stars. "Matariki is the Māori New Year," Wellington explained. Another match.

Little Thunder tried again, more carefully this time. Jambo. A lion. Ugali, a maize porridge. Nairobi smiled. "Kenya. And for our festival card, Jamhuri Day, when we celebrate our country."

Match after match, the field filled with gold. Mexico City shared tacos and Día de los Muertos. Tokyo told them about cherry blossom picnics called hanami.

At the end, Canberra flipped the final cards. G'day. A kangaroo. A lamington. Australia Day fireworks.

"That's us!" barked Spike and Suzy together.

Little Thunder lay back on the grass, surrounded by glowing cards.

"I learned that every country has something wonderful," he said. "And that I should always look before I flip."