Culture must be lived daily, say Alexandra elders at Heritage Day event
Community gathering at East Bank Hall highlights the urgent need to pass traditions and native languages down to younger generations.
Heritage is not a relic to be admired once a year, but an inheritance that must be handed down.
This is according to Maki Makunyane, a representative of the Ageing with Wisdom Elderly Forum. The forum hosted a pre-Heritage Day event at East Bank Hall in Alexandra on September 23, a day before the national holiday, bringing together several community organisations. Makunyane said pride in one’s culture should not be reserved for a single day on the calendar. “Traditional attire should not be worn only on Heritage Day. It must be worn every day,” she said, adding that it must be passed down through the generations.
Read more: Alexandra elders celebrate heritage at East Bank hall ahead of Heritage Day
She said it pains her to see young people losing their roots, and that elders should guide their children in the ways of their traditions. “It seems that, as South Africans, we are lost,” she said. “We are no longer observing our traditions.”
Pastor Stephanie Ngcobo said celebrating culture is about the future as much as the past. “It is very important that we do such celebrations so that our children may know their roots, where they come from and where they are going,” Ngcobo said.
She said culture and traditions should be observed so that children grow up to carry them and teach them to their own children. In her view, heritage is a chain, and each generation is responsible for passing it on.
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Resident Lillian Mhlanga said the celebration reminds the community where its people come from. “Our children must look up to us, knowing we won’t abandon our traditions,” Mhlanga said.
She said there is growing concern that young people may be losing touch with their culture, and that some traditions are no longer practised as they once were. Still, she remained hopeful. “We hope they will step in our shoes and carry on the practices,” she said.
Makunyane said she hoped attendees would leave with a renewed commitment to staying rooted in their culture, even at home, and to teaching their children their mother tongues.
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