Heritage Day: Unity through diversity

Heritage Day is defined as a South African public holiday celebrated on September 24.

On this day, South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their culture and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people.

Heritage Day, like all other public and religious holidays, is a good time to step back from our fast-paced, routine lives and reflect on the true value and purpose inherent in this day.

In an address marking Heritage Day in 1996, former President Nelson Mandela stated, “When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation.”

South Africa is a magnificent nation, the RAINBOW NATION, a nation so diverse in its people, traditions, belief systems, cultural values and way of life. As South Africans we often fail to understand the true value of this diversity. We become complacent of the colourfulness of our people and their lives – a complacency that does not allow us to gain the true value of distinction and difference.

And what is the true value of diversity? Does not the emphasis on distinction prevent us from uniting as a nation? Life has shown us that this cannot be. Any family, community or nation that has failed to unite as a whole, did not fail to do so due to distinction and difference, but rather due to a lack of understanding of these distinctions.

Differences are inherent in the world. In fact, we cannot conceive of the world without these differences. How do we conceive short without tall, darkness without light? Difference exists.

Understanding these differences is a crucial and oft-neglected step in the process of uniting. Disharmony and discontent arises in a family when each individual does not understand, respect and consequently accept and learn from the differences inherent in all members of that family. Instead they attempt to impose their nature on others and in the struggle for harmony, far more discontent and disharmony results.

Similarly a community or country that remains ignorant of the diversity of its members feels a sense of otherness, develops a resistance towards them. This resistance manifests in action. It is no wonder that we are a world riddled with terrorism, militancy, vandalism and war.

Heritage Day is a day that affords each South African the opportunity to share their heritage with others and in doings so, assists our nation to understand and gain value from the rich culture that has moulded each member. It is in this spirit of understanding and sharing that true unity is established.

Unity is defined as ‘the quality or state of being made one; a condition of harmony.’ Unity is often misunderstood to mean eradicating differences. But this is not so. Unity simply means to function as one unit. Differences may oft-times make the unit stronger.

To take a step back, in order for us to share our culture, traditions and values with others, it becomes imperative that we understand our own culture. It is the obligation of every South African, and every human being for that matter, to dedicate time and effort to truly understanding their heritage and culture. Understanding does not mean knowing.

We may know the different rituals we follow, traditions we practise and values our family carries forth, but do we really understand what they mean, why we continue to practise them and why our beliefs and values are such? A lot of us carry forth traditions, practises and beliefs of the past without ever having questioned its authenticity and truth. We ought not to be a generation of sheep, but rather one of liberal thinkers.

Let us use this Heritage Day to understand the true value ingrained in our culture. With the knowledge that we come to possess and share, we will find that our differences are the most powerful tool to establish a unified South Africa.

Article written by Linestha Chavan, director and Vedanta philosophy teacher, Vedanta Institute Johannesburg