Marking Heritage day
History shall live, for as long as people cherish it
September 24 marks one of the well celebrated holidays in the country, Heritage day. Where South Africans reflect back to their traditions as to who they are, their past,present and the future.
Companies, schools and ordinary South Africans simply honour this day by dressing up in their favourite traditional attire of any culture of their choice others go as far as cooking traditional food as well as playing traditional music.
In our days it does not matter which attire you wear you can be a Zulu person but gear up in Indian traditional attire or you can be white and gear up in a Venda traditional attire.
People commemorate events were they are encouraged to learn about their culture through various events that are held all over the country promoting theatre, dance, comedy, food, wine, games, activities and wildlife. They are also encouraged to learn about the national anthem, national flag and other symbols of historic national importance.
What you did not know about Heritage day
Histrory reveals that this day was celebrated in KwaZulu-Natal as Shaka’s day. However when parliament considered the bill of Public holidays the day was not included. This lead to the Zulu Nation, under the influence of the Inkatha Freedom Party, to protest to this.
In order to reach a compromise, the day was renamed to Heritage Day since then, it has evolved parallely into National Braai Day, celebrating the joyful unifying South African tradition of backyard barbeques, known as Braai.
Heritage Day gives every South African the chance to proudly display and revel in their achievements as a nation, and look forward to a peaceful and prosperous future.
Remember, a person who does not know where they come from does not know where they are headed…
