FROM rural gravel roads, to walking barefoot to school … from those gorgeous traditional ceremonies with African prints, to that delicious dish of isgwaqane (sugar beans and mielie meal) – those are some of the things Zulu people love about their tradition and upbringing.

These are some of the things that form part of their heritage.

What does Heritage Day mean to you?

It means celebrating who I am and the things I believe in, and celebrating the background I come from that has played an instrumental role in who I am today.

It is about celebrating it with the people who understand why we do things the way we do them, why we believe in this and not that.

How will you and your family/friends be spending Heritage Day?

My family and I will go to church on the day since it will be a Sunday. We might have some traditional food  afterwards.

What memories/nostalgia and notions of home do you still have?

1. If you don’t want to go to church, then the grandparents will ask you to go out of the gate, you will only come back when they come back from church.
2. If it is your birthday, my grandfather will be the first person to come to my room to wish me happy birthday before he goes to work.
3. If you’ve achieved anything, whether it’s passing matric or achieving at a tertiary level, the grandparents will buy you a chicken and they’ll slaughter it, clean it and then they’ll prepare it in the oven.
4. If I will be leaving home for a period of over a month, my grandmother will bake for me, roast a chicken or something, so that when you get to where you are going, the people there will know that you come from a family that cares.

What family traditions do you still value and adhere to in your everyday life?

7pm everyday is dedicated to the family praying together. If you want to get into trouble with the grandparents, all you have to do, is miss that prayer session.

What is a traditional dish you would all share as a family?

Idombolo noMgxabhiso (dumplings and tripe). We generally have this dish if we hold a traditional ceremony. For example, recently we erected my late mother’s tombstone. When you do that, you have to slaughter either a chicken or goat to ‘let the ancestors know that you did something for the dead’.

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What is the best advice or saying anyone in your family has ever given you and will you pass it on to your kids one day? 

The day my late mother dropped me off at the taxi rank when I was going to do my first year in varsity, she said something that I’ll never forget.

“Ntando, you are going to meet people from all walks of life, remember where you come from, when you get there don’t compare your life to anyone else’s. You know what kind of home you come from and how hard at home they work for their money. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re just because of the pressure of fitting in.”

She also said that the main reason I went to Durban (to study) in the first place was so that I would come back with what I was hoping to achieve.

Until this very day, those words have been very helpful, and I remember them in all circumstances, whether I am going to the Caxton Training Academy, a new work place, or even in a new group of friends.

What about your specific culture is misunderstood and what would you like other cultures to understand better? 

The annual reed dance. But besides that, there are things that I don’t understand about my culture, things that are problematic. I’m talking about the level of patriarchy that exits in the Zulu culture that demeans Zulu women. This is something I feel strongly about.

What goodwill message do you have for your fellow South Africans?

As South Africans, we need to develop a culture of being open to diverse views and beliefs, in that way we won’t waste time preaching the word of social cohesion.

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