The fact that South Africa has 11 official languages should point the logical thinker to the fact that a wide variety of cultures can be found in our country. Said logical thinker would be right indeed!
September is National Heritage Month in South Africa – a month in which all South Africans are encouraged to celebrate not only their own heritage, but also the ethnic diversity which South Africa is best known. With Heritage Day – also known as National Braai Day – on 24 September, we are all called to respect one another’s heritage as well as celebrate and remember our own.
The first Heritage Day was marked in 1996 and is truly a day on which this Rainbow Nation’s diversity is celebrated.
“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. We did so knowing that the struggles against the injustice and inequities of the past are part of our national identity; they are part of our culture. We knew that, if indeed our nation has to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of division and conflict, we had to acknowledge those whose selfless efforts and talents were dedicated to this goal of non-racial democracy.” – Quote by Nelson Mandela back in ’96.
Without further ado let’s celebrate this month in a spirit of unity!
