Herero Day

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Samuel Maharero, Chief of the Herero, during the Herero and Namaqua Genocide, 1904 Samuel Maharero 1904.jpg
Samuel Maharero, Chief of the Herero, during the Herero and Namaqua Genocide, 1904

Herero Day (also known as Red Flag Day and Red Flag Heroes' Day, Otjiherero : Otjiserandu) [1] is a gathering of the Herero people of Namibia to commemorate their deceased chieftains. It is held in Okahandja in central Namibia annually on August 26, the day and place Herero chief Samuel Maharero's body was reburied alongside his ancestors in 1923. [2] Accordingly, the celebrations last three days long, although they usually begin on the Sunday nearest the 23rd. [3]

Contents

Background

The Battle of Waterberg on 11 August 1904 was the final battle of the Herero Wars in what was then German South West Africa. Following the defeat of the Herero force, the surviving Hereros fled into the Kalahari Desert under the leadership of Samuel Maharero. Of the estimated 4–6,000 Herero warriors, only 1,175 reached their destination of British Bechuanaland, the rest died of thirst, hunger, and diseases. [4] [5]

Samuel Maharero gained British asylum at the Bechuanaland Protectorate and lived in exile at Tsau until 1907, and later in the Transvaal. [5] Only after he died on 14 March 1923, was his body relocated to South West Africa. His remains arrived at Okahandja on 23 August 1923, and on 26 August he was reburied there. [2]

Monument to Herero Chiefs in Okahandja: Gravestone of Tjamuaha, Maharero, and Samuel Maharero Maharero monument Okahandja.jpg
Monument to Herero Chiefs in Okahandja: Gravestone of Tjamuaha, Maharero, and Samuel Maharero

Unaware of the role the reburial would play as a commemoration of anti-colonialisation and a symbol of nationalism, the South African administration granted permission for the reburial. The respective ceremony was attended by 3,000 Hereros and by 100 Whites, including high-ranking government officials. Since then, Herero Day is held annually as a gesture of resistance, unity and loyalty, as well as defiance against colonisation, particularly that by the Germans. [2] [6]

Proceedings

The main event of the 3-day gathering is a procession to several graves of Herero chiefs, followed by a church service. The men wear military-style phantasy uniforms, the women wear the traditional dress of the Herero, a voluminous skirt of many layers with a "horned hat", headgear consisting of two wide points. [3]

Heroes' Day

On August 26, Namibia also celebrates Heroes' Day, a national holiday commemorating the Namibian War of Independence which began on 26 August 1966 at Omugulugwombashe. SWAPO and its People's Liberation Army deliberately chose the date of the first armed struggle to fall on the anniversary of Samuel Maharero's reburial, a symbol of nationalism and strength. [6]

The Herero Day assembly typically does not take place exactly on August 26 to give high-ranking government officials with Herero descent the opportunity to attend both events.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

Herero Wars Series of German colonial wars in South West Africa

The Herero Wars were a series of colonial wars between the German Empire and the Herero people of German South West Africa. They took place between 1904 and 1908.

Herero and Namaqua genocide

The Herero and Nama genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century, waged by the German Empire against the Ovaherero, the Nama, and the San in German South West Africa. It occurred between 1904 and 1908.

Herero people

The Herero, also known as Ovaherero, are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. The majority reside in Namibia, with the remainder found in Botswana and Angola. There were an estimated 250,000 Herero people in Namibia in 2013. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. In Botswana, the Hereros or Ovahererero are mostly found in Maun and some villages surrounding Maun. These villages among others are Sepopa, Toromuja, Karee and Etsha. Some of them are at Mahalapye. In the South eastern part of Botswana they are at Pilane. There are also a few of them in the Kgalagadi South, that is Tsabong, Omawaneni, Draaihoek and Makopong Villages. Ovaherero are known as bold culture keepers.The big ball gown dress and the head gear are the main wear for women while men are mostly seen with leather hats and walking sticks.

The Herero people of Namibia are ruled by traditional leaders, the highest office is that of the Paramount Chief. During part of the South African apartheid administration in South West Africa, when Hereroland was a bantustan, they additionally had a political representative to the South African Administration, which was decoupled from chieftaincy in 1980. The current Paramount Chief of the Herero is Vekuii Rukoro, the position of the representative of Hereroland was abolished in May 1989 as part of the transition to Namibian independence which was declared in March 1990.

Okahandja City in Otjozondjupa Region, Namibia

Okahandja is a city of 24,100 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the Garden Town of Namibia. It is located 70 km north of Windhoek on the B1 road. It was founded around 1800, by two local groups, the Herero and the Nama.

Samuel Maharero

Samuel Maharero was a Paramount Chief of the Herero people in German South West Africa during their revolts and in connection with the events surrounding the Herero genocide. Today he is considered a national hero in Namibia.

Battle of Waterberg decisive battle in the German campaign against the Herero

The Battle of Waterberg took place on August 11, 1904 at the Waterberg, German South West Africa, and was the decisive battle in the German campaign against the Herero.

Maharero

Maharero kaTjamuaha was one of the most powerful paramount chiefs of the Herero people in South-West Africa, today's Namibia.

Carl Hugo Hahn 19th-century German Lutheran missionary

Carl Hugo Hahn (1818–1895) was a Baltic German missionary and linguist who worked in South Africa and South-West Africa for most of his life. Together with Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt he set up the first Rhenish mission station to the Herero people in Gross Barmen. Hahn is known for his scientific work on the Herero language.

Hosea Kutako Leader of Ovambanderu people.

Chief Hosea Komombumbi Kutako, was an early Namibian nationalist leader and a founder member of Namibia's first nationalist party, the South West African National Union (SWANU).

Clemens Kapuuo was a Namibian school teacher, shopkeeper, president of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), now called Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), and chief of the Herero people of Namibia. Kapuuo was one of the leading opponents of South African rule of his country until his assassination following the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference.

Heroes Acre (Namibia) war memorial in Namibia

The Heroes' Acre is an official war memorial of the Republic of Namibia. Built into the uninhabited hills 10 kilometres (6 mi) south of the city centre of Windhoek, Heroes' Acre opened on 26 August 2002 and operates for the purpose of "foster(ing) a spirit of patriotism and nationalism, and to pass on the legacy to the future generations of Namibia".

Heroes' Day is a national public holiday in Namibia. It is recognized by the United Nations as Namibia Day. Celebrated annually on 26 August, the day commemorates the Namibian War of Independence which began on 26 August 1966 at Omugulugwombashe.

Kahimemua Nguvauva was chief of the Ovambanderu, a Herero clan in Namibia.

Jonker Afrikaner Namibian politician (1785-1861)

Jonker Afrikaner was the fourth Captain of the Orlam in South West Africa, succeeding his father, Jager Afrikaner, in 1823. Soon after becoming Kaptein, he left his father's settlement at Blydeverwacht with three brothers and some 300 followers and relocated to the area that is today central Namibia. From 1825 onwards he and his council played a dominant political role in Damaraland and Namaland, creating a de facto state.

Hermann Heinrich Vedder was a German missionary, linguist, ethnologist and historian. Originally a silk weaver, he received missionary training by the Rhenish Missionary Society in Barmen between 1894 and 1903, whereafter he was sent to German South West Africa in 1905 and worked as a missionary and teacher trainer until his retirement, first for the black workers and prisoners-of-war in Swakopmund, then at the small mission station Gaub in the Otavi Mountains, and from 1922 onwards in Okahandja, where he taught at the Augustineum school.

Gross Barmen recreational area in Otjozondjupa Region, Namibia

Gross Barmen is a historic settlement and a recreational spa on the Swakop River in central Namibia, north of Windhoek. It is situated on the District Road 1972, 25 km south-east of Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region. Its close proximity to the capital Windhoek makes it a popular weekend destination for locals.

Manasse ǃNoreseb

Manasse ǃNoreseb Gamab was the thirteenth Kaptein of the Khaiǁkhaun, a subtribe of the Nama people in Namibia, between 1880 and 1905. At the start of Imperial Germany's colonisation of South-West Africa, Manasse was one of the most powerful leaders in the area.

Palgrave Commission

The Palgrave Commission (1876–1885) was a series of diplomatic missions undertaken by Special Commissioner William Coates Palgrave (1833–1897) to the territory of South West Africa. Palgrave was commissioned by the Cape Government to meet with the leaders of the nations of Hereroland and Namaland, hear their wishes regarding political sovereignty, and relay the assembled information to the Cape Colony Government.

Manasse Tyiseseta was the leader of a group of Herero with their headquarters in Omaruru.

References

  1. Kazondovi, Lorraine (25 June 2013). "Chiefs to meet over Red Flag Heroes Day". New Era . Archived from the original on 26 June 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 1923 in Namibia KlausDierks.com
  3. 1 2 Irwing, Keith (ed.). "Herero Day, Namibia". namibia-1-on-1.com. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  4. Irwing, Keith (ed.). "The Battle of Waterberg, part 1". namibia-1-on-1.com. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  5. 1 2 Irwing, Keith (ed.). "The Battle of Waterberg, part 2". namibia-1-on-1.com. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  6. 1 2 Garvey, Marcus (1995). Hill, Robert A; Garvey, Marcus (eds.). The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers: Africa for the Africans, 1921–1922. The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers. 11. University of California Press. p. 400. ISBN   9780520202115.