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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 August 23. [3]
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] [ self-published source ] [5] [ self-published source ]
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]
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] [ self-published source ] [6]
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]
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. 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 ]
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.
The Herero and Nama genocide or Namibian genocide, formerly known also as the Herero and Namaqua genocide, was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment which was waged against the Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama in German South West Africa by the German Empire. It was the first genocide to begin in the 20th century, occurring between 1904 and 1908. In January 1904, the Herero people, who were led by Samuel Maharero, and the Nama people, who were led by Captain Hendrik Witbooi, rebelled against German colonial rule. On 12 January 1904, they killed more than 100 German settlers in the area of Okahandja.
The Herero are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. 178,987 Namibians identified as Ovaherero in the 2023 census. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there are also significant populations in Botswana and Angola, and a small number in South Africa. The Hereros in Botswana and South Africa are there because of displacement during the 1904 - 1908 genocide committed by the German Empire.
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.
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.
Otjimbingwe is a settlement in the Erongo Region of central Namibia. Otjimbingwe has approximately 8,000 inhabitants and belongs to the Karibib electoral constituency.
Maharero kaTjamuaha was one of the most powerful paramount chiefs of the Herero people in South-West Africa, today's Namibia.
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.
Chief Hosea Katjikururume 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 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. It was created to "foster a spirit of patriotism and nationalism, and to pass [this] 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 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 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-west of Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region. Its close proximity to the capital Windhoek makes it a popular weekend destination for locals.
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.
Manasse Tyiseseta was the leader of a group of Herero with their headquarters in Omaruru in what is today Namibia.
The Okahandja Reformed Church is a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in central Namibia.
Squatting in Namibia is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. European settlers arrived in the nineteenth century and acquired land, leaving only 38 per cent of land in indigenous hands by 1902. This led to squatting and the Herero Wars, which ended with the Herero and Namaqua genocide. After Namibian independence in 1990, squatting increased as people migrated to the cities and land reform became a goal for those who had participated in the liberation struggle. By 2020, 401,748 people were living in 113 informal settlements across the country. Squatting continues to be regulated by the Squatters Proclamation of 1985; a challenge to this law was dismissed by the High Court in 2023.