Heritage Day (South Africa)

Last updated

Heritage Day
Observed bySouth Africans
Date 24 September
Next time24 September 2024 (2024-09-24)
FrequencyAnnual
First time24 September 1995

Heritage Day (Afrikaans : Erfenisdag; Xhosa : Usuku Lwamagugu, Usuku lokugubha amasiko) is a South African public holiday celebrated on 24 September. On this day, South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their culture and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people.

Contents

When Heritage Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as a public holiday. [1]

History

In KwaZulu-Natal, 24 September was known as Shaka Day for most people, in commemoration of Shaka, the Zulu king of southern Africa, on the presumed date of his death on this date 1828. [2] [3] Shaka played an important role in uniting the desperate Nguni clans into a cohesive Zulu nation. [4] Each year people gather at the Shaka Memorial to honor him on this day. [3] The Public Holidays Bill presented to the post-Apartheid Parliament of South Africa in 1996 did not include 24 September on the list of proposed public holidays. As a result of this exclusion, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a South African political party with a large Zulu membership, objected to the bill. Parliament and the ANC reached a compromise and the day was given its present title and accepted as a public holiday now known as heritage day. [2]

... when South Africans celebrate the diverse cultural heritage that makes up "rainbow nation". It is the day to celebrate the contribution of all South Africans to the building of South Africa

Lowry 1995, p. 21


Celebration

South Africans celebrate the day by remembering the cultural heritage of the many cultures that make up the population of South Africa. Various events are staged throughout the country such as braai to commemorate/remember this day. [5]

Former Western Cape Provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool addressed the public at a Heritage Day celebration at the Gugulethu Heritage trail in 2007 in Gugulethu. [6] In Hout Bay, there is an army procession and a recreation of the battle fought there.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaka</span> King of the Zulu Kingdom (1787–1828)

Shaka kaSenzangakhona, also known as Shaka Zulu and Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. One of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu, he ordered wide-reaching reforms that reorganized the military into a formidable force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zulu people</span> A Nguni ethnic group in Southern Africa

Zulu people are a native people of Southern Africa of the Nguni. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, with an estimated 14.39 million people, in total of which 13.78 million people live in South Africa, mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of South Africa</span>

The first modern humans are believed to have inhabited South Africa more than 100,000 years ago. In 1999, UNESCO designated the region the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site. South Africa's first known inhabitants have been referred to as the Khoisan, the Khwe and the San. Starting in about 1,000 BCE, these groups were then joined by the Bantu tribes who migrated from Western and Central Africa during what is known as the Bantu expansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Day of Reconciliation</span> Public holiday in South Africa on 16 December

The Day of Reconciliation is a public holiday in South Africa held annually on 16 December. The holiday came into effect in 1995 after the end of apartheid, with the intention of fostering reconciliation and national unity for the country. Recognising the need for racial harmony, the government chose the date for its significance to both Afrikaner and indigenous South African cultures. The celebration of the Day of Reconciliation can take the form of remembering past history, recognising veteran's contributions, marching, and other festivities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durban</span> Third largest city in South Africa

Durban is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South Africa, on the Natal Bay of the Indian Ocean, Durban is South Africa's busiest port and was formerly named Port Natal. North of the harbour and city centre lies the mouth of the Umgeni River; the flat city centre rises to the hills of the Berea on the west; and to the south, running along the coast, is the Bluff. Durban is the seat of the larger eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which spans an area of 2,556 km2 (987 sq mi) and had a population of 4.2 million in 2022, making the metropolitan population one of Africa's largest on the Indian Ocean. Within the city limits, Durban's population was 595,061 in 2011. The city has a humid subtropical climate, with hot, wet summers and mild, dry winters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mfecane</span> 1815–1840 period of civil conflict in southern Africa

The Mfecane, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane, was a historical period of heightened military conflict and migration associated with state formation and expansion in Southern Africa. The exact range of dates that comprise the Mfecane varies between sources. At its broadest, the period lasted from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, but scholars often focus on an intensive period from the 1810s to the 1840s. The concept first emerged in the 1830s and blamed the disruption on the actions of King Shaka, who was alleged to have waged near-genocidal wars that depopulated the land and sparked a chain reaction of violence as fleeing groups sought to conquer new lands. Since the latter half of the 20th century, this interpretation has fallen out of favor among scholars due to a lack of historical evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Joseph</span> S African anti-apartheid activist, 1905–1992

Helen Beatrice Joseph OMSG was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Born in Sussex, England, Helen graduated with a degree in English from the University of London in 1927 and then departed for India, where she taught for three years at Mahbubia School for girls in Hyderabad. In about 1930 she left India for England via South Africa. However, she settled in Durban, where she met and married a dentist, Billie Joseph, whom she later divorced.

<i>The Covenant</i> (novel) 1980 novel by James A. Michener

The Covenant is a historical novel by American author James A. Michener, published in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gugulethu</span> Suburb of Cape Town, in Western Cape, South Africa

Gugulethu is a township in the Western Cape, South Africa and is 15 km from Cape Town. Its name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for our pride. The township was established along with Nyanga in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bantu peoples of South Africa</span> Ethnic descriptor in South Africa

South African Bantu-speaking peoples represent the majority indigenous ethno-racial group of South Africans. Occasionally grouped as Bantu, the term itself is derived from the English word "people", common to many of the Bantu languages. The Oxford Dictionary of South African English describes "Bantu", when used in a contemporary usage or racial context as "obsolescent and offensive", because of its strong association with the "white minority rule" with their Apartheid system. However, Bantu is used without pejorative connotations in other parts of Africa and is still used in South Africa as the group term for the language family.

The military history of South Africa chronicles a vast time period and complex events from the dawn of history until the present time. It covers civil wars and wars of aggression and of self-defence both within South Africa and against it. It includes the history of battles fought in the territories of modern South Africa in neighbouring territories, in both world wars and in modern international conflicts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian South Africans</span> South Africans descended from British Indian indentured labourers, read as slaves, and migrants

Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the largest ethnically Indian-populated cities outside of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nguni people</span> Southern African Bantu cultural group

The Nguni people are a linguistic cultural group of Bantu cattle herders who migrated from central Africa into Southern Africa, made up of ethnic groups formed from hunter-gatherer pygmy and proto-agrarians, with offshoots in neighboring colonially-created countries in Southern Africa. Swazi people live in both South Africa and Eswatini, while Ndebele people live in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in South Africa</span>

Religion in South Africa is dominated by various branches of Christianity, which collectively represent around 78% of the country's total population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zulu Kingdom</span> 1816–1897 state in southern Africa

The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or the Kingdom of Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to the Pongola River in the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Africa</span> Country in Southern Africa

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. Its nine provinces are bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. With over 62 million people, the country is the world's 23rd-most populous nation and covers an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament, is the legislative capital. Bloemfontein has traditionally been regarded as the judicial capital. The Constitutional Court, the country's highest court, is in Johannesburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xhosa people</span> Ethnic group in South Africa

The Xhosa people, or Xhosa-speaking people are a Bantu ethnic group native to South Africa. They are the second largest ethnic group in South Africa and are native speakers of the isiXhosa language.

<i>Emperor Shaka the Great</i> 1979 book by Mazisi Kunene

Emperor Shaka the Great is an epic poem based on the Zulu oral tradition, compiled in Zulu then translated by South African poet Mazisi Kunene and published in 1979 in the Heinemann African Writers Series. The poem follows the life of Shaka Zulu, documenting his exploits as a king of the Zulu people, who produced considerable advances in State structure and military technologies of the Zulu. Some critics express concern over the historicity of the retelling. However, Kunene's embrace of an African perspective on Shaka's rule expresses an attempt at understanding the apparent horrors observed by Europeans in the history of Shaka.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Durban in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa.

Events in the year 2022 in South Africa.

References

Citations

  1. "Public holidays in South Africa". www.gov.za. South African Government. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  2. 1 2 Jethro 2020, p. 133.
  3. 1 2 Erasmus 2014, p. 227.
  4. Reed 2015, p. 100.
  5. "Heritage day, Braai Day or Shaka Day: Whose Heritage is it Anyway?". South African History Online. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  6. "E Rasool: Western Cape Education Heritage Day celebrations during Heritage Month". www.gov.za. South African Government. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2020.

Sources