September is celebrated as heritage month; a time when we as South Africans come together united in diversity.
Hear the beat of a Zulu drum and the ululating of dancing Xhosa maidens. Feast on a traditional South African braai with the aroma of sizzling boerewors.
Spend a day climbing the eighth wonder on the world, Table Mountain or sit around enjoying a spicy bunny chow with family.
These are all synonymous with South Africa’s rich heritage. But, within the tapestry of broader national heritage, little pockets of traditions are hemmed into the couture of the country.
Newsbreak’s Prabashini Moodley explores our South African-ness in this first part of a series on our heritage.
“We have got to be very conscious about the things we eat, where we eat from, the way we dress, the way we interact with people, our parents with very moral conscious, honesty and trustworthiness.”
Salaji says growing up in his parents’ home, there were always fresh traditional dishes like, Akni
Thirty-four year old Mohammad Salaji from Johannesburg is newly married with two young children. Raised within a very conservative family, religious traditions were at the very core of his family system, some of which he wishes to pass on to his children.
“I eat on the floor with my family. I found it of so much of benefit especially with my young kids; I have got two babies now. The interaction with them was wonderful; you on the floor and things are accessible to them. Although it was a challenge for the wife to clean up and stuff like that, it was a lot of fun.”
Salaji says growing up in his parents’ home, there were always fresh traditional dishes like, Akni , a rice and lamb dish or Dhalgose , a lentil broth with meat prepared almost every day.
In his home now there is mix between takeaway dinners and home-made food like pizza and pasta. With fast food becoming a quicker and easier option, the once-regular traditional dishes are now prepared only during big family gatherings and festivals.
“Compared to our parents we eat a lot, from takeaways and franchises but it is got to be halaal. I wear the Kurtha, our traditional attire.”
Twenty-eight year old Sharusha Naidoo is from Clare Estate in Durban.
“For every little thing, from the dot to the roe ring that we wear, there is a symbol as to why it is so important.”
Naidoo looks every bit the young married Hindu, complete with a large red dot on her forehead to her bright yellow thali, signifying her marriage.
Its traditional symbols that are hard to miss. Naidoo says, these traditions were passed onto her by her grandmother.
“Normal Monday fasting, normal Friday fasting and getting up in the morning, in Hinduism we must wash our hair, we wash the lamp on a Friday morning. That I have learnt from my grandmother to do all those things. The ladies do everything; we do the washing, the cooking and the cleaning. I feel bad even if I see him going to wash a dish or something for me.”
Dressed to the nines in a three piece suit, Mfanafuti Keswa from Lamontville in Durban is every inch the new age gentleman of the day. He values his cultural heritage.
Beneath his short-cropped hair and well-groomed appearance, Keswa holds fast to his tradition.
“On the marriage, first of all we will do the marriage of going to church and getting the certificate done. But then after that, we have the traditional marriage, it is about the clothing and what has to be done like the slaughtering of the cows and the meaning of it. Part of that cow goes to the groom’s home, and another should go to the bride’s home. Wearing Ibeshu or Upaselo, those are part of the traditions that we use.”
Keswa says he wants this heritage to remain alive through his children.
“They must know where we come from. That is most important. They must know everything. Never forget what we have been through so that we know how to do forward within life.”
At the other end of the scale, thirty-five year old Reevs Papiar from Phoenix in Durban says he holds on to his South African heritage and nothing else.
“Well I don’t hold particular true to my heritage in terms of language or dress. I’m just a South African and true to that – whatever that means.”
South Africa is more than a mix of different cultures. This unique heritage as a diverse nation made up of several cultures, is united by a single legacy that brings us all together as one rainbow nation.
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