Heritage Day, celebrated on 24 September each year in South Africa, is a public holiday when all South Africans, regardless of race, culture, beliefs and traditions, are encouraged to take stock of who they are and where they came from.

Of course, Heritage Day is also a day you can use to try out something you’ve never done before, or go somewhere you’ve never been. And with the wide range of exciting Heritage Day 2008 events taking place in Cape Town and surrounds, that’s not a difficult task!

This Heritage Day all South Africans can celebrate their common heritage by doing what South Africans do best: braaing. 24 September is National Braai Day , a time to Braai4Heritage.

Heritage Day events in Cape Town are happening all over this beautiful city, and it could be a great idea to start the day off with a visit to any of the Iziko Museums, which are offering a bountiful programme of Heritage Day events, all proudly homegrown.

Expect plenty of poetry, dance and music performances, behind-the-scenes tours, a mini expo, film screenings, drum-making, creative writing and photography workshops. 

To further commemorate the occasion, entrance to all Iziko Museums will be free to the public from 22 – 28 September.

The Joao Ferreira Gallery is exhibiting a Gavin Goodman photography exhibition from 4 – 25 September, and this exhibition, quite suitably for Heritage Day on 24 September, takes a look at issues like identity and the racial divide in post-Apartheid culture.

The final day of the 2008 edition of the Kirstenbosch Biennale is on Heritage Day, and this exhibition of fine botanical art that showcases the country’s floral heritage is a worthwhile thing to do on Heritage Day 2008.

If Heritage Day 2008 stirs up the musical side within you, then a great option for you would be the Katie Melua concert at the Grand West Casino.

Yes, this sensational international singer is performing in Cape Town on Heritage Day 2008 – this is definitely one to diarise.

Another musical treat on Heritage Day 2008 is the Verses Homage to Heritage Sessions at Zula Bar on Long Street from 8.30pm, where you can experience the magic of a Xhosa poet collaborating with an Afrikaans singer/songwriter; an opera singer providing the backdrop to a spoken word piece on life in the Cape Flats and the foot stopping inspiring rhythms of Khoitrans.

Bring along your own piece on heritage and read/perform during the open mic session.

Also happening on Long Street is the launch of the Badilisha African Poetry X-change, taking place at the new home of the Africa Centre at 44 Long Street – also home to The New Space Theatre. The event on Heritage Day, from 15h00 to 17h00 and free of charge, is titled Belongings: A Poetic X-ploration of Heritage and is a feast of ten Cape Town poets who will bring their inspired and varied voices to a creative re-engagement of our personal and political histories.

Each poet will bring a box – a container and symbol which they will “unpack” through poetry and performance, sharing with the audience the significance of this apparently neutral container now infused with meaning.

Another great Heritage Day 2008 event you could consider is the Whiskey, Whales and Jazz Festival in Plettenberg Bay, which stretches from 20 – 28 September.

A highlight of this is the Heritage Jazz Concert on Saturday 27 September, so take a Heritage Day long weekend and head to Plett!

Our next suggested Heritage Day 2008 event is also not in Cape Town, but we also love Egoli (Johannesburg), so we’ll tell you about it anyway!

It’s the opening of a major retrospective exhibition at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, on the life and times of...