South Africa celebrates a wealth of public holidays to reflect its cultural diversity
South Africa has more public holiday than most countries, because of their divisive history.
Public holidays in South Africa in the past used to reflect the beliefs of the ruling white minority government. The present government wants public holidays to be for all the people of South Africa.
So many of the public holidays like Youth Day, Women’s Day, Human Rights Day and Workers Day all have a historical significance.
Many of the existing holidays have had name changes, like the Day of Reconciliation and Family Day to better reflect the culture melting pot of South Africa.
Other public holidays have a definite “nation building” function. Freedom Day celebrates the day all South Africans went to the poles in the first democratic election. Heritage Day encourages South Africans to learn a little more about each others’ culture.
Public Holidays that underwent no changes are the Christian celebrations of Good Friday and Christmas Day. Easter Monday has been changed to Family Day to be more reflective of SA’s Religious diversity.
Cape Town has a great amount of religious tolerance. Jewish and Islamic holidays are all celebrated here. Everyday the local newspapers have a verse from the Bible, the Koran and the Talmud.
South African public holidays give South Africans a chance to reflect on the past and work toward a common future. It’s a tough task when you consider there are 11 official languages and seriously conflict-ridden history.
Molo Says: Everyone likes a day away from work and South Africans are no different, but on the next public holiday take a minute to reflect on what the day means. Why not visit one of the sites of the struggle in our culture and heritage section to get a thorough understating of what the majority of South Africans did to earn these public holidays."
Cape Town and South Africa always have great events, festivals and rallies on all public holidays. Discover things to do, both outdoors and inside on public holidays and read about some all year round events at CapeTownMagazine.com
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