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Celebrations and Public Holidays in SA
Hello!
I work as an English teacher in Sweden and in one of my classes we’re working with celebrations and public holidays in the English-speaking world. What would be some interesting South African celebrations to look into?
Kind regards,
Daniel Julin
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for the great question. Although no official public holiday, for South Africans one of the most important days of the year and most widely celebrated by civil society, government and the corporate world, is “Mandela Day”. It is been held in celebration of Nelson Madela’s birthday. Thus, each year on the 18th on July, South Africans go out in large numbers to donate 67 minutes of their time to a charitable cause. This could be, e.g. painting buildings at an orphanage, caring for elderly ans sick, etc.. The 67 Minutes are a symbol for the 67 years Nelson Mandela fought for justice against the Apartheid regime. Usually though, people make it a half -or full day activity.
For further info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandela_Day
Also widely celebrated in South Africa is the 16th of June, the so called “Youth Day”. It is an official public holiday. It significants is with the Soweto uprising of school pupils, who in 1976 fought against the mandatory use of “Africans” as a language for educations and general segregation of ethnicities in schools.
For more info: https://www.officeholidays.com/countries/south_africa/youth_day.php
or https://www.gauteng.net/attractions/hector_pieterson_memorial_and_museum/
All the best with the class project! 🙂
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