When is your national holiday, why did you choose it and how do you celebrate it?

The question:

Date Name Definition

21 March Human Rights Day Anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre in 1960

27 April Freedom Day See following pages

1 May Workers’ Day Celebrating the hard workers daily life in and around SA

16 June Youth Day See following pages

9 August National Women’s Day Anniversary of the demonstration of women against the pass law in 1956

24 September Heritage Day See following pages

16 December Day of Reconciliation Anniversary of the battle at Blood River in 1838 between the Boers and the Zulu

South Africa’s national holidays

A little bit of South Africas background history

(necessary to understand the origin of our national holidays)

• Apartheid was a system of government that promoted racial segregation; eg. black people were forced to speak another language and live under terrible conditions

• during Apartheid non-whites (90% of the population)had limited rights to vote

• Township is a slum (informal settlement), that black people were forced to live in.

South Western Township (Soweto)

Freedom Day……is a day when we South Africans commemorate the first post-apartheid democratic elections held on 27th April 1994

Why do we celebrate it on this day ?

• first democratic elections, where everyone over 18 was allowed to vote

• It was the first time in South African history when a black president was officially elected- Nelson Mandela

People queuing to vote on 27th April 1994

How do we celebrate Freedom Day?

• there are festivals that take place during this day as a commemoration of the first non-racial elections in South Africa

• there are huge celebrations and ceremonies, usually held in big stadiums, where famous politicians present speeches like Nelson Mandela

Youth Day…

Where does it come from?

• Soweto (South Western Township), the biggest township in South Africa

• celebrated on 16 June, when the Soweto riots in 1976 started between black school children and white police men

• black people stood up for their rights against the white government

• the iconic person is Hector Pieterson (picture front page) who was the youngest pupil (12 years old) shot dead during the riots

…is a day on which South Africans honour young people and their rights and bring attention to their needs.

Soweto Riots 1976

How do we celebrate Youth Day?

• by going to the Hector Peterson museum and visiting his grave in Soweto

• by wearing school uniforms (even adults)

• by doing activities at church

• by celebrations and concerts

Heritage Day

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

Lowry, 1995Why do we celebrate it?

• earlier on known as ‘Shaka Day’ (Shaka Zulu was the king of the Zulu/ one of the cultural groups in SA), then changed to Heritage Day

• to remember our cultural backgrounds and where we come from

• because SA has a big cultural variety and different languages

Shaka Zulu out of the movie

How do we celebrate it?

• by representing ones culture by wearing cultural clothes and dancing traditional dances

• by Army Processions, trials, Church events and coming together as a family to Barbecue (‘braai’)

Xhosa women in their traditional clothes

Ndebele woman in their traditional clothes

Zulu dancers in their traditional clothes

We hope we gave you an insight in our interesting holidays and our variegated cultures…