Through various campaigns and events, Castle Milk Stout has embraced, celebrated and promoted our African roots, traditions and spirituality by encouraging South Africans to reflect and learn more about their origins.
This culminated in the brand converting its passion for savouring and celebrating African culture into a partnership with the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) to establish the inaugural Ancestors Day on May 8.
“As the Castle Milk Stout Brand, we want to invite the public to join our call for the government to officially recognise Ancestors’ Day on the national calendar. May 8, 2021, saw us celebrating the first-ever Ancestors Day in partnership with CONTRALESA.
Now, we have an even bigger dream and goal for this day, and, therefore, urge the public at large to add their voice on why Ancestors Day is important to them for a chance to win R5 000. The petition to endorse this campaign can also be signed HERE,” said Castle Milk Stout brand manager Khensani Mkhombo.
This call to action kicked off on April 25, whereby a panel discussion unpacking ancestry and African spirituality was facilitated by seasoned host Nimrod Nkosi.
Nkosi GB Matanzima said, “We fully lend our support to this noble cause, and we will do our best to influence provincial and local houses to do likewise. Honouring Ancestors Day will go a long way in ensuring that as Africans, we promote what is ours, instead of promoting what is not ours.”
Spiritual healer and educator Gogo Dineo Ndlanzi of the Ndlanzi Institute of Spiritual Healing said, “We need to understand that we are multidimensional beings. We, as Africans, are the mothers of spirituality. We are a physical manifestation of God. When we are cooking something that will break history, something needs to be shaken within us. Something that is beyond what we are trying to conceptualise.”
CONTRALESA’s Zolani Mkiva said, “We need to embrace the whole notion of indigenous knowledge systems and make it part and parcel of our daily lives to liberate ourselves mentally.”
