Yesterday was National Heritage Day in South Africa and like most public holidays, a lot of people choose to celebrate it with their family and friends. Which is perfectly fine but Heritage Day is important and more than just a day to braai meat.
It’s a bit unsettling that this day is becoming commercialised like the other holidays we celebrate, with all the supermarkets trying to sell as much meat and braai paraphernalia as possible. When National Heritage Day was created I doubt that our leaders ever thought that its significance would be downplayed so much so that it would be known as ‘national braai day’.
I’m also guilty of just spending time with friends and having a braai though, and not even discussing what this day means amongst ourselves. My ideal Heritage Day though would have begun with a talk with the elders in my family, where we’d talk about our heritage and culture. Later in the day I’d meet with people from different ethnic backgrounds and we’d get to share our stories, food and culture. But that would have taken a lot of effort and I think that’s the same opinion a lot of South Africans have on celebrating the day.
At the end of the day it is each and every South African’s prerogative to celebrate heritage day as they see fit. I think ‘braai day’ is too easy an option though, and if we chose to celebrate Heritage Day in a way that educated and enhanced our knowledge of our country and its people, then we’d really enjoy it.
