South Africa has a wide variety of cultures and with this comes a range of Christmas traditions.
Here are a few of these traditions that South Africans practise during the festive season.
Christmas in South Africa is not nearly as commercial as it is in Europe or the United States, where residents sometimes go into debt to buy the best presents and decorate their house extravagantly.
In South Africa, the religious aspect of Christmas is emphasised more than overseas, with celebrations of the birth of Jesus.
The biggest difference between Christmas in South Africa and Christmas in the northern hemisphere is that South Africa is in the middle of summer, so no white Christmas. Many families take a trip to the beaches or nature reserves and enjoy nature. As Christmas is seen as a holiday, no schools or businesses are open on Christmas Day, so spending time with families over a meal is important. The table will traditionally have colours of red, green and gold, complete with Christmas crackers.
In different cultures the preferred meals for Christmas differ.
In the Afrikaans culture people tend to generally eat gammon or cold meats and a malva pudding for dessert, but the traditional Christmas “dinner” is more of an outside lunch that will usually involve a braai.
In Basotho cultures, people enjoy moatwana, which is a chicken feet stew.
Venda cultures love to use maize in their food and use it in almost every meal. The maize is made into porridge and mixed with meat and spinach for a type of stew.
Morogo is a spinach-like vegetable that turns soft when cooked. It is generally enjoyed by Ndebele cultures. It ranges from pumpkin leaves to other greenery.
Some of the Nguni cultures enjoy mqombothi beer and sometimes they slaughter goats, chicken and sheep as part of their family celebrations.
In Xhosa culture, people enjoy umngqusho, a dish that includes samp.
In Zulu cultures people feast on a variety of food such as amadumbe, bhatata, isigwagqane, izindlubu.
Although Christmas celebrations differ, we inherited the tradition of decorating our homes and putting up Christmas trees from Western countries. South Africans cannot put up pine trees like in America, because pine trees grow in the winter. Most South Africans put up an artificial tree or make alternative trees, like wooden trees.
Sometimes there will also be an uncle or grandfather dressed up as Father Christmas, carrying a bag of presents for children to open on Christmas Eve.
In whatever way people in South Africa prefer to celebrate Christmas, one thing will always be the same, Christmas is a time for families and friends and it is bound to be a huge social event.
