Every Heritage Day the coloured communities are always faced with the question: ‘What is your culture?’ Over the recent weeks, there have been posts over social media about what attire cultured people need to wear on Heritage Day and the most common outfit that was shared was Carvellas, labelled jeans, a Polo t-shirt and the Kruger coin earrings but is that really our ‘traditional clothing’? When it comes to the word ‘culture’ it is usually defined as ones’ ideas, customs and practises.
There is always much to debate about the ‘coloured culture’ because there is no fixed idea of it. Many people have the idea that the coloured culture comes with gangsterism and substance abuse because of the violence in our coloured communities but how can coloured people be identified with those bad things?
According to an ID document, coloured people are classified under Cape Coloured, Malay, or Other Coloured and when it comes to cultures some people believe that Coloured people are modernised Khoisan.
Could all of these questions be answered by one answer: Do coloured people not have a fixed culture because they are the ‘rainbow nation’? Over the years coloured people have just adopted other African cultures and then there are those who do don’t participate in the festivities of the day. We asked residents to explain what Heritage Day meant to them.
Gladys Gailey said: “Heritage to me is very important and relevant in our democracy, yes. It means our history, our culture, our passion, diversity, where our great-grandparents originate from. Our heritage is so strong as a ‘marginalised, sometimes forgotten’ community.
It’s also a very sensitive issue in the current democracy that we live in. So many times, it is said that we don’t have a heritage, and guess what, it really hurts. A lot of the times ‘we’ are insulted and guess what? I sometimes don’t argue, whom I call ‘fools’, I rather go into silent mode.
After all, ‘we’ are His children, which matters most to me, ‘we’ are His people, created in His image.” Aunty Bree Munnik said that Heritage Day is a day to embrace and honour the rich cultural history and wealth of our country.
Should coloured people have a fixed culture or are coloured people meant to adopt other cultures and is that what makes them unique?
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