The term ‘heritage’ has a wide range of meanings in South Africa.
Being a multi-cultural country with 11 official languages, Heritage Day on Monday is celebrated in many different ways.
In KZN Heritage Day was previously known as Shaka Day, commemorating Zulu King Shaka who played an important role in uniting disparate Zulu clans into a cohesive nation.
Each year people gather at King Shaka’s grave to honour him.
However, the day was omitted from the proposed Public Holidays Bill before Parliament in 1995, and was later called Heritage Day.
The name change was not aimed at those who celebrated specific isolated cultural events on the day, but rather to draw in other South African communities who previously did not participate, but could now share in a previously divisive history.
In the spirit of reconciliation, a compromise was made to create a day on which everyone in the country could celebrate diversity in cultural heritage.
More than traditional outfits and braais
Heritage Day is not only about wearing traditional attire and getting out the braai tongs, but a time to celebrate our great diversity and culture.
In an urban context heritage may include past events, but also, less tangibly, neighbourhood identities and histories with significance in the present.
Heritage not only refers to our historical inheritance, creative expression and food, but also embraces various languages that have become entrenched in our cultural milieu.
Languages are the key ingredient humans require to build bridges of understanding between cultures and communities.
They are a key factor in building democracy. In an increasingly interdependent world, knowledge of languages becomes indispensable.
Learning a language or enhancing one’s use of a language gives the learner the ability to step inside the mind and context of a culture.
For survival in the global and local communities, every nation needs global citizens who are able to competently communicate and understand each other’s cultures.
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