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Popular Local Customs | Other Local Customs Tips | All Tips (67) As the southeast breeze kicks up outside Cape Town's Greenpoint Stadium, the sound of strumming banjos and banging drums reaches a crescendo, and thousands of merry minstrels hold onto their multicolored hats. It's the final day of the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival, known more colloquially among "coloured" or mixed-race Capetonians as the "Carnival," and the excitement generated by weeks of parades and months of preparation is building to a climax. Dressed in a dazzling array of shining colors, the " kaapse klopse"--mostly men but also some women and children--burst spontaneously into song and dance. They croon in the local Afrikaans dialect of "Kaapse taal" (literally, "Cape language"), jump into little Chaplinesque jigs, and pump their parasols to and fro. Leave a Comment
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The South African Freedom Day (April 27) is now firmly associated with the Freedom to Sing Day. It`s the day of Singathon organized by the Cape Town Opera (CTO) at the Waterfront amphitheatre in which singers from all walks have the chance to raise their voices in song and to raise money for opera.
Started in 1999 as an experiment, the Singathon has become an annual tradition providing a load of fun for professional and amateur soloists, choral groups, children`s choirs who donate their voices for the day. CTO`s own choral groups and Sanlam Studio singers are also there to ensure the singing never stops. If you are in Cape Town on this day, take a break from your morning meanders to experience this joyous event for yourself. I'm usually not an Opera fan, but these songs and performances were truly heart-moving. I couldn't stop listen to it! Leave a Comment
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There is nothing better then enjoying a traditional South African braai. It is usually done on a wood burning fire outside. The men traditionally are in charge of cooking the meat whilst drinking several beers whilst the women prepare yummy salads like potatoe salad, carrot & orange salad, coleslew, noodle salad, rice salad curried with peaches & a tossed salad which could contain fruiit.
The sausage is called borewors which is a spicied sausage coiled into a round. Sosaties are cubes of meat & vegetables on a stick. Chops & chicken are also pretty common. People do fish in tin foil (although I'm not a lover of fish)
South Africans make a day of having a braai & the goodness is in the eating - hungry just typing this Leave a Comment
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Traditionally the 2nd January has been an unofficial holiday in Cape Town. (no where else in South Africa is "Tweede Nuwe Jaar" celebrated.
With its origin apparently as a holiday for slaves during the early days of the Cape of Good Hope, the tradition continues today and is celebrated by troops of colourful minstrels or "coons" as they were more commonly known. Leave a Comment
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The daily firing of Cape Town's historic Noon Gun. Situated high up on Signal Hill's, Lion Battery, it has a clear view of the sea as well as the city below. There are actually two guns performing this ancient ritual of announcing 12 o' clock to the Mother City, alternating between them every other day, with the 2nd on standby in case the duty gun fails to fire.
The terrain is now open to the public to see the daily firing of the noon gun, this particular gun has been replaced by a similar one, the two now standing side by side.
Soon after the English occupation of the Cape in 1795, the Dutch guns were removed from Imhoff Battery at the Castle and replaced by the latest English 18 pounders.
A time signal has been fired by one of these guns since 1806.
With the advent of the "galvanic telegraph" it became possible to trigger a gun remotely and since 1864 the noon gun has been accurately fired from the master clock of the oldest timekeeper in the country, the South African Astronomical Observatory as it is still being fired today.
As Cape Town developed and grew, the noise of the gun became too loud and violent for the city centre and the guns were moved up to signal hill's Lion Battery from where they are still fired today. The first signal fired from here was on the 4th of August 1902. These same guns are still in use today and the 2 guns used are the oldest guns in daily use in the world. Leave a Comment
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Every Year the Cape Coons march in the streets of Cape , I guess here you`ll get to see all the local people here.
I have collected some info on them which you can checkout for interest sake.
Coon Carnival CEO Mr. Melvyn Mathews (picture at left) of the Hip Hop All Stars (previously The Penny Pinchers All Stars) who was responsible for the organisation of the 2003 road march confirmed this view. “This carnival is getting big and big sponsors are starting to throw good money at us and we cannot afford the image of gangsterism to ruin the coon carnival... It’s now become one of Cape Town’s major tourist attraction’s and we (the minstrels board and the city of Cape Town) are working very hard at improving our image so we can even take on the Rio Carnival... Yes we had problems in the past, you even photographed some of them. But if you look at this years carnival then you can see that we are succeeding and that with our big plans for 2004 we’re taking this to a higher level, never seen before” said Mathews.
Melvyn Mathews (54) is an authority on the Cape Town Coon carnival and has been a part of it since he was two years old. For more information, Mathews can be contacted in Cape Town at telephone numbers +27 83 733 8522 or +27 21 593 1888 Leave a Comment
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Initiation still takes place amongst the Xhosa people. Girls sometimes get circumcised too (which is largely frowned upon!), but boys are mainly circumcised. There has been an outcry for this practice to stop as there have been accidents and things have gone wrong, scalpels aren?t sterilized so infection sets in etc. But it does still go on, but mostly in the rural areas.
The boys are taken away from their village and go and live in the bush together for a few days. They partake in traditional bush dances, one being the 'Amakwetha', paint their bodies with a white clay substance and wear headdresses.
www.siyabona.com has some lovely detail about exactly what happens at one of these gatherings. Definitely worth a read! Leave a Comment
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People in Africa are generally more physical with one another. They do not have the same concept of a need for personal space as westerners do. This physical closeness has some positives, one being mum carrying baby on her back with a blanket tucked securely beneath the baby and tied around mums waist. This is a cultural thing too of course, as prams are not available as they are in the west. I personally like this for a baby. Baby feels mums heartbeat and its more comforting, even if your pram (buggy) happens to be a cool 4x4 haha
Another aspect of their community is friendship. They are very community-orientated, people are readily accepted into their homes to share meals with them (albeit them being meagre anyway), and friends are easily made. They help each other a lot and work well in a community.
Selfishness is not a word that seems to fit into their clicking vocabulary :) Leave a Comment
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their humour, their traditions, their foods
all sperlatives;
for those who know "old adderley" street and the flowers vendors, the witty biting remarks;
the removal of District ^ and others to lands too far away, took away the original heart and soul of Ou Kaapstad.
Bo Kaap below Signal Hill has a touch, but not as intense as before. Leave a Comment
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Xhosas are renown for their very unique and tasteful personal adornment and style in dress. They have a fondness for the colour, red ochre, and dye their blankets in this, which they then wear over their dress. Hence them often being referred to as The Red Blanket People.
Unwed ladies leave their breasts exposed and tie a wrap in their hair as a sign of their status. Engaged women plait their hair, letting it fall over their eyes as a sign of deep respect and acknowledgment of her future in laws. The older you are, the more elaborate and beautiful your headdress can be. Some women put brass bangles and beads around their necks, arms and legs too.
Men dress down generally, only wearing a goat skin for protection. They wear more elaborate outfits during ceremonies.
Mary and Rejoice worked at my mums nursery school and creche. She had it for just over 20 years. Here, her staff wore creche assistant uniforms. In the evenings they would wear usual western-style clothing. When they went home (to their rural home where their family are) on a weekend, they would dress in more traditional apparel for special occasions, but generally still wear western-style clothing.
Mum moved to the UK for a couple of years and has since moved back to South Africa. She is still in contact with Mary, Rejoice and the other staff as they became such a part of our family. They are very dear to us. Leave a Comment
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