On Tuesday South Africans all over the world will be celebrating Heritage Day, aka Braai Day, with a chop and a dop.
Celebrity cook Gadija Sydow says she loves sharing her cooking skills as part of her Cape Malay heritage.
“It’s about how we grew up, what we ate while growing up... the crisp morning air as we stood in line early in the morning with our Tupperware bakkies to get our beloved Sunday morning koesisters,” she says.
Radio personality Tyrone Paulsen says: “For me it’s about celebrating or recognising those who came before me, those people or events that helped shape who we are.
“Yes, Braai Day was a commercial thing, but it really is a way South Africans connect. So let’s celebrate and recognise that our diversity, yet communality is what makes this our Heritage as a South African.”
For actress and comedian Shimmy Isaacs, it’s a double celebration as it’s also her birthday. But she says above all she’s just proud and honoured to be a South African: “I am grateful that I don't just get to share that on the 24th of September, but I get to do that throughout the year as a South African storyteller, as a South African actress.”
Asked what Heritage Day means to him, entertainer Tashreeq De Villiers says: “I'm a Cape Malay coloured, my lineage draws towards Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Bengal, etc. One special day for us is the slaves’ emancipation day, that’s where Klopse derived from. They painted their face and mimicked the slave masters, and in a language only we knew. I'm proud of that, we are happy to celebrate that.”
Reality TV star and drag diva Kat Gilardi says: “It's celebrating who I am, where I come from and being proud of where I am today. I will have a braai because that’s when the entire family comes together and create memories.”
venecia.america@inl.co.za