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| "To all our Non South African readers, a braai is roughly like a barbeque... as far as I'm aware." - OddballGreg |
Heritage Day, the day everyone calls National Braai Day and spends sitting around a fire with friends and family while celebrating the roots of their history and their country. Swimming and good food are a common component of this day.
We here in South Africa, have a public holiday on the 24th of September known as Heritage Day, (sadly it was yesterday). In Kwazulu-Natal, (one of the provinces here), it was formerly known as "Shaka Day". This was a day of commemoration for the legendary Zulu king, King Shaka Zulu. When the Public Holiday Bill was presented to the New South African Parliament, they omitted Shaka day. The IFP political party at the time, (a South African party with a large Zulu membership), objected the omission and a compromise was reached, in which it was decided to create a day where all South Africans could observe and celebrate their rich cultural Heritage, and thus Heritage Day was formed.
This is a day where all people are encouraged to celebrate their culture and their historical roots. In a way to focus more on the shared culture rather than the differences, a rather new thing has come about known as Braai4Heritage which has called upon the citizens of South Africa to celebrate their heritage and roots around the open fire known as the BRAAI on the 24th September, Heritage Day. In 2007 Arch -Bishop Desmond Tutu was named the spokesperson for Braai Day and in 2008 the National Heritage Council endorsed it as well.
The National Braai Day anthem. Really worth a listen.
Jan Braai has a website hosted just for Braai day. "The National Braai Day initiative aims to position National Heritage Day as South Africa’s annual day of celebration."(quote taken from braai.com.) This website has many recipes that are mouth wateringly good as well as hints and tips on how to get the best cooked meat you will ever see ... and eat.
Yesterday, my family and I gathered around the fire and had a "lekker" braai. (Lekker = Nice) It was a perfect day to go swimming but the water was too cold, so we just went for a rather short lived dip. Throwing a rugby ball around with cousins and kicking a soccer ball around was a rather enjoyable time. After the dip, I was trying to warm up as the sun was setting when my brother decided to pour a bucket of ice water over me, at which point what happened next was really unexpected. I will comment the link for the video once it has been uploaded so you can see.
In any case, Heritage day is a rather great day for us to enjoy a good food cook-up and enjoy the rich culture and history of our county. Also, in my opinion, a Braai is better than a Barbecue. If you agree, or don't, then please let us know your opinion down in the comments below, over Facebook or via Twitter. Thank you for taking the time to read today's post as well and if you happen to have any friends that love to Braai or those who like learning new customs, consider sharing this post with them, as I am sure they will appreciate it. If you would like to see the newest posts like these as they come out, then please do like us on Facebook and.or follow us on Twitter so that you can get the latest articles, as they're published. I shall chat again overmorrow.
Braai safe my friends.
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