National Heritage Day celebrates South African cultural diversity

National Heritage Day is one of the newly created South African public holidays. The day was previously known as Shaka Day, and was celebrated in kwazulu/Natal. It was changed to National Heritage Day in 2004 when a compromise was reached between the new government and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). On the day all are encouraged to celebrate their cultural traditions in the wider context of the diversity of cultures, beliefs, and traditions that make up the South African nation. Recently the day has also come to be known as Braai Day. The Braai4Heritage initiative encourages all South Africans to have a braai on the 24th of September as a way of celebrating our diversity. The Department of Arts and Culture has declared the theme for 2012 to be “celebrating heroes and heroines of our liberation struggle”. This is in reference to the African National Congress’s 100 year anniversary. Visit our feature on National Heritage Day.