September 24 is celebrated as National Heritage Day in South Africa. The day is one of our newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the land in which we live.
On September 5, 2007, Archbishop Desmond Tutu celebrated his appointment as patron of South Africa’s Barbecue (Braai) Day, affirming it to be a unifying force in a divided country (by donning an apron and tucking into a boerewors sausage). At the end of 2007 National Braai Day changed its name to Braai4Heritage and the initiative received the endorsement of South Africa’s National Heritage Council (NHC).
While South Africans all over the world are taking to their gardens, balconies, backyards and parks to braai, “Lady GaGa’s brother” was spotted somewhere around Cape Town doing his bit to promote the day:
Cape Town comedian and radio personality Paul Snodgrass donning 10kg of boeries to mark Braai Day
Jan Scannell, also known as Jan Braai has brought home a Guinness World Record that ultimately belongs in South Africa: that of the longest uninterupted braai (or barbecue for the non-South Africans).
The previous record-holder was a German (nogal) who braai-ed for 28 hours and 26 minutes. With the support of the Cape Town media and dedicated listeners, Scannell easily bettered that mark to 28 hours and 30 minutes.
The “tong-master” was quite philosophical about his feat saying: ”(this) victory is not about breaking the record but is rather “a call to action for all South Africans to celebrate our common heritage by having a braai next week“.
“Heritage Day has the spirit of the World Cup without costing the tax payers a cent, and plus you can’t lose at braaing,” Jan said as he turned another braai grill over on the fire.
“Once a year we can celebrate as a nation; whether you are rich or poor, black or white, Xhosa or Zulu or from Durban, the Transkei, the Kalahari or Karoo everybody likes to make a fire and braai,” he said.
You can read more about Jan’s feat on the Braai4Heritage website.
The V&A Waterfront in Cape Town during Jan Braai’s record attempt (Pic: David Brooke/Sport24)
Mission accomplished. Jan Scannell is now the official record holder
With Heritage Day/National Braai Day coming up next month (24 September 2010) some of us on this side of the noodle-curtain may long for a boerie (boerewors) or a lekker tjoppie (chop) on the day thousands of our countrymen back home head to their backyards for a good old South African braai.
If you’re not privvy to your own sausage-maker… fear not, you can still get your boerie-fix. Even if it’s just the taste of it, set on a bun and cooked on your Hong Kong balcony.
I found this video of (Englishman nogal) Heston Blumenthal cooking a Boerewors Burger (or “brrr-wos” as the famous chef calls it).
It’s quick and easy and better yet, the spices required are to be found anywhere in Hong Kong. All you need are coriander seeds (toasted), nutmeg, ground gloves, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs and of course, a mixture of pork and beef. As a shameless promotional aside, Heston uses Waitrose products which can be found in Hong Kong as well.
My own twist includes some fresh coriander (or danya as it is called in the Cape Town Malay community).
Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu on Friday called on South Africans to throw some meat – or vegetables – on the coals to celebrate the country’s heritage and “braai“.
“We experienced an incredible spirit in the month of the World Cup when all that mattered was that we were members of this extraordinary Rainbow Nation,” Tutu told journalists. “So I call on all of us to braai for Heritage Day, September 24. Let’s get together and enjoy ourselves, friends, families and even those who are not friends.”
Tutu is the patron of the “Braai for Heritage” campaign which is celebrated on September 24, an official public holiday to mark the nation’s multi-cultural heritage after the fall of apartheid in 1994.
The archbishop emeritus said the fireplace was a traditional gathering place in Africa and that anything from meat to vegetables could be put on a braai, a pastime enjoyed by South Africans of all races.
“We want to continue that tradition of all of us gathering on September 24, braaing for our heritage,” he said. “The important thing is all of us on that one day again getting together and just enjoying the fact of being South Africans.”
The 78-year-old, affectionately known as “the Arch” will retire from public life on his birthday next month after years of speaking out against apartheid’s white minority rule and injustices around the world. He will remain the patron of the braai campaign, which he joined in 2007.
“You can resign from an office job but you can never resign from being a braaier,” the campaign’s Jan Scannell told him in front of a banner featuring a large t-bone steak in the shape of Africa.
Today is Heritage Day in South Africa. Wikipedia defines it as follows:
Heritage Day, September 24, is a Public Holiday on which South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their cultural heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people.
Here in my apartment in Hong Kong, as things go in Asia, my kids are swamped daily with studies and other school-related issues. However, as it is Heritage Day, I had them finish their homework early and right now, they are enjoying the David Kramer DVD called SongBook.
You may remember that David was part of the most dynamic and internationally recognised duo of David Kramer & Taliep Petersen. Together they produced the much-acclaimed musicals District Six and Ghoema, to name only two.
On a recent trip home, this DVD became one of my most cherished purchases. As a committed follower of Cape Town music (especially the unique genres known as Cape Jazz and Ghoema) it is one of a set of treasured items also because it helps me to explain to my kids, who basically grew up in Asia, where their forefathers came from what our culture is all about.
If you know anything about the Kramer/Petersen musicals, you will remember that it talks, through the music, about the people who arrived at the Dutch halfway station (as Cape Town was known back in the days) from as far afield as Malaysia/Java, Madagascar, Batavia, India and yes… even China. They know about these places because of the songs in the musical. In this unique way, SongBook is aiding the Missus and I to explain to our 2 little ones our equally unique cultural issues in a clearer and more fun way. What makes this task all the more easy is the fact that our kids naturally took to this kind of music like ducks to water. It is, after all… in their genes! Right now my 9-year old son is spraying furniture polish on the lounge tiles so that he “can jive better!” (his words, not mine)
On this Heritage Day, I can just say thank you to David Kramer and (even after your sad passing) Shukran to Taliep Petersen. Not only for making my job as an expatriate father so much easier, but also for what you have done to keep the Cape Town and by extension, the South African culture alive.
