Heritage –something that passes from one generation to the next in a social group, e.g. a way of life or traditional culture.

It’s 10: 02 PM on day 376 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck today but Betsy (@BetsyKCross) made another donation yesterday – thanks Betsy people like you make what I do a whole lot easier 🙂 – prepare and publish   Disability of the Day feature, feed myself uzhunnu vada–a savory Indian doughnut – and chutney for brunch, listen to music, continue reading Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, go to dinner with family to Spur for my sister’s 17th birthday– I can’t believe  my baby sister is 17 anyway you will be happy to know I drank orange juice in a glass by myself 🙂  – and brush my teeth once more.

As you may or not know the 24th of September is Heritage Day – a public holiday where all South Africans celebrate South Africa’s diversity –and in honour of that I am going to share with you everything that is unique to South Africa. Take a look:

Welcome to the rainbow nation

Famous Faces

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; born 18 July 1918)^[1] served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life in prison. Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to multi-racial democracy in 1994. As president from 1994 to 1999, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa.^[2][3]

In South Africa, Mandela is often known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name; or as tata (Xhosa: father).^[4] Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

Desmond Mpilo Tutu (born 7 October 1931) is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. He was the first black South African Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa and primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa).

Tutu has been active in the defence of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed. He has campaigned to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, homophobia, transphobia, poverty and racism. Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986, the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987, the Sydney Peace Prize (1999) the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2005,^[1] and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Tutu has also compiled several books of his speeches and sayings.

Charlize Theron ( /ʃɑrˈliːs ˈθɛrən/; born 7 August 1975) is a South African actress, film producer and former fashion model.

She rose to fame in the late 1990s following her roles in 2 Days in the Valley, Mighty Joe Young, The Devil’s Advocate and The Cider House Rules. She received critical acclaim and an Academy Award for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the film Monster, for which she became the first South African to win an Academy Award in a major acting category. She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance in North Country.

Famous Places

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers 19,485 square kilometres (7,523 sq mi) and extends 360 kilometres (220 mi) from north to south and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from east to west.

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the “Biosphere”).

The park has 9 main gates that allow entrance to the different camps.

The park is the site of the popular eyewitness viral video Battle at Kruger

Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa, and is featured in the flag of Cape Town and other local government insignia.^[2] It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the cableway or hiking to the top. The mountain forms part of the Table Mountain National Park.

Robben Island (Afrikaans: Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for “seal island”. Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km².^[1] It is flat and only a few metres above sea level, as a result of an ancient erosion event. The island is composed of Precambrian metamorphic rocks belonging to the Malmesbury Group. It is of particular note as it was here that past President of South Africa and Nobel Laureate Nelson Mandela and past South African President Kgalema Motlanthe,^[2] alongside many other political prisoners, spent decades imprisoned during the apartheid era. Among those political prisoners was current South African President Jacob Zuma who was imprisoned there for ten years.

Languages

South Africa has eleven official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. Fewer than one percent of South Africans speak a first language other than an official one.^[1] Most South Africans can speak more than one language. Dutch and English were the first official languages of South Africa from 1910 to 1925. Afrikaans was added in 1925. Dutch was dropped when South Africa became a republic in 1961, so between 1961 and 1994, South Africa had two official languages: English and Afrikaans.^[2].

The English version of the South African constitution refers to the languages by the names in those languages: isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Sepedi (referring to Northern Sotho), Setswana, English, Sesotho (referring to Southern Sotho), Xitsonga, Siswati, Tshivenda and isiNdebele (referring to Southern Ndebele).^[3]

In South Africa, Southern Ndebele is known simply as Ndebele, as most speakers of Northern Ndebele live in Zimbabwe. The 1993 version of the Constitution referred to Northern Sotho as Sesotho sa Leboa, but the 1996 version referred to the language as Sepedi.^[4] Different government departments and official bodies use different terms to denote Northern Sotho.^[5][6]

The main language of government is English even if South Africans often take pride in using indigenous languages for any purpose. Afrikaans also features prominently in commerce together with English as the languages with the highest number of affluent speakers are Afrikaans and English.^[7]

In terms of linguistic classification, the official languages include two West-Germanic languages (English and Afrikaans) and nine Bantu languages. Four of these are Nguni languages (Zulu, Xhosa, Swati and Ndebele) and three are Sotho–Tswana languages (Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho and Tswana). Tsonga is a Tswa–Ronga language.

South African Sign Language is a distinct though incompletely emerged^{[clarification needed]} national standard language which also subsumes a cluster of semi-standardised dialects.

Food and Drinks

Amasi (so called in Zulu and Xhosa, and “maas” in Afrikaans) is the common word for fermented milk that tastes like cottage cheese or plain yogurt. It is very popular in South Africa. Amasi is traditionally prepared by storing unpasteurised cow’s milk in a calabash container (igula in isiZulu) or hide sack^[1] to allow it to ferment. The fermenting milk develops a watery substance called umlaza; the remainder is amasi. This thick liquid is mostly poured over the mealie meal (maize flour) porridge called pap, or drunk straight. It is traditionally served in a clay pot (ukhamba in isiZulu) and eaten with wooden spoons.^[1] Amasi is also produced commercially using Lactococcus lactis subsp lactis and L. lactis subsp cremoris and is pasteurised before distribution and consumption, with a shelf life of 21 days at 4°C. When produced as such, amasi may be an ideal vehicle for the delivery of probiotics.^[2]

Biltong is a kind of cured meat that originated in South Africa. Many different types of meat are used to produce it, ranging from beef through game meats to fillets of ostrich from commercial farms. It is typically made from raw fillets of meat cut into strips following the grain of the muscle, or flat pieces sliced across the grain. It is similar to beef jerky in that they are both spiced, dried meats, but differ in their typical ingredients, taste and production process; in particular the main difference from jerky is that Biltong does not have a sweet taste.

The word biltong is from the Dutch bil (“rump”) and tong (“strip” or “tongue”).^[1]

Raw boerewors

Boerewors is a sausage, popular in South African cuisine. The name comes from the Afrikaans words boer (“farmer”) and wors (“sausage”), and is pronounced [ˈbuːrəvors], with a trilled /r/.

Bunny chow, often referred to as a Bunny^[1] is a South African fast food dish consisting of a hollowed out loaf of bread filled with curry, that originated in the Durban Indian community. Bunny chow is also called a kota (“quarter”)^{[citation needed]} in many parts of South Africa.

Umvubo, sour milk mixed with dry pap (pap (pronounced /ˈpɑːp/), a traditional porridge made from mielie-meal (ground maize or other grain), commonly eaten by the Xhosa.

Umngqusho, a dish made from white maize and sugar beans, a staple food for the Xhosa people.

Umqombothi, a type of beer made from fermented maize and sorghum.

(Note: The information and some of the pictures above are courtesy of Wikipedia)

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