The day they vowed reconcilliation
So today is a national holiday in South Africa. I spent a few hours doing some work at CAPRISA and the place was totally empty. Everyone was off but me. Offcially, today is called "Day of Reconcilliation," though this is not the original title...
So way back in 1838, the Afrikaner settlers headed out into the wilderness of South Africa in search of supposedly unoccupied land. The Afrikaners were originally of Dutch descent and were a rather close knit bunch of folks who liked to travel in covered wagons. They were big into farming, voertrekking, and God. As they headed east across what is now KwaZulu-Natal, they encountered some angry Zulus. Back then, the Zulus and the Afrikaners didnt get along too well. And well, they dont really get along very well today.
Anyway, on December 16, 1938, about 400 Afrikaners found themselves surrounded by over 10,000 Zulus armed with spears and a bad temper. Things weren't looking too good for the heavily outnumbered white folks. So they looked to God for divine intervention. They made a pact that if they survived this day, they would build a church and commemorate the day for years to come.
While the Afrikaners were heavily outnumbered, they did have plenty of rifles and a whole lot of bullets. Tragically, over 3,000 Zulus died this day. Their spears and ferocious warfare were no match for the Afrikaner rifles. Not one Afrikaner lost their life and the battle was known as the Battle of Blood River. December 16 was remembered each year as "Day of the Vow."
This day was celebrated as such until the end of apartheid in 1994. Once the new government took over, they changed the name to Day of Reconciliation in an effort to foster peace and understanding between the two groups. Many of the Afrikaners were not too happy about this change, but have since conceeded to the more politically correct name.
I can kind of see both sides to this. Afrikaners are very proud of their heritage and the Day of the Vow is an important, if gruesome day in their history. I imagine they believed God got them out of that mess, and that they should pay homage. However, its doesnt exactly unify a multiracial country when you celebrate annually the slaughter of one ethnic group by another. Just one of the many, many confusing, conflicting dillemmas that make up South Africa's diverse past.
To be honest, I dont think many South Africans really considered all this historical tension very much. I think they were too busy making the most of a long weekend. They beaches were absolutely packed. I checked the surf report today to find this picture of one of my favorite surf spots completely taken over by beach goers. I have never seen the beaches like this.
So what did this day mean for me? Not much. I celebrated by coming home from work early, sitting on my comfortable purple couch and watching the movie Willow while sipping cold apple juice. It was actually quite nice, though Willow is really not as excellent a movie as you might recall.
Regardless, Happy day of reconcilliation from South Africa!
So way back in 1838, the Afrikaner settlers headed out into the wilderness of South Africa in search of supposedly unoccupied land. The Afrikaners were originally of Dutch descent and were a rather close knit bunch of folks who liked to travel in covered wagons. They were big into farming, voertrekking, and God. As they headed east across what is now KwaZulu-Natal, they encountered some angry Zulus. Back then, the Zulus and the Afrikaners didnt get along too well. And well, they dont really get along very well today.
Anyway, on December 16, 1938, about 400 Afrikaners found themselves surrounded by over 10,000 Zulus armed with spears and a bad temper. Things weren't looking too good for the heavily outnumbered white folks. So they looked to God for divine intervention. They made a pact that if they survived this day, they would build a church and commemorate the day for years to come.
While the Afrikaners were heavily outnumbered, they did have plenty of rifles and a whole lot of bullets. Tragically, over 3,000 Zulus died this day. Their spears and ferocious warfare were no match for the Afrikaner rifles. Not one Afrikaner lost their life and the battle was known as the Battle of Blood River. December 16 was remembered each year as "Day of the Vow."
This day was celebrated as such until the end of apartheid in 1994. Once the new government took over, they changed the name to Day of Reconciliation in an effort to foster peace and understanding between the two groups. Many of the Afrikaners were not too happy about this change, but have since conceeded to the more politically correct name.
I can kind of see both sides to this. Afrikaners are very proud of their heritage and the Day of the Vow is an important, if gruesome day in their history. I imagine they believed God got them out of that mess, and that they should pay homage. However, its doesnt exactly unify a multiracial country when you celebrate annually the slaughter of one ethnic group by another. Just one of the many, many confusing, conflicting dillemmas that make up South Africa's diverse past.
To be honest, I dont think many South Africans really considered all this historical tension very much. I think they were too busy making the most of a long weekend. They beaches were absolutely packed. I checked the surf report today to find this picture of one of my favorite surf spots completely taken over by beach goers. I have never seen the beaches like this.
So what did this day mean for me? Not much. I celebrated by coming home from work early, sitting on my comfortable purple couch and watching the movie Willow while sipping cold apple juice. It was actually quite nice, though Willow is really not as excellent a movie as you might recall.
Regardless, Happy day of reconcilliation from South Africa!
posted by Cully @ 10:32 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
the couch is black, dude.
but i still love you!
Just one thing, dude. The Afrikaners had to defend themselves with the old "voorlaaier" guns. If the guy loading the gun was fast, he could shoot about one shot per minute. Furthermore, those guns got damn hot quite quickly. In fact, it got so hot that the gunpowder would go of before they could properly load the guns. They sometimes had to let the things cool down before they could continue shooting.
So, what I'm trying to say is that the whole damn thing was pretty miraculous, even if you don't believe in miracles and that kinda stuff.
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