Heritage Day (Afrikaans: Erfenisdag; Xhosa: Usuku Lwamagugu, Usuku lokugubha amasiko) is a South African public holiday celebrated on 24 September. On this day, South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their culture and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people.

When Heritage Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as a public holiday.^[1]

History

In KwaZulu-Natal, 24 September was known as Shaka Day for most people, in commemoration of Shaka, the Zulu king of southern Africa, on the presumed date of his death on this date 1828.^[2][3] Shaka played an important role in uniting the desperate Nguni clans into a cohesive Zulu nation.^[4] Each year people gather at the Shaka Memorial to honor him on this day.^[3] The Public Holidays Bill presented to the post-Apartheid Parliament of South Africa in 1996 did not include 24 September on the list of proposed public holidays. As a result of this exclusion, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a South African political party with a large Zulu membership, objected to the bill. Parliament and the ANC reached a compromise and the day was given its present title and accepted as a public holiday now known as heritage day.^[2]

... when South Africans celebrate the diverse cultural heritage that makes up "rainbow nation". It is the day to celebrate the contribution of all South Africans to the building of South Africa

— Lowry 1995, p. 21

Celebration

South Africans celebrate the day by remembering the cultural heritage of the many cultures that make up the population of South Africa. Various events are staged throughout the country such as braai to commemorate/remember this day.^[5]

Former Western Cape Provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool addressed the public at a Heritage Day celebration at the Gugulethu Heritage trail in 2007 in Gugulethu.^[6] In Hout Bay, there is an army procession and a recreation of the battle fought there.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Jan Scannell (known as "Jan Braai") started a media campaign proposing that the holiday be renamed as National Braai Day, in commemoration of the culinary tradition of informal backyard barbecues, known as braais.^[7][8] On 5 September 2007, Archbishop Desmond Tutu celebrated his appointment as patron of South Africa's Braai Day,^[9] affirming it to be a unifying force in a divided country (by donning an apron and enthusiastically eating a boerewors sausage).^[10] In 2008, the initiative received the endorsement of South Africa's glad National Heritage Council.^[5] Scannell said that the aim is to hold small events with friends and family, and not to have a mass braai.^[10][7][11]