A funny heading you may say – however in South Africa that would make sense as it is not called the “Rainbow nation” for nothing. There are eleven official languages, and every language group represents a group of people who have distinct cultural identities.
I am what one would call an Afrikaner – my forefathers are a mixture of French Huguenots, English and Dutch settlers. Afrikaners are normally white skinned and speak the language Afrikaans. Afrikaans is a type of language which is about 95% the same as Flemish.
However, Afrikaners can be divided in two main groups as well. Those who are city dwellers and then the country folk who lives on farms. I was born and raised on a farm in an area that is called the Karoo. It a semi-arid dessert landscape where the farms are huge. It is a different type of life, as children go to boarding school from the age of 6/7 years old, because the area is so vast. The farm I was brought up on was 45 mile of gravel road to the nearest school.
One must also remember that Christmas is in the summer when you live in South Africa. Normally school closes around the 7th of December and you only go back on the 10th of January. That whole holiday is dedicated to swimming and working on the farm. From the 20th the excitement for Christmas used to be nearly unbearable – because Christmas eve and Christmas were by far the best two days of the year.
In my house we opened our presents on Christmas Eve. I came from a Christian home, so I never believed in Santa Claus, as my parents did not lie, not even to their children. We did know though that we were blessed with presents because it is Jesus’ birthday.
Then on Christmas morning we normally got up very early, because the whole community used to get together on the banks of a reservoir/dam. At 8am there was a service led by a local pastor. We normally sang two Psalms, a short passage from the Bible and then some thanksgiving prayers.
Then the fun started – some families bring boats and everybody water skied and swam, whilst the men started the fires. In South Africa we “braai” (barbeque) everything and the fires must get ready to get brunch ready. Normally Boerewors and lamb/mutton ribs with pap.
At around 3pm the main meal will be served. Again, anything that was barbequed and cold meats and salads. With puddings – not hot “Christmas puddings”, cold puddings and ice creams.
Then there is a thanksgiving prayer meeting, and everybody start to clean up to go home.
I miss those days! Merry Christmas
Gustaf du Plessis, Onine Campus Leader