Holidays in South Africa
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New Year's Day
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Music, songs, dance and a lavish dinner are an important part of New Year celebrations in every part of South Africa. New Year celebrations at The Victoriav and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town are globally popular for the scintillating fireworks, singing, dancing and much more. Another world famous event is the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival. This event is noted for its colorful parades. Entertainers in fancy dresses dance on the beats given by the marching bands. This popular New Year Parade move through the city - streets entertaining people of various localities
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Human Rights Day
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Human Rights Day in South Africa celebrated on 21st March.This day celebrate each year to remind the great suffering and loss of life that accompanied the struggle for human rights.In 1960, on this historic day almost sixty nine people were killed in a police firing at Sharpeville. It was the period of the Apartheid and the common people had raised their voices in opposition to the pass laws.In apartheid South Africa this day became known as Sharpeville Day and although not part of the official calendar of public holidays the event was commemorated among anti-apartheid movements.
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Good Friday
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Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Black Friday, Great Friday, is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians.Good Friday takes place the Friday before Easter Sunday, and commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.Most businesses in Cape Town are closed over Good Friday & the Easter Weekend.
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Family Day
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Family Day is the public holiday in South Africa.After 1995, Easter Monday was renamed Family Day.It’s a great public holiday to spend with your friends and family. It gives family time to get back from vacations or visiting with friends, or just an extra day to celebrate a holiday. taking walks up Table Mountain, a stroll in the Kirstenbosch Gardens or lazing in the sun on one of Cape Town's stunning beaches.
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Freedom Day
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It is the public holiday celebrated on April 27.Freedom Day is an annual celebration of South Africa's first non-racial democratic elections of 1994. Peace, unity, the preservation and the restoration of human dignity hallmarks Freedom Day celebrations on the 27th of April of each year.
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Workers' Day
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It is a national public holiday in South Africa and since 1994, it has been celebrated on 1 May of each year. Worker's Day celebrates the role played by Trade Unions, the Communist Party and other labour movements in the struggle against Apartheid.May Day was born from the industrial struggle for an eight-hour day.In South Africa this public holiday celebrated by large rallies and marches organised by trade union movements.
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Youth Day
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Youth Day celebrated on 16 June in South Africa.It is the national holiday in honour of all the young people who lost their lives in the struggle against Apartheid and Bantu Education,it also commemorates the start of the Soweto riots of 1976, initially sparked by a government edict that all instruction in black schools would be held in Afrikaans.
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National Women's Day
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This is the annual public holiday in South Africa celebrated on August 9 each year. This day commemorates the national march of women on this day in 1956 to petition against legislation that required African persons to carry the "pass", special identification documents which curtailed an African's freedom of movement during the apartheid era.
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Heritage Day
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Heritage Day celebrated on 24 September each year,it is a created Public Holiday.South Africans celebrate Heritage 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 to commemorate this day.
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Day of Reconciliation
(Day of the Vow)
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The Day of Reconciliation is the public holiday in South Africa celebrated annually on 16 December. This holiday came into effect from 1994 after the end of apartheid, with the intention of fostering reconciliation and national unity.This day also known as the Day of the Vow, remembering the day in 1838 when a group of Voortrekkers defeated a Zulu army at the Battle of Blood River.
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Christmas Day
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Christmas in South Africa is in summer holiday. In December, the southern summer brings glorious days of sunshine that carry an irresistible invitation to the beaches, the rivers, and the shaded mountain slopes. Then the South African holiday season reaches its height. Schools are closed.In South Africa there is no snow, but it has many flowers, many beautiful varieties of cultivated and wild flowers being in their full pride.Many South Africans have a Christmas dinner in the open-air lunch. For many more, it is the traditional dinner of either turkey, roast beef, mince pies, or suckling pig, yellow rice with raisins, vegetables, and plum pudding.
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Day of Goodwill
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It is public holiday celebrated annually on 25 December.Prior to 1980, the day was celebrated as the more British Boxing Day. The new naming is thought to show a break with the country's colonial past.The day typically sees international sporting events played, on account of it being in mid summer.This day is also called as Boxing Day. Day of Goodwill is an opportunity for families and friends to extend their Christmas celebrations and relaxation.
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