Festive Season Events

It is almost that time of the year, hol­i­day time for most, fam­ily time for many and the shop­ping centres have Christmas music on repeat. In the words of one of those songs, for me "it's the most won­der­ful time of the year". This is a time for cel­eb­ra­tion and enjoy­ing time with those people who are import­ant to you. That's right folks, Christmas and New Year are just around the corner, it's time to bring out the Christmas dec­or­a­tions and make your plans to see in the New Year. And we're here to high­light a few of the things hap­pen­ing around the country.

With the count­down to Christmas begin­ning why not get into the Christmas spirit by attend­ing one of the many carol con­certs around the coun­try? You will find your­self singing to some of the most well known Christmas car­ols such as:

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon vir­gin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heav­enly peace
Sleep in heav­enly peace.

The Carols by Candlelight are part of the Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts and take place from 17–20 December. On 17 December entry is R40 for adults and R20 for chil­dren and the rest of the even­ings it is R50 for adults and R30 for chil­dren. Your entry fee includes a candle and a song-sheet. Tickets for this event can be pur­chased dir­ectly from Kirstenbosch on the day of the event or from one of the many Pick 'n Pay stores in Cape Town.

If you are in Gauteng then the Carols on the Square on 12 December 2009 at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton is a cus­tom every year. At this event you can embrace the true spirit of Christmas and you can con­trib­ute to those who are in need. There are two char­it­ies that bene­fit from this year’s car­ols, The Alexandra Chamber of Commerce and the Tomorrow Trust. There will be unique hand craf­ted, beaded Aids rib­bons on sale on the night. The solo artists of the night include oper­atic ten­ors  Siyabonga Maqungo and Zuko Cutu, Craig Urbani and Judith Sephuma. The event starts at 18h00.

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancing and pran­cing in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air.

Although South Africa will not be frosty and white on Christmas day, as many of the Christmas car­ols we sing sug­gest, most South African fam­il­ies cel­eb­rate Christmas with European tra­di­tions, such as dis­play­ing Christmas dec­or­a­tions and trees, exchan­ging gifts and even leav­ing bis­cuits and milk for Father Christmas (Santa Claus) and in many house­holds it is a tra­di­tion to have a large fam­ily lunch on the 25^th.

Cape Town Minstrel Carnival, photo by gsdali on Flickr.com (cre­at­ive com­mons licence)

Saturday 26 December is also a pub­lic hol­i­day here as we cel­eb­rate the Day of Goodwill and this is a day where we can con­tinue in the spirit of Christmas to all of the people in the coun­try and once again many fam­il­ies through­out the coun­try use this oppor­tun­ity to spend time together.

And while the days fol­low­ing Christmas often pass by quite quickly we can­not for­get that we need to see in the New Year on Thursday 31 December 2009. In Nieu-Bethesda in the Eastern Cape you can join the parade at the New Years Festival of Lights by assem­bling at 20h00 at the Bethesda Arts Centre. For more inform­a­tion you can tele­phone +27 (0)49 8411 729.

And when the clock has struck mid­night on this day and you have wel­comed in the new year, per­haps with your own rendi­tion of Auld Lang Syne you might be won­der­ing how you can spend the first days of the new year. If you are in Still Bay up the Garden Route you can be a part of the Hessequa Beach Festival from 1–4 January 2010 with a num­ber of fun and action-filled activ­it­ies. Take part in the beach vol­ley ball, flag sprint­ing or even the beach style Iron Man com­pet­i­tion. A num­ber of com­pet­i­tions and pro­mo­tions will be hap­pen­ing at this fest­ival and for more inform­a­tion you can tele­phone Werner Rall on +27 (0)44 874‑2015.

If you are in Cape Town then you def­in­itely should make you way into the centre of town for the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival – most cer­tainly a tra­di­tion in the Cape. It takes place every year on the first day of the new year (1 January) and it is a time when Cape Town comes alive with the "Kaapse klopse" as they are fondly known. I guar­an­tee you it is some­thing unique and you won’t find some­thing quite like it any­where else.

"Kaapse klopse" or "Coon car­ni­val" (its more com­mon name — although this isn’t a par­tic­u­larly polit­ic­ally cor­rect term in the ‘new South Africa’) is a thou­sands of musi­cians, dan­cers, sing­ers as well as tail­ors con­nec­ted to them – their cos­tumes play a vital role in the car­ni­val – gather together with their white painted faces to parade and march the streets. Following this is a series of dance, singing and cos­tume com­pet­i­tions. With its ori­gins stretch­ing as far back as the 19^th cen­tury you can under­stand why this is such a high­light on the Cape Town calendar.

Whatever you do this fest­ive sea­son make sure you cel­eb­rate life and try to remem­ber those around you who are less fortunate.

Should auld acquaint­ance be for­got,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaint­ance be for­got,
And auld lang syne?

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