Here it is, the long overdue Christmas special edition!

Since my last post it’s been much of the same with a few additions here and there. I went to my first South African wedding! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I turned up, but even before it began there were lots of differences that were obvious. For one, anyone can turn up so it’s impossible to gatecrash a wedding here, secondly there was the unfortunate unscheduled ‘load-shedding’ (power cut for those in the UK) which warranted a trip to a nearby farm to borrow a generator so the wedding wouldn’t be in the dark and without a band. After the generator was sorted and the arrival of the bridal party the wedding begun with dancing! There were around six couples that did a dance up the aisle before the bride and bridesmaids entered, after that it was pretty much the same ceremony as in the UK, except the ring bearers who also do a dance up the aisle. Being their summer here it is also their wedding season, so a lot of conversation has revolved around them naturally. Something new I learned was the tradition of lobola, meaning ‘bride price’. The prospective husband pays the fiancé’s family a certain amount of money (couples I know said they had to save for months or even years!) that’s supposed to bring the two families together, but it’s become more controversial as some have been demanding lobola just for the money. When most in the country were still farming, the groom could give the bride’s family livestock (around 8 or so cows, depending on negotiations). Since most families aren’t farmers by vocation this is much harder to do as instead of giving cows the groom gives cash. Not ideal if you’re saving for a wedding and setting up a home! To make it easier for the couple the bride has a Kitchen Tea Party, like a more civilised bachelorette party where guests bring everything you’d need for your kitchen. Personally I think Kitchen Tea Parties are something the UK should have, they sound amazing.

Asides from attending weddings and general socialising I’ve been enjoying the copious amounts of sunny days (a little too much at times), cycling around the dam that is looking substantially fuller with all the thunderstorms, and feeling very ‘country’ by helping myself to all the fresh and home-grown produce my friends have in their gardens while their away. Who could say no to perfectly ripe and humongous peaches or highly coveted raspberries?

Of course not to ignore the strangeness that has been my Christmas this year I shall try my best to explain why it has felt so alien. In effect I’ve had two Christmas days this year; one with the family I live with which was on Christmas Eve, and of course Christmas day itself. It’s impossible to generalise South African traditions around Christmas because of the multitude of different cultures, and they are so extremely different. Some families do not give presents at all, and they see no need to go hunting for a specific type of tree, cut it down and drag it into your house before decorating it with lights and baulbauls. Christmas day for them is stripped down to what’s really important – eating together as a family, and of course celebrating the birth of Jesus. It may not feel very Christmassy to me with the absence of gaudy and brightly coloured decorations everywhere, but it is a nice relief from the usual stress of buying presents for people and hectic traffic getting to anywhere that has shops. As I think I mentioned in a previous post, Basotho families will often give their young children new clothing at Christmas to last them the year. Other families make the effort to have Christmas a tree and swap presents and follow more European traditions, albeit in shorts and t-shirts! Sadly the excessive heat does mean that Christmas jumpers are rendered redundant, and because it’s Clarens the pressure for men to wear a singing Christmas tie is non-existent. Secondly there is the never-ending debate of what to eat on Christmas day, to have a full roast with all the trimmings, or a braai (BBQ), or something else altogether. I managed to experience both with a stomach busting six-course meal at the Courtyard on Christmas Eve, and my first potjie (a stew cooked in a cast iron pot over embers) for Christmas Day lunch. A yummy alternative that gave me some relief in the knowledge I didn’t have to face another huge meal, given that I was still full from the day before. For those who know my family the juxtaposition between my relaxing and eating lunch in the sunshine outside in S.A and the ‘usual’ feeding of the masses with exploding things for entertainment and chasing naughty children round the house most the day… it felt strange to say the least!

Bring on NYE celebrations with don pedro drinks, a braai and wonderful company!