Heritage Day is almost here, and if there is one thing about South Africans, we take our heritage seriously.
On 24 September, you will see it everywhere. Traditional outfits come out. Families gather. Schools and workplaces suddenly become colourful celebrations of culture. The braai stands get cleaned, meat gets bought in quantities that suggest twenty people are coming when there are actually eight, and somebody will definitely start an argument about who makes the best chakalaka.
But Heritage Day is about much more than what we wear or what we put on the fire.
South Africa is complicated, colourful, loud and incredibly diverse. Our heritage lives in our languages, surnames, food, music, ceremonies, family traditions and the stories that have been passed from one generation to another.
For many of us, Heritage Day is also personal.
It is hearing your home language spoken in a room full of family. It is eating food that immediately reminds you of home. It is watching children wear traditional clothing and realising that something from generations before you is still being carried forward.
And yes, South Africans will turn almost anything into a celebration. Give us good food, music and people we love, and we will make a day of it.
But somewhere between the outfits, photographs, braais and celebrations, there is also an opportunity to ask ourselves what we are passing on.
Do our children know our family stories? Do they understand where they come from? Can they speak the languages their grandparents speak? Do they know why certain traditions exist, rather than simply knowing what to wear on Heritage Day?
Because heritage cannot only come out once a year.
It has to be lived, taught, questioned, protected and passed on.
So this Heritage Day, wear the outfit. Make the food. Light the fire. Turn up the music. Take far too many pictures.
But also tell the stories.
Because one day, somebody younger than you will be responsible for remembering them.
