Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Happy Tweede Nuwejaar!


= Happy 2nd New Year!


Yes, it's the 2nd of January - a national holiday in South Africa, ostensibly since many people need a 2nd day to recover from the festivities on the 1st. There's an annual competition between the minstrel troupes in Cape Town that takes place on the 1st usually - this year the Muslim troupes will only be participating from today due to Sunday being Eid-ul Adha.


PS: The minstrels were called the Cape Coons when I was growing up, and the term seems to still be accepted in SA. (We're pretty thick-skinned and people happily term themselves "coloured" while the rest of the world has moved away from such terms).

From Wikipedia: "Although it is still called the Coon Carnival by Capetonians, local authorities have renamed the festival the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival, as foreign tourists find the term "coon" derogatory (there is some debate about this)." [1]

"Former South African president Nelson Mandela endorsed the carnival in 1986, and is a member of the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association, which presides over the event. " [2]

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