Next: 24 Sept 2027
Heritage Day (South Africa)
Every community in its own dress: Zulu beadwork, Xhosa white and ochre, Ndebele stripes, indigo shweshwe, and a six-colour flag.
The colours of Heritage Day (South Africa)
On 24 September South Africans are encouraged to come to work and school in the dress of their own heritage. The result is a day of many palettes. Zulu women wear beadwork in which the colours and their order carry messages. Xhosa dress is white or ochre cotton edged with black braid, with a wrapped headdress. Ndebele women wear blankets and aprons in bold bands of colour, like the painted walls of their houses. Sotho people wear patterned wool blankets. Shweshwe, a printed cotton first dyed with indigo, is sewn into dresses in blue, brown and red. Above them all is the flag of 1994, with six colours, black, green, gold, white, red and blue, for which the state gives no fixed meaning.
#1F3A6EShweshwe indigoPrinted cotton worn across communities.#C8792BXhosa ochreOchre-dyed cotton of traditional Xhosa dress.#D12B2BBead redZulu and Ndebele beadwork.#007749Flag greenThe Y-shape of the national flag.#FFB81CFlag goldOne of the six flag colours.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Also part of it, and being written: Rainbow (The "rainbow nation", a phrase of Desmond Tutu.).
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Heritage Day (South Africa)" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.