Overseas readers and locals wondering why the roads are so quiet today, will be interested to learn that today is a public holiday. “Reconciliation Day” is what they’re calling it. I went to dinner at Mano’s restaurant in Green Point last night (schnitzel is killer) and our table wasn’t altogether sure of what exactly this public holiday was about.

So I went to the library and got you the following info:

The Day of Reconciliation is a public holiday in South Africa held annually on 16 December. The intention is to foster reconciliation and national unity. The holiday came into effect in 1994 after the end of Apartheid. Before 1994, 16 December was commemorated as the “Day of the Vow”, also known as “Day of the Covenant” or “Dingaan Day”.

Here’s old Dingaan
Giving it a full rev!

The “Day of the Vow” was a religious holiday commemorating the Afrikaner victory over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838. On the other side of the political spectrum, 16 December is also the anniversary of the 1961 founding of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the armed wing of the African National Congress.

[more here]

Aah Dingaan! From what The TBG tells me (they were very close at one stage), Dingaan was quite a character! But that was before your time. You can read up more about Dingaan here. Check that out and be sure to read up on how Dingaan and his men tricked the boers, resulting in a massacre of epic proportions.

Piet Retief was killed last and had is liver and heart delivered to the King.

Old school.

Here ends today’s lesson and explanation of why you will not find too much activity on 2oceansvibe today. And what better occasion for you to trawl through the archives of the site? You’re so focused on NOW that you forget that there are REAMS of hilarities and sexual tension in the pages beneath this mere facade.

So off you go to the left menu and, just above John Smit’s face, you’ll see the list of archives.

Get in there and err, happy Dingaan Day!

*ps. By the way, I went to that Aqua Festival last night (I watched the opera, because I’m sophisticated) and it is an absolute mind fuck – I HIGHLY recommend you check it out. CLICK HERE to read about the festival and choose which event suits you. Parlotones on Friday I believe..