SayWhatClub Online Voices December 2009
Some reminiscences regarding Christmas in South Africa
Patsi Schuhmann
Copyright 2009
I remember, with fondness and a smile, someone in a chat room asking me if we in South Africa celebrated Christmas in July, seeing it would probably be too hot to do so in December. We'd got around to discussing different Christmas customs, as happens at this time of year, and she felt we could hardly be 'traditional" in mid-summer.
Actually, we enjoy the best of both worlds - the traditional and the local. I've just lifted my tree from the top of the cupboard where it serves as a reasonable ornament when not in use for celebrations such as Valentines Day and Easter as well as Christmas. It is a Mangrove root, which, upside down, resembles a branched tree. Local folks harvest these along the seashore where the Mangrove trees grow, and sell them along the roadsides. Mine is three feet high, and set in Plaster of Paris in a plastic ice cream carton around which I've wrapped red crepe paper and a wide tartan ribbon. We've sprayed the tree white and sprinkled it with green and silver glitter, which is a concession to snow and ice, and we'll decorate it with tinsel and ornaments reminiscent of both our own culture and the "Christmas culture" of colder climes. Eclectic, we are. We're eclectic, too, in our gift wrapping papers and Christmas cards, but very probably the majority those of us who celebrate Christmas in South Africa are traditional in our choice of turkey, ham, plum pudding and Christmas crackers to grace our tables.
We vary as to how and when we dine, though. My husband is German, and since our marriage we have enjoyed our celebratory meal as well as the exchanging of gifts the night before Christmas, following his customs. A warm meal in the evening is more appealing too, than one in the heat of the day would be, and this tradition has also enabled our daughters to enjoy two Christmas dinners, one with us, and one with the families of their boyfriends /fiancés /husbands on Christmas Day itself. In our case, no one wants to spend too much of Christmas Eve inside, preparing, and the meats are braaied (barbecued) outdoors if the weather is fine, and tables are set on patios. I have wonderful memories of mellow early evening meals outdoors, as I have of actually being allowed, as a child, to pull the mattresses out onto the wide verandah and sleep out there, watched over by an older cousin.
A couple of Christmas Eves ago I got up early and stuffed the turkeys and trimmed the ham, then went to shower before taking the meats down to my son in law, who would start cooking them on his spit. Thinking the "tribe" would awaken and start preparing coffee, and aware that there is not that much space for this in our shared "complex" kitchen, I put the turkeys and ham into a big bowl I use for carting washing to the courtyard, duly covered them with a cloth, and placed them on a table just outside the kitchen door. I returned within 20 minutes, to find the whole bowl had disappeared.
This presented a real panic situation, as well as a mystifying one. Had a fellow resident in the complex mooched off with it? Unlikely. Had an intruder got in? But the bowl was heavy and in the time available, said intruder would not have been able to carry it as far as the gate. Was it hidden behind the hedge, to be retrieved later? No. My husband expressed himself certain that the monkeys had taken it, but again, its weight was against this. Monkeys would have to form up, five a side, and each team taking a side, would have to agree on which way they were going, and I couldn't quite see that, but it remained a vague hypothesis, feasible or not.
Thoughts then turned to where and how we could get more turkeys and ham, and our daughters were phoning each other and mapping out plans of action when my husband confessed and produced the bowl of meats from his workshop. He'd warned me often enough, he said, not to leave food outside unattended because of the monkeys, so it was time I was given a scare. That bad Grinch got a grateful hug, and I possibly learnt a lesson. Only in Africa.... well .. a few other places, too, could monkeys even vaguely be considered culprits in the purloining of Christmas meats. Shame, and they are largely vegetarian. too.