For many who celebrate Christmas across the world, it’s a cold, snowy, wintry affair. But for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s quite the opposite.
Instead of ugly Christmas sweaters, we have festive swimsuits. Instead of roast turkeys, we have braais. Here in the global south, you won’t find glühwein, but you probably will be offered a crisp glass of wine or an ice-cold beer.
It can feel weird if wintry Christmases are all you’ve ever known, but for South Africans (and, indeed, Australians and New Zealanders), it’s just the festive fun we look forward to at the end of a long year.
First off, it’s the middle of summer. From September (in some places — looking at you, Pretoria!) to about March, temperatures rise and South Africa experiences its glorious summer.
By the end of December, work has wrapped up for many people, schools have closed for the year, and we’re ready to let it all hang out. The summer holidays are an institution in South Africa — ask anyone you like about the builders' holidays!
You may never have done building of any sort, but as a South African, you’ll know that the builders close from about the 16th of December until early January, and many other companies follow suit.
Our schools run alongside the calendar year, starting in January and ending in December, so the kids are all on their longest holiday of the year without a single piece of homework in sight. Parents often take leave at this time of year, as indeed do many others. Business slows down for many companies as so many people are off.
In fact, only retail, hospitality, and holiday-centred businesses are still busy from mid-December to mid-January.
Christmas is characterised by big family gatherings, carols by candlelight, a vast number of Christmas gifting markets, and mince pies, gammons, and turkeys. You see, South Africa is home to people from all over the world. Tradition means something different to each family you speak to.
For those of European heritage, it might mean Christmas Eve celebrations with roast meats paired with cooler sides. However, most South Africans celebrate Christmas Day on the 25th of December.
Contrary to the traditional oven meals, in many South African homes, you’ll find a turkey, whole fish, or chicken on an open fire. The braai — that’s a barbeque for you Northeners — is central to many South African celebrations, not just Christmas.
There’s not much we enjoy more than firing up the wood or charcoal and cooking meat on the fire, and Christmas is no exception.
Summer, and as such Christmas, is a time of travel in South Africa. Many people drive, bus, or fly to return to family, stay on the coast, camp, or otherwise celebrate Christmas somewhere other than their primary home. Because of this, it can also be a time of terrible vehicle accidents, but that’s a story for another day.
Family is at the heart of pretty much all South African Christmas celebrations, and we will travel to meet up if we have to.
Since it’s summer, many people want to be close to the beach, and those living inland — Johannesburg and Pretoria especially — will travel to the coast.
Cape Town, the Garden Route, the Eastern Cape, and beach towns all around the country are flooded with visitors staying with friends, and family, in guesthouses, hotels, Airbnb, and campsites — anywhere they can find. I’ve personally seen people camping in their friends' gardens!
For many African families, Christmas and New Year are a time of newness, and that includes new clothes. Families will save up all year for new clothes at this time of year, and it’s important to be seen at gatherings wearing your new getup.
This practice is half traditional and half religious — it symbolises respect and renewal at this special time of year. These new clothes are also sometimes the gift children are given for Christmas.
For many South Africans, going to church is central to their Christmas celebrations. There are midnight masses, carol by candelight, nativity plays, and special services throughout the season. Church-going families enjoy celebrating this special time together.
Another central element of South African Christmas is community and charity. Santa’s Shoeboxes are a very successful operation, asking people to “adopt” a child from a list, and provide, pack, and deliver a shoebox of necessities and gifts for children who may otherwise not get anything at this time of year.
Churches, communities and individuals look for ways to help those less fortunate than them, working in kitchens and shelters nationwide to help make Christmas brighter for everyone.
We’ve touched on this, but food is central to many celebrations, especially Christmas. And South Africans do love their food.
In rural communities, feasting may be communal, with everyone contributing towards a big meal shared by the whole community.
Goats or chickens may be slaughtered, and either roasted over coals or stewed, and served with pap (a starchy side dish made from white corn, known locally as mielie meal), rice or potatoes, as well as vegetable sides.
The "spit braai" will also come into play, where a sheep or a pig is roasted in it's whole over and open fire while slowly turning as it goes.
Cooking over the coals is a common theme across ethnicities and communities — Christmas Day is thick with the scent of meat cooking on the fire!
Depending on your family traditions, you might be braaiing fish, prawns, or paella, while some people prefer whole braaied turkey, duck or chicken.
Corned beef and beef tongue are also common at Christmas, with many families cooking in advance of Christmas Day and serving everything cold on the day.
Pork is also popular, with gammon, pork belly, and fillet featuring on many menus both hot with crackling and glazed, sliced and served cold.
There are South Africans who persist with the unseasonal hot, roast everything Chrismas meal — mostly those who’ve grown up in Europe or who have parents who celebrated it that way as children themselves.
Christmas is such a traditional time of year that change comes slowly, if at all, and everyone believes their version is the best one.
Is any celebratory feast complete before dessert? Whereas plum pudding and fruity Christmas cake feature heavily up north, down in the heat of the summer, we lean towards cooler, more refreshing Christmas desserts.
Peppermint crisp tart, a make-ahead confection made from caramel, whipped cream, biscuits, and the iconic Peppermint Crisp chocolate, is common and much-loved.
Trifle is polarising, but also popular. In case you’ve never heard of it, this is a layered dessert featuring layers of juice or booze-soaked sponge cake, whipped cream, and fresh or canned fruit.
Ice cream is, obviously popular, especially with kids as it can be eaten from a cone in the pool. Ice cream-based desserts like ice cream cakes are also popular.
One common theme is desserts that most are made cold in advance and kept in the fridge or freezer. By the time we get to dessert, we’re all pretty hot and ready for a swim so we tend to keep dessert light and unfussy.
Generally, we’re not watching movies and huddling up with hot chocolate after our Christmas feast. No, South Africans spend the day in or near water, if they can manage it, with many counting Christmas a success only if they’ve had a swim.
We do, also, exchange gifts, with the vast majority waking up on Christmas Day and doing the gift exchange first thing. Some — often those who centre their celebrations on Christmas Eve — will do their gift exchange on Christmas Eve, and some even wait until after lunch to exchange gifts.
To reduce clutter and expense, South Africans also love a Secret Santa gift exchange. People anonymously choose one person to buy a gift for, and a budget is also usually imposed. This keeps the gift exchange from getting out of hand and simplifies things for everyone.
Like the most of rest of the Christmas-celebrating world, Christmas decorating is fair game any time after Halloween, with malls and retailers putting up decorations and Christamassy merchandise any time from the beginning of November. For most families, decorating starts somewhere at the beginning of December.
"Christmas trees" are common, but they differ quite a bit from the ones you'll find in Europe.
Many people have a plastic reusable fir-style Christmas tree packed in with the other decorations. This is the most common and the one most people grew up with. Offices or minimalists may have wooden stick trees or even wall-mounted trees.
While real trees are available, they usually only from about mid-December. You'll also have to know someone who knows someone. And, if that's not enough to put you off, the hot weather means they tend to dry up faster, so real tree connoisseurs only put them up a few days before Christmas.
Shiny, glittery stuff is popular, with baubles, Christmas lights, and the usual tinsel featuring heavily. In some homes, Santa will have a beard and warm clothes, while others imagine him in board shorts and sunglasses. Oh, and let's not forget those naughty "elves on the shelf" that have become quite a popular new Christmas tradition.
South Africans are increasingly embracing our hot Christmas, and more decorations feature a fun interplay of wintry traditional and summery beach-going.
And, true to our South African competitiveness, many with try to out do the next with light displays outside. A treat for anyone doing a drive about town.
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It might seem confusing to some, but if you lean into it, a summery Christmas is a lot of fun. Since we’re not bound by the cold weather, we spend more time outdoors, and the weather lends itself to feasts of a different kind.
Sure, most South Africans would like to experience a snowy Christmas. But it’s no surprise that South Africa is flooded with expats returning home for Christmas.
For all its quirks, there really is no place like South Africa if that’s where you call home.
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