WSU COMMEMORATES HERITAGE DAY MASKING IN STYLE

 MASKING IN STYLE120139633 3438964006167060 7438636389309964442 o 300x226WSU staff across campuses recently flaunted a stellar incarnation of Africa’s vibrant culture and diversity in commemoration of Heritage Day.

The month of September marks the acknowledging and celebration of the different cultures South Africa boasts over proudly.

 

Amid the Covid 19 restrictions WSU set aside two days to commemorate Xhosa traditions and practices on all its four campuses.

The Komani campus splashed its Xhosa cuisine and grass mats and brooms (ingobozi nemitshayelo yengca) with a joyous performance of traditional songs, reminding themselves of the rural proximity of this culture to the campus.

The four campuses boasted vibrant and stylish traditional attires, where few men and women were enjoying themselves in the midst of the Covid restrictions.

‘’We have accustomed our staff and students into acknowledging and embracing our cultural diversity during this month. Even though this is set aside as a holiday, the significance is in recognising aspects of the South African culture which encompasses our creative expression, historical inheritance, our different languages, the food we eat as well as the land we live in,” said Tukwayo

This year Heritage day took a different turn due to the Covid19 circumstances. The theme for this year was ‘‘Celebrating our diverse cultures while MASKING in style”, where females wore doeks (headgear) with masks. The idea of the covering was to put compassionate emphasis on abused women because of the pervasive gender violence in South Africa.

This was done not to see the headgear as concealing ill-treatment and the mask as a silencer to women when they have to talk but to see themselves as still attractive and beautiful even after their various ordeals. The call for men to wear masks or traditional gear with neck bands was extended to them for solidarity, in order not to see women as objects but human beings to be protected.

 

WSU always commemorates Heritage day not only as a stay away from work day, but to recognise and celebrate the cultural wealth within our University and South Africa’s multicultural landscape of our rainbow nation.