A Second New Year's Day - Michael and Stanley

 Michael  – Alternate Thursdays

 

When this post is published, I'll be in Melbourne at the start of a road trip around Victoria and South Australia. Also, I wanted something appropriate for January 2nd and South Africa has exactly the right event to celebrate it. This post was written by Stanley who published it fifteen years ago. Thanks, Stan.  I’ve just updated it a bit. So here we go.

For most of us, New Year’s Day falls on January 1st.  It does so in Cape Town too.

 

But Cape Town has a second New Year – the only place in South Africa to do so – which, in Cape Town alone is also an unofficial holiday.  Tweede Nuwe Jaar (Second New Year) takes place on January 2, and is a festival of parades and music by groups (klopse) of ‘coloured’ minstrels bedecked in the brightest of costumes.  (In South Africa, ‘coloured’ means of mixed blood, and Cape Town has many offspring from the transgressions of its earlier settlers – mixed marriages have never been common here and have usually been illegal, although the evidence of mixed intercourse is everywhere.)

 

The Cape Town Minstrel Carnival, as it is now known, was once called the Coon Carnival, and is usually still called that by the participants and spectators.  The more politically correct name came about because the politicians thought the old one was derogatory and sent the wrong message.

 

The Carnival is very old, starting in the mid-1800’s, and its costumes and face make-up must have been modeled after American outfits.  It's said that the festivities were quickly used by people lower down on the racial pecking order to poke fun at their masters.  Today tens of thousands minstrels hit the streets after weeks of frenzied sewing to get the costumes ready.  Not only is there music for entertainment – ukuleles and banjos in abundance - but the various groups are also competing for prizes, and the competition is intense.  Needless to say, Tweede Nuwe Jaar is a very popular tourist attraction and is one of the most popular events on Cape Town’s calendar.

Round about the turn of the century, it looked as though rain was going to fall on the parade.  The Western Cape government dropped the official January second public holiday (perhaps feeling that South Africa had enough of them already).  Needless to say, nobody paid any attention to the politicians, and it has remained a de facto holiday. Then, during covid it was cancelled for two years for rather obvious reasons. But it was back stronger than ever after that. 

 

It has also become a very significant tourist attraction, and Cape Town in summer is about nothing if it’s not about tourists. As Stan said in his post all those years ago:

“I for one think that quirky events like the Coon Carnival bring colour to a city and should be encouraged.  Unfortunately, there are people in power who want to take the colour (coloureds?) out of town for reasons that are opaque.  Or maybe transparent.

“No matter what happens, I will always celebrate Tweede Nuwe Jaar and think fondly of the Coon Carnival.  I say ‘Bah humbug’ to the nay-sayers.”

 

Happy New Year, everyone. And Happy Second New year too!