On Heritage Day, 24 September, South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their culture, diverse beliefs and traditions. The day reminds us that our country belongs to all its people.
While drafting this article, I kept dwelling on all the bad news we see in the media every day. Murders. Crime. Corruption. Rape. Extreme poverty. Inequality. Unemployment. Poor service delivery… the list goes on and on.
So, what is there to celebrate on this Heritage Day? I asked myself. It was hard to get my mind off all the negatives.
Dancing on the wreck
However, I suddenly remembered the story of the South African priest who had to hold a service somewhere in a remote part of the country. While he was preaching, he saw through one of the windows a boy standing outside the old church building, close to an old rusty car wreck in the field.
The boy looked at it carefully – almost as if he had studied it. Then he slowly moved closer, before climbing onto the roof of the wreck. He shuffled his feet as if seeking stability, and then slowly began to dance – until he danced with passion – to the rhythm of the sounds and music in his mind.
For the priest, this embodied something of Christ’s death and resurrection. The wreck, symbolising Jesus’s death; and the dance on top of it, pointing to Jesus’s resurrection.
Be that as it may, for me death and victory are part of the cycle of life. Religions, mythologies and philosophies all testify to this. Each one of us can probably tell our own story in this respect.
Currently, there are many wrecks in our society. But how should we deal with them? How do we manage to still celebrate with so much despondency and hopelessness around us?
Powerful spirit
I am convinced that the great majority of South Africans are not yet ready to let the country go. There is our remarkable social cohesion and palpable goodwill – in our townships, in our schools, on our farms, in our sport stadiums and in our cities.
I recently read the following on one of our local news websites and again became aware of the powerful spirit of our heritage. I immediately realised it is precisely this spirit that helps us celebrate regardless of our often-difficult circumstances:
“We sing (and may I add dance) rhythmically, no matter the occasion;
We humour collectively, no matter the circumstance;
We befriend sincerely, no matter the who;
We braai generously, no matter the when;
We engage diversity, no matter the differences;
We grieve united, no matter the cause;
We find faith together, no matter the religion;
We strive to love, no matter the barriers;
We readily forgive, no matter the shortfalls;
We share generously, no matter the limitations;
We persevere in adversity, no matter the challenge;
We have high hopes for our future, no matter the setbacks.
This is what makes us… us.”
Creative imagination and storytelling
What do we require to become stronger as a nation, to create an even more vibrant heritage for our descendants? I think the answer lies, among other things, in an ethic of creative imagination and storytelling.
The latter is powerful and helps us to make sense of life. It increases our consciousness and conscience. There is a very close link between the nature of storytelling and the nature of human existence – of who we are. The late Stellenbosch philosopher Johannes Degenaar adapts Nietzsche when he writes in Power of Imagination (2011): “We have the art of storytelling in order not to die of life.”
Imagination, the most creative aspect of the human mind, helps us break through boundaries and differences. Fertilising the human spirit. Urging us into ever new directions and relations. Fostering a new capacity of response to a diversity of beliefs and traditions.
Degenaar notes that imagination prompts Hamlet to say: “O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a King of infinite space…” Imagination enables us to become kings and queens of our circumstances, evoking a sense of discovery regardless of limits and different kinds of boundaries. It brings about fullness of life.
Imagination goes beyond a passive mirroring of how we see ourselves. It is an active construction of a coherent image of different people and cultures. Their religion, art and language.
Without creative imagination the mind finds itself in a cul-de-sac. Richard Kearney argues in The Wake of Imagination (1988) that imagination enables us to develop a “passion for the possible” – in our case a reimagined, stronger post-apartheid South Africa.
Imagination discloses and does not close off our relation to others. Imagination is a tool for connection, inclusion and authentic communication rather than isolation, elitism or deception.
By imagining other people’s perspectives and experiences, we open ourselves to deeper understanding and connection, making cultural knowledge more accessible.
If we can live accordingly, we will keep on creating heritage – one that will hopefully be celebrated, reflected upon meaningfully and even (further) transformed and developed creatively by future generations.
May Heritage Day help us succeed, despite all the wrecks in our midst. The choice is ours: to dance or to despair! DM
Chris Jones is emeritus associate professor in systematic theology and ecclesiology at Stellenbosch University.