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Cultural Travel<br />
Guy Fawkes fireworks festival on the beach at Table View / hana Panthupakorn - Shutterstock.com<br />
Guy Fawkes Fireworks Display, Table<br />
View beach, Cape Town - November<br />
Just to underscore the fact that South Africans don’t need much of<br />
an excuse to stage a festival and have fun, each year they celebrate<br />
an event that has absolutely nothing to do with this country – the<br />
commemoration of Guy Fawkes and his plot to blow up the British<br />
parliament in 1605. Fawkes and associates planned what was known<br />
as the Gunpowder Plot, but were caught before they could carry it out.<br />
After being tortured to make a confession, the hapless Fawkes fell off<br />
the scaffold and broke his neck before they could hang him. The plot<br />
is still commemorated in Britain each year…and, strangely, in South<br />
Africa too. The most prominent commemoration locally takes place<br />
each year on the main beach at Table View, across the bay from Cape<br />
Town. Literally thousands of people converge on Table View, causing<br />
local residents to batten down and keep their pets inside as they wait<br />
for the loud booms and bangs and the splashes and bursts of colour in<br />
the night sky of the impressive fireworks display to end. If fireworks is<br />
your thing, this is the place to be.<br />
Oyster Festival, Knysna – July<br />
Every year in July the sleepy town of Knysna on the Cape South<br />
Coast comes alive for ten days when homage is paid to a tiny, slimy<br />
creature wrapped in shells, through anything from oyster tasting to<br />
oyster-eating competitions, oyster braais (barbecues) and about 100<br />
other events, including the Knysna Marathon (run without the little<br />
molluscans) and a cycle tour.<br />
Olive Festival, Prince Albert - May<br />
Each year the residents of Prince Albert, a Karoo village at the foot of the<br />
Swartberg mountain range, celebrate their harvest of olives from the<br />
fertile valley with a stylish food festival complemented with a variety<br />
of arts, cultural and fun activities. The gourmet offerings naturally<br />
Prince Albert…home of the olive festival / Grobler du Preez - Shutterstock.com<br />
Crowds gather in the streets of Simons Town for the Navy Festival / Neil Bradfield - Shutterstock.com<br />
include olives in every possible combination – olive oils, olive paste,<br />
olive ciabatta, pickled olives, olive breads and whatever can be cooked<br />
up with olives. But plenty of other mouth-watering food treats are also<br />
on offer, such as a variety of cheeses, figs, dried fruits, baked goodies<br />
and much more. Included in the fun is live music and a midnight ghostwalk<br />
tour of the town. If you miss this one, there is always another olive<br />
festival held in the Boland town of Riebeeck Kasteel, an hour-and-ahalf<br />
from Cape Town at around the same time.<br />
Dance Umbrella, Johannesburg –<br />
February/March<br />
Every year for the past 29 years this dance forum funded by the<br />
National Arts Council and various government departments has<br />
delighted crowds in Johannesburg. It is a festival showcasing the<br />
work of contemporary choreography and dance, presenting the<br />
work of more than 50 choreographers from Johannesburg, Cape<br />
Town, Mpumalanga, Madagascar, KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique,<br />
among others. These range from community-based dance troupes<br />
to international companies, and it has been a launching pad to<br />
international careers for many South African choreographers.<br />
Have fun and let your hair down!<br />
MZANZI TRAVEL| www.mzanzitravel.co.za|ISSUE 4 | 63
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