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Cape Town Local Custom Tips by Jenniflower

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Jenniflower    
Counting the days till South Africa...


Real Name: Stunning 1
Lives In: Wimbledon, UK
Member Since: Dec 30, 2004
VT Rank: 66

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Tips 1 - 10 of 13
Cape Town Local Customs
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Local Customs: Hout Bay fishing
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  • The fishermen in Hout Bay go out EARLY in the morning (a LONG time before the average perosn is awake...) to bring in a good catch. A really nice thing to do is be there at the harbour when they come back in again to sell their catch :)

    Just a tip? Boat A might be selling a large snoek for R30... the next boat will come in, selling their snoek for R25 and the next for R20... each one marks the other down. Al the fish is pretty much the same in quality and size... so shop around! Go home and cook it in the oven or, even better, have a snoek braai! Mmmm :)

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    Website: www.houtbay.com
    Other Contact: whatsnew@houtbay.com
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    Local Customs: Cape Coloureds
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  • Coloureds are a unique grouping of people that are of a mixed origin. They constitute more than 3 million, or approximately 8,7% of the total population of South Africa. This group of people, with their own unique culture and customs and speaking mainly a unique dialect of Afrikaans (a 'sing-along type of accent), resides mostly in the Western Cape.

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    Local Customs: Muslim Malay People in the Cape
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  • The Malay quarter, on the slopes of Signal Hill, in an old residential area of Cape Town, abounds with the typical, 18th century, flat-roofed Malay houses, many of them recently renovated. This area is famously called 'Bo-Kaap'... which in Afrikaans means 'Above the Cape'.

    The Muslim Malay community is deeply religious and they keep to themselves as much as possible, not wanting 'bad' outside influences to come into their community. This unfirtunately does mean an imposed type of segragation from the local communities.

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    Local Customs: Xhosa courtship and marriage
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  • Xhosa men are allowed to have more than one wife. The girls all HAVE to be virgins or else they bring much disgrace on her family. Her father receives a 'labola', a type of payment for her, usually in the form of cattle. If she is not a virgin, he will also get far less labola than were she one. The father also pays a dowry to the inlaws for his daughter for her keep.

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    Local Customs: Xhosa beliefs
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  • Cape Town - Decorations at church
  • Decorations at church
  • by Jenniflower
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  • Xhosas are traditionally ancestral worshippers, placing high regard upon their ancestors. Nowadays there is a mix between an acknowledgement of God and ancestor.

    The whole concept of death and burial has complex beliefs and rituals, and a funeral may last for days - believe you me, I know all about it... I had staff gone for days on compassionate leave. With AIDS being at crisis point now, most funerals are somehow AIDS related.

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    Local Customs: Xhosas, the 'clicking' people :)
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  • Cape Town - Learning from the locals
  • Learning from the locals
  • by Jenniflower
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  • The Xhosa language has clicking sounds throughout it. Hard to do with ones tongue (yes, I have tried! haha), it is a hollow sound.

    When I had my handmade paper manufacturing business in the Cape, many of my employees were Xhosa, and we would spend many a day trying to teach other how to speak the others' language :) Needless to say, their English was ALOT better than my 'clicking' Xhosa!

    Fond memories indeed...

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    Local Customs: Xhosa colours
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  • Xhosas are often called the 'Red Blanket People'. Their traditional colours are ochre (an orangey yellow colour) and red. An orangey red, not a fire engine red. This colour seeps into every aspect of their lives, their clothing, housing and decoration. It is often made up of an earthy clay.

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    Local Customs: Xhosa homesteads
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  • Cape Town - Huts in the background - dancing in foreground :)
  • Huts in the background - dancing in
  • foreground :)
  • by Jenniflower
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  • Homesteads have always traditionally been circular in format, with screened off kitchen areas outside the circular sleeping area. The hut is made of a frame of poles and shrubbery and boughs from trees in the shape of a bee hive.

    They built these huts in a semi circle, and in the middle was their prized cattle. They made their homesteads like this for safety. Their maize was also safely stored away, in shallow pits beneath the cattle enclosure!

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    Local Customs: Xhosa community
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  • People in Africa are generally more physical with one another. They do not have the same concept of a need for personal space as westerners do. This physical closeness has some positives, one being mum carrying baby on her back with a blanket tucked securely beneath the baby and tied around mums waist. This is a cultural thing too of course, as prams are not available as they are in the west. I personally like this for a baby. Baby feels mums heartbeat and its more comforting, even if your pram (buggy) happens to be a cool 4x4 haha

    Another aspect of their community is friendship. They are very community-orientated, people are readily accepted into their homes to share meals with them (albeit them being meagre anyway), and friends are easily made. They help each other a lot and work well in a community.

    Selfishness is not a word that seems to fit into their clicking vocabulary :)

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    Local Customs: Xhosa initiation and circumcision
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  • Initiation still takes place amongst the Xhosa people. Girls sometimes get circumcised too (which is largely frowned upon!), but boys are mainly circumcised. There has been an outcry for this practice to stop as there have been accidents and things have gone wrong, scalpels aren?t sterilized so infection sets in etc. But it does still go on, but mostly in the rural areas.

    The boys are taken away from their village and go and live in the bush together for a few days. They partake in traditional bush dances, one being the 'Amakwetha', paint their bodies with a white clay substance and wear headdresses.

    www.siyabona.com has some lovely detail about exactly what happens at one of these gatherings. Definitely worth a read!

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    More Cape Town Tips

    OverviewThings to Do
    Tips: 24 - Photos: 25
    Restaurants
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    Hotels & Accommodations
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    Nightlife
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    Off The Beaten Path
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    Tourist TrapsWarnings Or Dangers
    Tips: 3 - Photos: 9
    Transportation
    Tips: 3 - Photos: 2
    Local Customs
    Tips: 13 - Photos: 15
    Packing Lists
    Tips: 1 - Photos: 1
    Shopping
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    Sports Travel
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    General Tips
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    Comments for Jenniflower about Cape Town
    gordonhoward Wed Oct 15, 2008 22:10 UTC
     We love Cape and visit Stellenbosch. My wife got her PhD there. We visit each year. I really like your page, check it out often. Thanx for the great info.
    claude-andre Wed Oct 1, 2008 14:04 UTC
     Very complete and interesting informations.
    Yenina Sat Aug 23, 2008 19:50 UTC
     thanks jenni for your reply. capetown is a very beautiful place :D
    K.Knight Thu May 15, 2008 13:19 UTC
     Ok Stunning 1, you have my attention here! What a fantastic page. THANKS! Anne and I will be visiting cape Town next year before heading up through Namibia. Anne is a "penguin freak" and will enjoy the jackass penguins.
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