Emancipation Day walk tomorrow night
PREPARATIONS for the 13th annual Emancipation Day “Walk in the Night” commemoration walk are well under way. The walk takes place in the streets of Cape Town and is on track for the night of November 30, the eve of Emancipation Day, December 1, the day slaves were officially emancipated in 1834. Celebrations will run into December 1.
The theme of this year’s walk is The Music of Slavery, highlighting the musical influences of the enslaved people who were brought to this country from Malaysia, India and West Africa, among other places.
The first step in preparing for the annual celebration was a lanternmaking workshop hosted by the District Six Museum, its elderly Seven Steps members, youth and students from UCT at the museum’s Homecoming Centre.
Workshop participants, whose ages ranged from six to 75, looked at the musical influences of the enslaved people, focusing on the origins of goema. This understanding inspired the shapes of the lanterns they created. The lanterns and music symbolise the fire and celebration of those who were finally freed on Emancipation Day.
The walk is not only a celebration of their freedom, but also honours their memory, emphasising presentday themes of trauma, resistance and conscious healing.
The celebration will start at 9.30pm at the Strand Street Quarry, where the lanterns will be lit. They will be carried throughout the walk. The walk will be led by traditional marching bands, and will proceed through Bo-Kaap, stopping opposite the Bo Kaap Museum on the way to St George’s Cathedral, where a fire will be lit, and music played by DJ Boeta G will usher participants into Emancipation Day.
A performance led by theatre practitioner Jason Jacobs together with poet Toni Stuart and performer Deidre Jacobs, and featuring young talent, will form part of the programme.
Note this is an alcohol-free celebration.