New Year, New Adventures

Happy New Year from Cape Town! Or, as they say here now, "Compliments of the season to you!"

Well, let’s back up a bit—Merry Christmas! At Church of the Resurrection, things were very busy. Cradled between a funeral on December 23rd and a wedding on Boxing Day, December 26, there were four Christmas services. Christmas Eve at 5pm was the Crib Service, where the children placed the creche figures into the manger scene. Then 10pm Christmas Eve was the first mass of Christmas, which ended at 12:30am. When I finally got to bed at 2am— and was forced to listen to the drunken revelers outside my window— I then woke at 6am for the 7am Christmas Day service where I preached. Then there was the 8:30am service, beginning eight minutes after the 7am service ended. Needless to say, I and the clergy team were tired. But not without them doing a few hospital visits after the services. Then it was time for Christmas dinner—well worth the wait! After visiting two homes for dinner and socializing, I finally crashed at 9pm. 

Our New Year’s Eve service was at 6pm. Lovely way to begin a new year. And I also visited Table Mountain by cable car that day. Lovely way to end the old year. 

On January 2 each year the Kaapse Klopse (or simply Klopse) minstrel festival takes place and it is also referred to as Tweede Nuwe Jaar (Second New Year) in Cape Town, South Africa. Tweede Nuwe Jaar is a day that is unique to Cape Town and stems from practices associated with slavery and its history and is linked with the Carnival. In the mid-nineteenth century the Cape slaves were given a day off from their duties on January 2 every year. During this alternate New Year celebration, the slaves would dress up as minstrels and dance rhythmically to the sounds of banjos, guitars, ghoema drums, whistles, trombones and tubas. 

Tweede Nuwe Jaar is a celebration of a community’s survival. It illustrates the continuity between its past, present and future. It is a day when the local working class community which survived slavery, segregation and apartheid celebrates its existence and perseverance. As many as 13,000 minstrels take to the streets garbed in bright colors, either carrying colorful umbrellas or playing an array of musical instruments. The minstrels are self organized into klopse ("clubs" in Afrikaans, but more accurately translated as “troupes” in English). Participants are typically from Afrikaans-speaking working class Cape families who have preserved the custom since the mid-19th century. I went downtown with some friends to witness the lively tradition and was not disappointed! 

Starting a new calendar year in South Africa is definitely a wonder. Political, social, and economic burning issues in the country continue into 2016. Yet, standing on the top of Table Mountain on New Year’s Eve day, and looking down over the beauty of Cape Town I was also struck by the wonder of the past year in my life— all the surprises, sorrow, rapture, and sure redemption. Journeying forward I pray: “Abba Father, enable us to live each day by Your grace— and in the strength of Your love— the small moments of this life we have been given with open eyes and humble, expectant hearts.”