Our Blended Heritage

The entrance to the Castle of Good Hope

Since Eidul-Adha*, or the Feast of Sacrifice, falls on Heritage Day this year, I thought I would share a little of our Cape Malay history.

The Slave Lodge 

Soon after Jan van Riebeeck arrived in the Cape, slavery was introduced to satisfy the Dutch East India Company’s need for labour. After an initial shipment of slaves from West Africa, slaves were imported from the east coast of Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Ceylon, India, the Malay Peninsula and the islands that make up modern Indonesia. 

For the following 180 years, South Africa was a slave state. Although the slaves were not associated with Malaysia, they spoke Malay, a kind of universal language from the area. The Nationalist Party government in all their wisdom introduced the Population Registration Act in 1950, whereby they divided the “coloured” people into seven (yes, 7) subgroups, one of which was the Cape Malay group.

Some early 20th century  Muslims in the Cape
(courtesy of the Simonstown Heritage Museum)

Many of them were political exiles and skilled craftsmen – carpenters, tailors, and cooks, who were able to earn a living and eventually buy their freedom and settled in the area known as the Bo-Kaap. Many of the slaves managed to hold onto their Muslim faith and culture and even though there was intermarriage, their religion and culture kept them together. 

Young Bo-Kaap residents

Bo-Kaap street 

Perhaps most representative of the blended history of the Cape is Malay cuisine – predominantly Indonesian in origin, the dishes have been influenced by India (curries, rotis, samoosas), Netherlands (baked puddings tarts and biscuits, e.g. melktert to which they added their own nutmeg or cinnamon), and the French Huguenots (preserves); exotic spices have been added to create dishes like bobotie, pickled fish and sosaties and accompaniments of sambals and blatjangs.

*Eidul-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice is celebrated about 70 days after Ramadan at the completion of the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca - . A young goat or lamb is sacrificed to commemorate Allah’s command to the prophet Ebrahim (or Abraham), to sacrifice his son. The meat from this animal is distributed to the needy, family and friends. 

Read more: 

Echoes of Slavery: Voices from South Africa’s Past by Jackie Loos, published by David Philip 

The Cape Malay Cookbook by Faldela Williams, published by Struik

For more on Heritage in this blog, see also:
The Slave  Route Challenge 
Celebrating Africa
Lavender, Potjiekos and Travel 
Orpheus in Africa 
Walking through History