Christmas dinner cooked over camel thorn wood

Thomas Laasch is German and has travelled extensively. For several years now he has lived in Randpark in South Africa. He carries the ministry of a Shepherd and is the rector of the congregation Fountainebleau. In an interview with nac.today we asked him about Christmas in South Africa and the differences he notices. “It’s funny actually. With forty degrees in the shade we of course don’t have any snow, but our advertising and even our decorations often feature snow, even though we don‘t even really know it here.”

And how do you celebrate Christmas in South Africa? With Christmas falling in December it means that it is summer here in the southern hemisphere. It is hot, very hot, and many families take advantage of the six-week school break to go on holidays.

Christmas is primarily celebrated by Christians. But also the other religions and denominations have started to observe the festive season. Especially families with small children have adopted the tradition of exchanging gifts and getting together with family that comes with Christmas. “Parents were having a difficult time explaining to their children why they don’t celebrate Christmas and why their playmates receive gifts on Christmas and they don’t,” Thomas tells us.

Decorative street lights are not all that well known in South Africa, but people go all out when it comes to their homes or offices, and so do shopping centres. Come October, they are usually decorated as in many other countries around the world in which Christmas seems to have a solely commercial purpose.

Christmas Day, not Christmas Eve

“We celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December, not on the 24th of December as in many other places. The family goes to church for the Christmas Day service and afterwards the children finally get to unwrap their presents,” Thomas Laasch says. They can hardly wait to get home after church to open their gifts. In regions where gifts are opened on Christmas Eve already, this is not much different—because the gifts that were unwrapped the night before are waiting to be played with.

A traditional Christmas dinner might consist of turkey or gammon with apple sauce and potatoes, Thomas explains. Markus Cromhout, our nac.today correspondent, nods and adds, “Don’t forget the South African’s beloved braai.” This is a variation of the barbecue that is cultivated in Namibia and South Africa. People like to use camel-thorn wood for their braai because of its amazing long-burn properties. It burns much slower than charcoal, prolonging the whole process and leaving more time to enjoy the company and the food.

For dessert there is trifle, a delectable dish made with layers of thick custard, sponge cake soaked in sherry, fruit, fruit-flavoured jelly, and cream to top it all off. Another favourite is Christmas cake.

An artificial tree with real gifts

South Africans also know Christmas trees, although most people have a fake specimen, because fir and pine trees are not native to this part of the world. The artificial tree is usually put up a few days before Christmas already, for example on 16 December, the Day of Reconciliation, which is a public holiday in South Africa. Then people have time to put up the tree and decorate it.

Right now it is very hot in South Africa. Temperatures are in the 40s. “The temperatures measured in November were the warmest in the last one hundred years. And December will likely be even warmer,” Thomas Laasch reckons. It looks as though he is going to perspire under the Christmas tree.

Photo: Joshua Resnick - Fotolia