Heroes Day

There is a national holiday in Namibia called Heroes Day. It’s basically a second independence day, thrown specifically by the Herero tribe, where the country recognizes the people who fought for independence back in the 70s-80s. So everyone (besides us…) had off of work on Monday 27 August, and there is a huge national celebration every year in Okahandja, the town where we are now for training.

BUT.

This year, things went a little awry. Apparently the man who lights the ceremonial fire (I’m not clear on whether he’s actually an acting tribal chief or anything, or if he really just lights the ceremonial fire) died earlier this year. They haven’t replaced him yet, so the two factions of the Herero tribe—the red and the green—have been fighting over who will now control the ceremonial fire. This fire is really important to the Heroes Day celebration, and they have two separate proposed locations for the fire and everything.

So while the town of Okahandja and many individuals went about setting up for the Heroes Day celebration/festival (big tents in the middle of this huuuge field we walk past every day on the way from the location to town—kind of like a fairgrounds location, bringing in horses and things for the parade), things were still kind of up in the air. The government eventually banned the Heroes Day celebration from happening in Okahandja, which means the national celebration basically didn’t happen this year.

So the festivities, the {football, netball, rugby} matches that were planned, the parade were all cancelled and it seems like a lot of people were pretty upset. But, in true Namibian fashion, there were still a ton of people in Okahandja so there were still a ton of parties at individual houses. I think the bars must make more money on Heroes Day weekend than in most months, which is crazy because they are never unpopular locations…