Johannesburg: Events

A major drawcard on Jo'burg's events calendar is the massive Arts Alive Festival, held throughout September and October. Since South Africa's liberation, the arts have been going through an exciting time, with an explosion of optimism and mainstream acceptance of long-suppressed talents. A strong element in the festival is the workshops that reveal the continent's rich cultures, denigrated for so long by the Eurocentrism of the apartheid years. The festival is a particularly good time to hear excellent music, on and off the official program.

Other festivals include the Rand Easter Show at the National Exhibition Centre in April; Chinese New Year at Wemmer Pan south of the centre; the Jo'burg Jazz Festival in late September; and the annual Gay Pride March held on the last Saturday of September.

Public holidays underwent a dramatic shake-up after the 1994 elections. For example, the Day of the Vow, an Afrikaner religious holiday remembering the Voortrekker victory over the Zulus at Blood River in 1838, has become the Day of Reconciliation (16 December).The officially ignored but widely observed Soweto Day, marking the student uprisings that eventually led to liberation, is now celebrated as Youth Day (16 June). Human Rights Day is held on the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre (21 March).