An annual Lantern Festival has once more lit up South Africa’s sky. The performance event which is the 15th of its kind is held in the town of Clanwilliam located some 200 kilometers north of Cape Town.
A performance event that is one of the Western Cape’s best kept secrets has once again lite up South African skies.
Each year, the festival tells a story rooted in aboriginal traditions. This year’s event depicted one belonging to the San people (or Saan), also known as Bushmen or Basarwa, who were members of various indigenous hunter-gatherer people of Southern Africa.
The project is put together by facilitators from Cape Town University’s Drama Department and various art groups such as Magnet Theatre. The idea behind the project is to bring to new light folklore from forgotten languages.
The lantern symbolizes the common belief that stories floated on wind and were heard by people in a particular landscape. In that spirit, a variety of the illuminants were used: from small pyramids to giant cat and human figures as tall as 4 meters. The colorful celebration of heritage that was watched by thousands, also included firework, music and dramatic storytelling.
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