How FunDza Fanz celebrate the new year

It’s hard to believe it’s almost time to say goodbye to 2021 and hello to 2022. It feels like we just celebrated the end of 2020 and all the stress of adjusting to Covid-19 protocols, and yet at the same time, 2021 feels like it’s been the longest year!

This year’s New Year’s Eve (NYE) celebrations promise to be more festive than last year. Some public gatherings will be allowed if the country remains on Level 1, albeit with size restrictions. For many people, NYE is the perfect excuse to party all night and into the early hours of the next day, while for others, it’s a time of deep reflection. Globally, Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati are the first countries to ring in the new year, while people who call Hawaii home are the last to celebrate.

Here in Mzansi, FunDza Fanz shared how they and their families celebrate New Year’s Eve:

I love the new year for many reasons one of them is that I get to burst a lot of fireworks. I celebrate it also by going around the neighbourhood with my siblings, wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. My siblings and I would go out in the middle of the night to see our friends. –
– Bongani, Grade 9 learner

New year we wear new clothes and eat nice food like cold drinks, chips, sweets, and cakes. We celebrate with the whole family and play nice music and dance, we also have fun with our family members. We wait until it is 12:00 am so that we can listen to the song of the year and we play games and give each other gifts. We go to buy fireworks and firebombs.
– Nothando, Grade 9 learner

This new year will be an interesting one for me because I am going to the EC for my initiation (circumcision) this December so I will be celebrating it as a “new man”. I plan to spend time celebrating with my family, friends, and other initiates in my neighborhood.
– Joshua, tutor

We normally braai, as a family. we pray at midnight as an indication that we invite God to start the year with us. It has become a culture as we do it every year, I consider it a blessing because it is not many people who can still be spend quality time with their families.
– Sindisiwe, IkamvaYouth intern

Marking the new year; again I usually hang out with friends, in the evening we sit outside and just stare at the sky, the fireworks. We would just talk about how the year was, funny experiences we had, intriguing news to share, and a lot of other stuff, of course with some drinks, snacks, and meat. We do not normally go to parties or any kind of a celebration that evening, we only do it provided there’s one of my friends who doesn’t drink alcohol making at least the two of us.
– Kelebogile, Grade 12 learner

New year celebrations are usually extreme. As we always gather around as a family. To mostly celebrate our lives and being able to survive throughout the whole year and to honor the lives we lost through the journey. To remind ourselves of all the mistakes and to believe we will do better in the next coming year. Asking for hope, faith, change, love, and serenity.
– Wendy, Grade 11 learner

New Year’s Eve, is just a special occasion celebrating a resolution also well known as a cross-over occasion. We normally have 3 days of fasting at church that ushers us into the new year, with fresh minds spiritually filled. This is important due to the fact that a lot of things do happen during these busy times of travelling from one place to another, so unto us, the Christian Christians, Jesus has instructed us to pray, so that we are not easily tempted according to the gospel.
– Sipho, 2021 tutor

For the new year, the day before the new year we do shopping to buy essential food for cooking seven colours, buying meat, charcoals, firecrackers, and some drinks. Then on that day, we all stay up till midnight and I pray first before wishing everyone a new year then we light firecrackers and celebrate with our neighbours. Then after I either go out with my friends to some party or stay in with my family- mostly stay in or go chill with my childhood friend. Then on New Year’s Day when we wake up, we firstly clean the house, then cook the seven colours. My granny usually invites extended family members to come to celebrate with us and we will have a family braai and have a chilled day. My siblings would dress up and go show off their new clothes to their friends whilst my childhood friend would always make sure that she takes me out to swim on New Year’s Day and just hang out together.
– Comfort, tutor

Whether you’re going to count down to 2022 at a party, on a beach, around a braai or in the comfort of your lounge, have fun and keep safe!

Tell us: How do you celebrate the new year?