Monday, June 28, 2010

The Cape is Dutch all over again


Not only did the Dutch colonize the Cape back in the day; they also totally took over the city on 24 June 2010 when Holland took on Cameroon in the FIFA World Cup™ group match at the Cape Town stadium.

A sea of orange gathered at the FIFA Fan Fest™ on the Grand Parade during the day – all dressed in orange, from cheese and pumpkin costumes to clown hair and orange glitter false eyelashes.

Why orange? Well, the Dutch Royal family has the surname Van Oranje and thus wearing orange in support of Holland just developed spontaneously. The Dutch dress up in orange for all national occasions and Cape Town’s local Dutch residents host their fair share of orange parties on Dutch national days, many of them at Rafikis bar.

Yet Cape Town has not yet seen the amount of orange that marched from the FIFA Fan Fest™ all along the Fan Walk™ to the stadium on 24 June 2010. A Kaapse Klopse band (the Cape’s authentic ghoema jazz sound) joined the parade of over 70 000 people. People were watching them pass by from balconies, walls and hotel windows.

Once inside the stadium, the spirit of orange continued with enthusiastic vuvuzela blowing and Mexican waves. A 2-1 win for Holland against Cameroon made sure that the Dutch took the day, even though the team qualified for the round-of-16 ahead of the game.

Since then Jeeps kitted out in orange flags are blaring Dutch music throughout Cape Town. Orange, orange everywhere. Just like that, the Cape is Dutch again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have loved being part of all this festivity. I think I'll deal with my hangover when the world goes home!!! Glad to see you are posting again. Love Mich