The Enduring Spirit of South Africa

Christmas, Community, and Resilience: Cultural Interview with Lee Saul

An introductory note from Monique:

If you’ve followed the Center for Biblical Unity over the last few years, you may have noticed my increasing discomfort with celebrating black-centric holidays, especially within the context of the local church. I have discussed those issues here and here. While I firmly believe that culture should not be placed above our identity in Christ, I do believe that God, in His divine providence, places each of us within a specific cultural context. This is why we reprinted a blog post in February 2024 by our friend Lisa Robinson Spencer, a theologian who has also done a lot of work on issues related to culture. 

In light of this journey, my desire is to shift the ministry toward a more panoramic approach of celebrating the good, true, and beautiful of all cultures, not limiting ourselves to a special month for a specific culture (which, in reality, is usually just a celebration of skin color, as blacks across America have different cultures). We have decided to run a series of periodic articles featuring interviews with Christians from diverse cultural backgrounds and the impact of the Gospel on that culture. My hope is that you will discover something new about a specific culture, appreciate its unique beauty, and celebrate how God has worked among His people from all cultures. 

Our first cultural interview was published last year with one of our Academic Advisory Council members, Dr. Jacob Daniel. This year, we are sharing a second installment in this series, talking to one of my closest friends during my years in South Africa, Mrs. Lee Saul.

–Monique

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Celebration

It’s Christmas Day in South Africa. The hot sun blazes as families gather to honor the day of Christ’s birth. After church, they meet at a relative’s home for a day of food, fellowship, and memory-making. This isn’t a quiet gathering; it’s an enormous celebration grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, and children milling around the house and eating the delicacies prepared for that day's meals.

For Lee Saul, childhood Christmases were massive events. Since her mother was one of seven children, each family celebration swelled to about fifty people.

Christmas dinner tables are loaded with traditional food: pork roast, pickled tongue, corned beef, seafood, and oxtail. After everyone has eaten their fill of the main dishes, someone will set out another table with all the desserts–trifle, fruit, ice cream, watermelon–sweet, refreshing treats to balance out the warm holiday weather.

Just based on the tables of food, a lot of people must have been cooking for days!

This scene suggests days of cooking, but in fact, preparation has been going on for weeks. Christmas is the time of rejuvenation. Women have set aside their extra money all year for this very season. Their homes are spotless: newly scrubbed, painted inside and out, adorned with fresh curtains and linens to celebrate the season and welcome their guests. Everyone attends church in their “Christmas clothes”—new outfits that will be their Sunday best for the rest of the year.

Christmas is the year’s Big Event, standing out among other family milestones: a child losing a first tooth, graduations, birthdays, anniversaries. Yet Christmas is especially significant as days off from work are rare, and families can take a break from work and come together.

Above all, Christmas is the celebration of Christ’s birth. Christianity is an essential ingredient in South African culture, especially in the Coloured community. Much of life happens in church: confirmations, baptisms, salvation decisions. As Lee notes, “Church shapes people’s lives and how they conduct themselves.”

European Influence

For centuries, many tribes dominated South African land and culture. In the late 1600s, the Dutch and Portuguese began trading with tribal leaders but had little interest colonization. However, by the 1800s, they had established colonial rule, and, joined by the British, expanded their territory and enslaved many inhabitants. This invasion caused decades of conflict and brought heartache and trouble to the country.

Influence of the Gospel

With the traders came Dutch Reformed pastors, whose gospel influence molded the Cape culture. The cultural norms that developed through their influence reflect Scriptural teaching: a biblical lifestyle, strong nuclear families, care for those who are less fortunate, and “safe harbor” for the persecuted, especially during Apartheid.

Churches and families provided social redress for those struggling to meet their basic needs. Even when people had little to give, they always had enough to share. Food, both then and now, remains the universal language of compassion.

Segregation

Family and community bonds became even more vital in the mid-1900s, when Apartheid became the rule of law in South Africa. The Group Areas Act classified people into four groups—White, Indian, Coloured, and Black African—and forcibly relocated them by race. The ruling white people got preferred locations, while other ethnic groups—particularly the Coloured and Black Africans—were forced to live in areas usually outside of city centres, far from services and amenities. As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor expanded.

Apartheid affected and was affected by the church, which taught that Apartheid was a pro-Scriptural mandate toward purity, an attempt for people to remain undefiled in both their genetics and their family life. The church encouraged people to comply because, as good Christians, they should obey the government. Yet, through these difficult years, church members strengthened their family and community ties, demonstrating Christ’s love.

Post-Apartheid

Apartheid ended in 1994, but the long-term damage of social engineering continues to linger. Many initially attempted to return to their old homes and neighborhoods, only to discover they had been transformed or destroyed. With no way to reset what had been broken, people had to move forward. Communities are now growing and services are becoming accessible, but the poverty of the Coloured and Black African communities persists in some areas.

Even more ingrained is Apartheid’s psychological impact. For decades, the government told Coloured and Black Africans that they were “less than,” that they “didn’t matter,” that they were not to be celebrated, and that they could never achieve equal footing with white South Africans. These lies forced them to reshape their goals in order to survive.In doing so, they preserved themselves to see the next generation succeed.

Despite these challenges, many have broken free from this oppressive mindset and found material success. A new middle class has emerged, bringing blessings to the entire country but forcing Coloured and Black Africans to make a difficult choice: Do they move safer, predominantly white areas, with better schools and jobs? Or do they remain, trading safety and achievement for the stability and support of family and community?

Current Challenges

Modern South Africa faces many challenges. Like many other countries, it struggles with drug abuse, gangs, family dysfunction, lack of present fathers, and young mothers. Lee believes, “God is needed. Following gospel principles can solve many of South Africa’s problems.”

A focus on living out the gospel will help families and communities remain cohesive. Too many people are adopting ideas from other societies and attempting to impose them on their own family, culture, and community. This is particularly evident in many South African churches, where the influence of megachurches and the prosperity gospel, made popular by American culture, entices many away from the family and community structures that helped them survive previous difficulties.

A truly biblical lifestyle will encourage South Africans to develop their love for their own community and culture. Lee reflects, “Everyone wants to be a little bit special. We are called to be in community and share brotherly love with each other.” Rather than embracing materialism or chasing an idealized identity as “empowered” black men or women, South Africans should recognize their value as image-bearers of Christ and embrace the brotherly love that has strengthened their communities.