Cape Town - When slaves were brought to the Cape, they were given new names by their owners, often after the months of the year.
That’s why many Capetonians have surnames such as April or Augustus.
Brand activation company Geometry Global sought out elders in each of these families and interviewed them about their family heritage. Geometry produced a “Slave Calendar”, which features 12 Capetonians whose surnames – one for each of the calendar months – hark back to this practice.
It was recently awarded a gold Loerie – a prestigious advertising award – and will be exhibited at the Iziko Slave Lodge Museum.
In the lead-up to Heritage Day, the Cape Argus will be featuring each of the 12 interviewees.
Meet Mr Februarie
Kensington resident Felix Februarie can trace his family back to a group of indentured labourers from India who settled in the Bo-Kaap.
“The history of slavery is about us really; the people that came here. We were part of a group of indentured Indians from the east who were taken to work on the sugar plantations here,” Februarie said.
The month his forebears were offloaded has been preserved in their surname for generations: “They were dropped here in the group that they were given - you in March, you in January, you in February, and so on. Your original surname was totally ignored, because after all you were property.”
Also read: Meet Mr Januarie
But Februarie’s ancestors did not leave the ship at the sugar plantations on South Africa’s north east coast. Instead, he said, they were taken around the tip of Africa and dropped at St Helena: “They worked there and in 1834 when slavery was abolished I think our forebears were given the option of being dropped somewhere. I think my great great grandfathers elected to be dropped in the Cape province, and that is why we ended up in the Bo-Kaap.”
He said once slaves were emancipated and baptised, they were given a piece of land and a Bible, to start populating the land. “The Februarie clan was from Bo-Kaap. When they outgrew the place, they spread to different places. That is why you will find Februaries everywhere,” he said.
Februarie said slaves are to thank for many of the skilled trades established in Cape Town: “Much of what you see in Cape Town is because people came here with a craft. Blacksmiths, carpenters - those were the prized slaves. What we see in Cape Town today is because of them,” he said.
Februarie lamented the lack of records about slaves, which means that much of their early history is lost, thanks to rulers who did not consider slaves important enough to record the details of their lives and original names.
“Everything was hidden from us. Ignorance is bliss to a certain extent, until we started asking questions and we discovered there were so many things that we did not know about ourselves. I am sorry about that, that the history was not properly recorded.”
His mother was Scottish, and there is a wealth of information about her lineage, dutifully recorded because she was white and European.
Cape Argus