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 Januarie
John Januarie says slavery did not affect him, but that does not mean that growing up a Januarie was easy.
“I did not know that slaves were named after months in the calendar,” Januarie said.
“There was no slavery in Cape Town when I was growing up, I only heard from my grandparents the difficult circumstances in which they grew up.
“I did not have an easy life, it was a real struggle.”
Januarie grew up with his grandparents.
His grandmother hailed from Tulbagh and his grandfather Calvinia.
“I did not have a lunch box to take to school; I used the brown paper bags that were used in shops to put sugar and rice inside,” he said.
Januarie was just six years old when his grandfather died.
Afterwards, Januarie and his grandmother lived in a house with his mother.
“My mother was not married, because when my father left my mother for another woman, my mother swore she would never marry again,” he said.
Januarie went to school, but apartheid laws saw to it that he could not finish his education, he said.
“During the apartheid years, if there was no man in the house, the occupants of the home were evicted,” he said.
“So that was when I dropped out of school in Standard 7 (Grade 9).”
At 15, Januarie left high school to work in order to look after his mother and grandmother, and made sure they were not evicted from their home.
He tried to continue his education, but the demands of making money left him with no time to study.
“I tried studying further via correspondence, but failed because I had to work for my mother and for my grandmother to keep their house,” he said.
“I had to work from 7am until 9pm, or sometimes from 2am or 3am.”
And so the years passed, until Januarie’s mother gave him a nudge in a different direction.
“As my mother got older she told me that she could no longer do the washing properly,” he said.
“She told me it was time for find myself a wife who would help out around the house.”
It was in Belgravia in Cape Town that Januarie met the woman who was to become his wife.
She worked in a factory.
But just as love arrived, tragedy struck the family a double blow.
“My grandmother died and a short while later my mother too,” Januarie said. “I thank them; I am here because of them.”
Even now, recalling their death brings overwhelming emotions back to the surface.
“I worked hard for them,” Januarie said. “I buried them both when they passed away.”
As the lives of the two women who shaped Januarie’s upbringing came to an end, he began a new life with the woman he loved.
“My mother died at the age of 78 and I married my wife soon after her death,” he said.
“Family members and community members rallied behind us during our wedding.”
In a shared spirit of celebration, friends and neighbours pulled together to make the couple’s wedding a day to remember.
A brand new Januarie was welcomed into the fold.
“We did not have to spend much; people lent us their cars and baked cakes for us. It was all people whom I had also helped in the past,” Januarie said.
Cape Argus