Day of Reconciliation

The Day of the Vow or Day of the Covenant public holiday in South Africa, celebrated annually on 16 December, became the Day of Reconciliation after the South African Public holidays act of 1994 was passed.

The Day of the Vow was a religious holiday commemorating the Afrikaner victory over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838. On the other side of the political spectrum, 16 December is also the anniversary of the 1961 founding of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress.

The intention of the holiday is to foster reconciliation between different racial groups after the end of Apartheid.