The weekend of the 23rd of October was Sutherland’s annual Church Festival, called the ‘Dankfees’ (Thank you Festival). And what a festival it was.

The Friday evening announced the start of the festival, with a ‘Steak dinner’, seasoned with the jokes of famous Nico Nel and local story-tellers. 130 people attended and the church hall was filled with candles, beautiful decor, candles, the smell of potato bake and wine, and (of course) roaring laughter. We also had our own little after party – who said washing 130 people’s dishes wasn’t fun! Never in my life did I think I could laugh so much whilst cleaning such a huge group of people’s dirty dishes!

Saturday morning at the basaar: Early morning, in true Sutherland style, at least 30 lambs were thrown onto the barbeque. Wors and Sosaties were also on the menu, and these meaty delights were sold at ridiculously low prices.

Inside, the heat was on, with ladies baking pancakes and making tea and coffe! The pudding table at the ‘basaar’, bragged with colourful variations and showed all visitors exactly what ‘basaar-pudding’ should look like! There were also plentiful plants, with all kinds of herbs, flowers and even tomato plants. Each table had its own little surprise, from tea-cup biscuits and sheep and pig biscuits. From cakes to milk tarts, to interesting things and of course at the miscellaneous table I saw some items that I wasn’t…not sure what to do with them, but they were beautifully made.

The highlight of the basaar were the men serving the meat at a table – with aprons and all! A very rare sight – six or more men, with aprons and gloves dishing up food!
The weekend was suitably ended with a church service (with confirmations, two baptisms and communion) and a family lunch in the church hall. All in all, quite an eventful weekend in Sutherland! Don’t miss out next year!

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