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Day of the Vow
The Day of the Vow (Afrikaans: Geloftedag) is a religious public holiday in South Africa. It is an important day for Afrikaners, originating from the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838, before which 464 Voortrekkers made a promise to God that if he rescued them out of the hands of the approximately 16,000 Zulu warriors they were facing, they would honour that day as a sabbath day in remembrance of what God did for them.
Initially called Dingane's Day or Dingaan's Day (Afrikaans: Dingaansdag), 16 December was made an annual national holiday in 1910, before being renamed Day of the Vow in 1982.
In 1994, after the end of Apartheid, it was officially replaced by the Day of Reconciliation, an annual holiday also on 16 December. However, many descendants still celebrate it as promised in the vow.
The day of the Vow traces its origin as an annual religious holiday to The Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838. The besieged Voortrekkers took a public vow (or covenant) together before the battle, led by Sarel Cilliers. In return for God's help in obtaining victory, they promised to build a house and forever honour this day as a sabbath day of God. They vowed that they and their descendants would keep the day as a holy Sabbath. During the battle, a group of about 470 Voortrekkers defeated a force of about 16,000 Zulu. Three Voortrekkers were wounded, and some 3,000 Zulu warriors died in the battle.
Two of the earlier names given to the day stem from this prayer. Officially known as the Day of the Vow, the commemoration was renamed from the Day of the Covenant in 1982. Afrikaners colloquially refer to it as Dingaansdag (Dingane's Day), a reference to the Zulu ruler of the defeated attackers.
No verbatim record of the vow exists. The version often considered to be the original vow is in fact W.E.G. Louw's ca. 1962 translation into Afrikaans of G.B.A. Gerdener's reconstruction of the vow in his 1919 biography of Sarel Cilliers (Bailey 2003:25).
The wording of the Vow is:
The official version of the event is that a public vow was taken – The Covenant Vow on Sunday, 9 December 1838 – It was at this Wasbank laager where Pretorius, Landman and Cilliers formulated "The Vow" and recorded by Jan Gerritze Bantjes (pages 54–55 of his journal – location of Wasbank, S28° 18' 38.82 E30° 8' 38.55). The original Bantjes words from the journal read as follows; "Sunday morning before service began, the Commander in Chief (Pretorius) asked those who would lead the service to come together and requested them to speak with the congregation so that they should be zealous in spirit, and in truth, pray to God for His help and assistance in the coming strike against the enemy, and tell them that Pretorius wanted to make a Vow towards the Almighty (if all agreed to this) that "if the Lord might give us victory, we hereby promise to found a house (church) as a memorial of his Great Name at a place (Pietermaritzburg) where it shall please Him", and that they also implore the help and assistance of God in accomplishing this vow and that they write down this Day of Victory in a book and disclose this event to our last posterities in order that this will forever be celebrated in the honour of God."
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Day of the Vow
The Day of the Vow (Afrikaans: Geloftedag) is a religious public holiday in South Africa. It is an important day for Afrikaners, originating from the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838, before which 464 Voortrekkers made a promise to God that if he rescued them out of the hands of the approximately 16,000 Zulu warriors they were facing, they would honour that day as a sabbath day in remembrance of what God did for them.
Initially called Dingane's Day or Dingaan's Day (Afrikaans: Dingaansdag), 16 December was made an annual national holiday in 1910, before being renamed Day of the Vow in 1982.
In 1994, after the end of Apartheid, it was officially replaced by the Day of Reconciliation, an annual holiday also on 16 December. However, many descendants still celebrate it as promised in the vow.
The day of the Vow traces its origin as an annual religious holiday to The Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838. The besieged Voortrekkers took a public vow (or covenant) together before the battle, led by Sarel Cilliers. In return for God's help in obtaining victory, they promised to build a house and forever honour this day as a sabbath day of God. They vowed that they and their descendants would keep the day as a holy Sabbath. During the battle, a group of about 470 Voortrekkers defeated a force of about 16,000 Zulu. Three Voortrekkers were wounded, and some 3,000 Zulu warriors died in the battle.
Two of the earlier names given to the day stem from this prayer. Officially known as the Day of the Vow, the commemoration was renamed from the Day of the Covenant in 1982. Afrikaners colloquially refer to it as Dingaansdag (Dingane's Day), a reference to the Zulu ruler of the defeated attackers.
No verbatim record of the vow exists. The version often considered to be the original vow is in fact W.E.G. Louw's ca. 1962 translation into Afrikaans of G.B.A. Gerdener's reconstruction of the vow in his 1919 biography of Sarel Cilliers (Bailey 2003:25).
The wording of the Vow is:
The official version of the event is that a public vow was taken – The Covenant Vow on Sunday, 9 December 1838 – It was at this Wasbank laager where Pretorius, Landman and Cilliers formulated "The Vow" and recorded by Jan Gerritze Bantjes (pages 54–55 of his journal – location of Wasbank, S28° 18' 38.82 E30° 8' 38.55). The original Bantjes words from the journal read as follows; "Sunday morning before service began, the Commander in Chief (Pretorius) asked those who would lead the service to come together and requested them to speak with the congregation so that they should be zealous in spirit, and in truth, pray to God for His help and assistance in the coming strike against the enemy, and tell them that Pretorius wanted to make a Vow towards the Almighty (if all agreed to this) that "if the Lord might give us victory, we hereby promise to found a house (church) as a memorial of his Great Name at a place (Pietermaritzburg) where it shall please Him", and that they also implore the help and assistance of God in accomplishing this vow and that they write down this Day of Victory in a book and disclose this event to our last posterities in order that this will forever be celebrated in the honour of God."