The eventification of Afrikaans culture—some thoughts on the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK)

The festival has always been a distinctive phenomenon in the history of humankind, and has long been closely related to the religious, artistic and cultural life of a particular community. Certainly, it has played a distinctive role in the history of dance, drama and music (vide the classic Greek theatre festival of Dionysus, the medieval Cycle plays of Europe, the development of the Noh theatre, the Ogungun Festival in Nigeria). Not always respectable or perceived to be a subject worthy in its own right, the festival has nevertheless always been an extremely important element in the theatrical system, and in the processes of making theatre, as well as a distinctive cultural event in society at large.