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Ramadan, Eid, Easter and Christmas — there are many shared traditions and customs that exist in the communities of the Cape Flats, despite our diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.
With Ramadan and Easter overlapping in recent years, I’m reminded of how — in Cape Town — feast days aren’t just for those practicing their religion, but also for sharing with relatives, friends, and neighbors of other faiths. Food, as always, is the bridge.
Good Friday Gatherings: Fish First, Always
As Easter approaches, I find myself thinking about the Good Friday meals we shared at my aunts’ homes:
- Cape Malay Pickled Fish and hot cross buns (always warm and buttered)
- Mummy Rachel’s tuna tart and fish cakes
- Aunty Norma’s seafood paella
- Aunty Betty’s fish pie
Each dish carried not just flavor, but stories — of laughter, long tables, and hands passing plates down the line. Curiously, the pickled fish is still enjoyed in as many Muslim homes on a Good Friday, as it is in Christian homes. You can read the story of the Cape Malay Pickled Fish (Ingelegde vis).
When I lived in the UK and Easter came around, I found it so bizarre that I, the Muslim, wanted to eat pickled fish on Good Friday, when all my colleagues (except Ana) could not be bothered.
Easter Sunday Feasting: Tradition with a Twist
Easter Sunday lunch was always a proper feast:
- Roast leg or shoulder of lamb, perfectly seasoned
- Aunty Josie’s crumbed lamb chops and her steak and kidney pie
- Roast or chutney chicken
- Chicken or lamb curry for those who craved spice
- And to end on a sweet note: Mummy Rachel’s chocolate cake and her baked cheesecake as well as Aunty Josie’s Milk tart and Pineapple tart.
Now and then, a new addition to the family would bring something unexpected, expanding our table and our tastebuds.
More Than Just Meals: A Culture of Inclusion
Though we didn’t celebrate Easter or Christmas ourselves, we never felt left out. My Christian relatives always included us — with meals, gifts, and good company. And my parents? They modeled kindness and thoughtfulness in everything they did.
My father, forever chasing a bargain, would buy discounted Easter eggs on Easter Sunday or Monday — not for himself, but to hand out to the children in the family. He didn’t mind that we don’t observe Easter — our family did, and that was reason enough.
As a child, I didn’t love Easter eggs (especially the hollow ones!), but I still remember the joy of receiving them. Later, I was thrilled when my aunts started giving us Cadbury slabs instead!
Over the years, I’ve come to realize how intolerant we’ve become, at times hiding behind culture or religion. But I was raised by kind, generous parents who believed in building goodwill without compromising their faith. I try to live by that too.
Celebrating the Season Through Food
Whether you’re observing Easter, Ramadan, or simply welcoming autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, I hope you find joy in preparing and sharing meals that bring people closer.
Do you have memories of shared holiday meals growing up on the Cape Flats? What dishes remind you of Good Friday or Easter Sunday? I’d love to hear your stories — food is meant to be shared, after all.
Explore our Easter recipe carousel for Good Friday and Easter Sunday — packed with Cape Malay classics and nostalgic favourites.
Recipes for Good Friday
Recipes for Easter Sunday
Easter Cookies, Cakes and Desserts
This was first published on 27 March 2015 and has since been updated.
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It’s so beautiful to see the traditions from other cultures. I’m from Guyana and my family have been practicing many traditions, but since I’ve ventured off on my own things changed lol.
Same here. I’ve lived abroad for nearly 12 yrs now and the longer I’m away the more I miss those traditions and the more I realize how they are not being kept by the younger generations.
I love pickled fish. I had no idea that it was traditional. In my culture we don’t celebrate but is cool seeing other.
Traditions are a beautiful thing. Our family doesnt do any religious practices but I think its really important to cherish the beautiful cultures and rites we all have. Thanks for sharing 🙂
You are most welcome Zehra.
Living in the Philippines is also fun because of many holidays that we celebrate. We celebrate Christmases, Easters, two New Years (that includes the Chinese New Year), major Muslim holidays, etc. We follow it because it is a celebration of the community and its our time to bond with family and friends, regardless of race, cultures and traditions.
I didn’t know you also celebrate the Chinese New Year!
I know that we have some family customs. But I don’t know that we have any real cultural ones. We just love food and conversation. That is about what most family moments are about for us.
I wonder if we end up eating more or talking me at the family get togethers 🙂
Yes, it’s true, the traditional or religious celebrations should rather bring us together than divide us. Why not just participate in a celebration for the joy and warmth of it?! Your dad would be thrilled now, two days after Easter, when all this pricey stuff is marked down to ridiculous amounts 😉
Oh my Gosh Renata, you have no idea! He would literally scan the papers to check which store was having the best eggs and would get more excited about all his potential purchased than we did. He had excellent taste and always bought exactly the right ones for every cousin and aunt.
Keeping up with family traditions is so important and helps preserve one’s culture. I love that you and your family are staying true to your traditions.
One tradition I have woefully failed to keep up since my mother’s death has been Eid lunch or dinner at our house for the family. I couldn’t bring myself to cook and bake in her kitchen or entertain a crowd and not have her sitting there in her big armchair.
I have to say we don’t have special meals or do anything different for Easter other than buy chocolate eggs and attend various arts and craft days and not forgetting the local Easter egg hunt
As a child I was fascinated by stories I read of Easter egg hunts but I don’t recall that there was every something like that in our areas. My aunts didn’t make us look for them, we literally got them on a platter 🙂
It’s a nice thing to be able to follow a tradition or more. We celebrate Easter the traditional way here with lots of family (and food, lol!)
It just doesn’t seem the same without a house full of people does it!
I love that you all embrace others cultures and beliefs, this does really make me proud. You can not beat a good tradition.
In all my life my parents never ill treated or dismissed someone because their faith or belief was different to ours. My dad was one of the most compassionate and empathetic people I knew, and even when relatives or strangers behaved badly he would give them the benefit of the doubt. His words were ‘you cannot judge someone until you have walked in their shoes’.
This food looks so delicious, I love that you have such a welcoming family! I might have to pop over for chocolate cake 😉
Haha thank you Cristina! You are most welcome to stop by for chocolate cake as we have quite a few excellent recipes in the family, aside from the one I love.
Traditions are at most times what dictate the practices of many. And when it comes to festives, they sure do. We especially like celebrating with great meals , just as it was during Easter!
True! Some of my best memories are celebrations around food 🙂
It’s usually just me and my husband but whenever the kids decide to visit we often prepare their favorite dishes. Regardless if there are people coming over or not, I make dishes that I’ve enjoyed when I was younger, family recipes that we’ve kept and recreated throughout the years!
The daunting task for me has been to document our family recipes since all but one of my mother’s sisters and one of my father’s sisters have passed. All I have to remember the recipes by is the memory of what their dishes tasted like when I was younger. For the most part I have been able to replicate the flavors and add my own nuances, but I still have a long way to go.
I applaud you and your family for respecting other people’s belief. Thank you! I have seen how intolerant others are because the others are different. It was very hard.
Also, I would like to thank you for sharing this post. It is very interesting to know more other beliefs and practices.
I have lived away from my family for many years now and the only way to keep the traditions alive for myself is to document them and share them with others. I loved spending the holidays with my relatives and it was a great bonding experience for us as a family. My parents taught us to be respectful of others and to learn about what makes us different, instead of rejecting the differences.
I love your story of the tradition of the women folk and how they prepare sweet and savoury snacks to send out. These traditions are so demonstrative of the close network and community you have, it’s lovey to read about. I don’t have any traditions myself, just spending time with family and my husband.
Sadly, over the years many of the traditions have started to fall away because the younger generations have embraced the rat race and no longer have the ties to their communities that their parents and grandparents had.
I don’t have any traditions for the holiday. But is was nice to have a friend come over and share a meal. Perhaps I should think about starting a tradition.
Sharing a meal with your friend is a good start to a tradition!
This year will be one of many firsts :'(
I only made pickled fish once while Mummy was alive and she was on the phone with me while I was making it.
I called Katriena to find out how to do it as I could not remember all the steps. Now to find the right type of fish at a supermarket here in shaa ALLAH!
Wow….this post brought back so many memories…it will be the 1st year that i dont get my special pickled fish…
I remember watching movies on Good Friday and the street tennis and cricket in the yard over the Easter weekend…