If you’re planning to travel to South Africa for the FIFA™ 2010 World Cup, then best you learn to play that B$@## Vuvuzela!

Beautifully crafted Vuvuzelas with beadwork covers in bold South African designs [Photo: Courtesy Vuvuzela.co.za]

Love it … or hate it, the drone of the Vuvuzela is going to be the sound you’ll associate with the 2010 FIFA World Cup - forever!

It’s a proudly South African instrument with a profound and ancient history in tribal lore and music. These humble plastic tubes are fashioned from the original majestic kudu (a type of buck/antelope) horns that were once blown to summon the people to gather for important meetings. (You can still get some plastic kudu-horn shaped vuvu’s - called ‘kuduzelas’, of course).

Blown together in their thousands at stadiums - they sound like a herd of angry bull elephants in mating season. Or like a fleet of furious tugboats blasting their horns in unison. Let’s face it, they’re seriously noisy.

But you’re not going to beat them during this decade. So join them.

It’s like any of those crazes. Yo-yos. Hoola hoops. Bakugan. Rubik’s Cube. They’re highly annoying and irritating items that you scoff at - until you own one. And then, the addiction begins …

The biggest trick about the vuvuzela is how to blow it. The best advice we’ve heard so far is to put your lips to the mouthpiece and make a ‘raspberry’-type sound, similar to playing a trumpet. Relax your cheeks and soften your lips so that they can vibrate. Let the action come from your mouth, rather than your lungs or stomach. Be as melodic as you like (yes, they can play several notes!) and blow as hard or as soft as you like.

The best thing is, the more you blow it, the less you’ll hear all the others around you!

Vuvuzelas are available all over the country - from shops and fashion outlets. They can be priced anywhere from around R20 to R100 (GBP 2 - 10), depending on the colour, cover and detail - some have the team or country colours complete with flags, emblems and badges. Some also have a handy strap so you can sling it over your shoulder on your way to the games.

So go on. You know you want one. Really, you do.

Here’s a quick video link on how to play the vuvuzela

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There’s no way you can begin to compare Halloween in South Africa to Halloween in the USA.

For starters, we don’t habitually grow those oversized, pregnant-looking orange pumpkins. If you do get them, they’re usually imported and cost the earth.

And ‘Trick or Treating’ is not really considered a safe practice because of our unfortunate high crime rate.

In one camp, there’re the sceptics who believe that it’s just one more American-inspired commercial rip-off where you’re coerced into buying scary costumes, plastic vampire teeth and kiddie-sized, play-play orange buckets.

In another, there’re the staunch Christians who believe it’s an evil, Satanic celebration and anything to do with Halloween should be avoided at all costs.

But there’s another school of thought: it’s the ONLY day/night of the year where kids are allowed to dress up collectively - AND get sweets. Do me a favour. And they are allowed to be scary! Which kids don’t get shivers of delight down their spines while scaring the pants off each other with ghost-stories after lights out? Or getting their fill of horror and teen-vamp movies when they’re a little older?

Perhaps it all comes down to intent. If you just intend to have some scary, harmless fun with friends and family, hey, what a pleasure.

And some of the complexes and safe, gated communities make a special neighbourhood thing of it - getting all the kids to go off Treak or Treating in safe numbers, while all the parents get together in the common for a bring & braai. Whether they’re in Fourways Gardens or Fancourt.

If you do want to do something this Halloween, there are loads of good happenings - from the usual family stuff at Randburg’s Brighwater Commons and the Johannesburg Zoo to the Horrorfest Film Fest at the Labia in Cape Town to Halloween Balls to Pink Train Rides to hectically horrific house parties.

Check out your local newspapers to see what’s happening in your area or visit What’s On website and search for ‘Halloween’. GOTRAVEL24.com also has a great list of festive Halloween ideas.

So what do you think? Is Halloween cool or ghoul?

Any which way … Happy Halloween!

There’s a lot to be proud of as a rainbow nation. And as one that boasts 11 official languages. While English is kinda accepted as the official language, there are lots of people who would prefer to see at least 3 languages offered in schools - (me, for one!) - instead of just the regular fare of English and Afrikaans. How else will the sharp edges between the cultures begin to blur?

Saw this amazing, phonetic translation of the South African National Anthem (sung in FIVE of our languages) but again, it’s assuming that the reader is English. But definitely think it will help people get a better pronunciation of the languages they’re not fluent in.

What do you think?

A pronunciation guide to the South African national anthem