No - Only a tradition since 2001 when a local SA company started mass producing them. Not much cultural about plastic.
Not quite true. Yes they were only mass produced in 2001 but they were hand made before that.
What all the critics are missing is what this noisy plastic trumpet represents. South Africa as you all know has had a chequered past and despite things getting better there are still a lot of people stuck in their ways. However, this event has given us all a reason to stand together and the vuvuzela has been a symbol of this.
I'm not going to lie to you. Soccer has been regarded as a sprot for blacks by a lot of non black people and so the only people who ever owned vuvuzelas were by default the black soccer suporters. That has changed now. Everyone and their mother owns one now and together we are cheering on our team.
What is more we have even had rugby games played in Soweto. The importance of the fact that a game predominanlty supported by white people being played in a black city and white people not only actually attending but interacting with the local community and supporting the local business there is massive. It really is something that South Africa can be proud of.
So you may dislike the droning sound of those vuvuzelas on TV. It does sound like a swarm of flies I agree BUT it represents a unity of cultures and stands as evidence that our (my) nation is moving ahead.
Oh and also, it's not just South Africans who are blowing these trumpets. Our guests have joined in the noise too
