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SA Union: Dingaan's Festival, Senekal, Orange Free State

SA Union: Dingaan's Festival, Senekal, Orange Free StateSA Union: Dingaan's Festival, Senekal, Orange Free State
Form: Circular with attached loop.
By: ?
Date: 1916
Ref:  AM2: 147; Laidlaw: 0805b;
Variations:
SizeMetalMassValue
30.0 mmNickel10.1 gm$25

Edge: Plain.

Obverse: Between ornamental lines, across, in large letters: "1916". Legend above: "SENEKAL" and below between stops: "DINGAANSFEEST".

Reverse: Between ornamental lines top and bottom, across: "VOOR / VOLK, TAAL / -EN- / TRADITIES".

Notes: Senekal is a town situated on the banks of the Sand River in the eastern part of the Free State.

Dingaan's Day commemorate the defeat of the Zulus under Chief Dingaan by the voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius on 16th December 1838.

After the defeat of the Maritz Rebellion by Union forces at the outset of the First World War in 1914, there still remained significant numbers Afrikaner people opposed to the government and the war against Germany. These people were mostly located in rural areas, particularly in the Orange Free State. The subject of this medal was an Afrikaner cultural festival celebrated in Senekal in December 1916. The choice of Senegal has significance because it the region was in open rebellion against the government in November 1914.

A similar medal (Laidlaw 0805a) was made for a festival in the OFS town of Vrede in February 1916.