On Heritage Day, South Africans of every stripe do the one thing we all agree on: we light a fire. Count down with us, then plan yours properly.
Heritage Day, 24 September, is the public holiday on which South Africans celebrate who we are — all of who we are. In 2026 it falls on a Thursday. The National Braai Day idea grew from a simple observation: whatever our differences, the fire is where all of us already gather. It's the most South African form of unity there is — nobody has to agree on anything except that the coals are almost ready.
So the brief is simple: on 24 September, light a fire, gather your people, and feed them. This page is your planning kit. Nothing here is for sale.
On this page: what to buy, which wood, the timeline, the menu, the mistakes, if it rains, and the questions.
Work from the people, not from a fantasy menu. The only quantity this site will put a number on is the meat: 400–500 g per adult. Eight adults is about 3.2–4 kg. Mix it so the hungry ones have something early and the show-offs have tjops. A bring-and-braai means guests carry some of that meat themselves — the host still brings the fire.
| Buy | How much | The honest note |
|---|---|---|
| Meat | 400–500 g per adult | Wors, something on a stick, and chops. The Cuts says what belongs on a grid and what belongs in a potjie. |
| Boerewors | Inside that meat, not on top of it | Anything sold as boerewors is at least 90% meat by law. Whole coil, turned seldom, never stabbed. |
| Wood | Twice what you think | Buy it on Wednesday. Thursday morning is when the good bags are a rumour. Wood guide. |
| Ice | Three times what you think | Drinks, and a cooler if the meat has to wait in a hot car. |
| Pap, rolls, salad | Enough that the meat can stretch | Pap en sous turns a coil of wors into a feast. Delegate the salad. |
| Matches | A box, and a spare | Firelighters are allowed. The one-match purists may wait for their own fire. |
| Foil | Enough to rest the meat | Five quiet minutes under foil while the braaibroodjies take the dying coals. |
| People | Don't count the tjops | There is always room for one more, and somehow always one more chop. Until there isn't — so buy the upper end. |
What a published family basket actually cost — meat, fire, sides and a cooldrink, not a guess — lives on the National Braai Index. The latest week in the file is 31 August – 6 September 2026, basket v2, complete: R690.87 for the family fire, R790.86 with a 6-pack. That week is the week those prices were confirmed. It is not a shop, and it is not a price for 24 September until a newer week is published there.
Dense hardwood burns down to long coals. Kameeldoring (camel thorn) is the gold standard and a protected tree — buy it from a permitted supplier. Sekelbos is the bushveld favourite. Rooikrans is the Cape workhorse, and an invasive alien, so burning it is a small act of conservation. Good hardwood needs 45–60 minutes to become coals. If flames are still licking the grid, you have a fire, not yet a braai. The hand test, palm at grid height: 4 seconds hot, 6 hot-medium, 8 medium, 10 gentle. Briquettes are a fair backup if the bags are gone; gas is a Tuesday-night convenience, not the Heritage Day fire. The full comparison is the Wood & Coals guide.
These times assume you want to eat around 15:00. Light the hardwood at 13:00 so it has that 45–60 minutes. The braai starts when the fire is lit, not when the meat goes on.
| Time | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Meat collected. If you're only starting to look for wood now, may fortune favour you — everyone else bought theirs on Wednesday. |
| 11:30 | Salads delegated, drinks on ice, dough for roosterkoek proving in the sun. |
| 13:00 | Fire lit. The braai has now officially begun, whatever the guests think. Fire guide here. |
| 13:45 | The pap goes on at the fire's edge. Smoor simmering. Hand test says "not yet". |
| 14:00 | Hand test says go: sosaties and tjops on, then the wors. |
| 14:45 | Meat rests under foil. Braaibroodjies take their rightful place over the dying coals. |
| 15:00 | The nation eats. Sing the anthem if you know all the verses; hum with confidence if you don't. |
| Sunset | The second, purely ceremonial fire is lit. Stories exaggerate themselves. This is heritage too. |
Same meat budget as above — 400–500 g per adult — and let the classics carry it. These are pages that already exist. Nothing new has been invented for the occasion.
The whole shelf is fifteen recipes. A potjie if someone is staying the afternoon and can be trusted not to stir.
Weather is a rumour. Rain moves the guests, not the fire. Garage door up, the stoep, or a big umbrella. Keep the grid out of the wet if you can. Mind the wind before you light, and keep the fire away from thatch and overhanging branches. Ash stays in the braai until it is stone cold. The fire guide has the safety notes in full.
In the run-up to Braai Day 2026 there is one communal fire burning on this site — The Braai — fed by anyone with something worth putting on it. The founding custodians are named on that page on 24 September 2026. They are not listed on this page, and they are not listed early. If you want to put a hand up before then, the vuur page says how. Go stand around the fire anyway.
National Braai Day is the day South Africans light a fire and gather around it, on purpose, as a country. It falls on Heritage Day. The idea is simple: whatever else we disagree about, the fire is where we already meet. This page is the planning kit — quantities, wood, a timeline and the menu.
Same date, two names. Heritage Day is the South African public holiday on 24 September. National Braai Day is how a great many South Africans choose to spend it: one fire, the people you like, and enough food. The public holiday is Heritage Day. The braai is the celebration.
Thursday 24 September 2026. The countdown on this page runs until the start of that day, and through the day itself. Next year it falls on 24 September again — the date does not move.
Plan 400–500 g of meat per adult. Eight adults is about 3.2–4 kg, mixed so nobody stands hungry: wors, something quick like sosaties, and tjops or chops. Pap, rolls and braaibroodjies stretch it. A bring-and-braai means guests carry some of the meat themselves.
Dense hardwood that burns down to long coals: kameeldoring (camel thorn) from a permitted supplier — it is a protected tree — sekelbos inland, and rooikrans in the Cape, where burning that invasive alien is a small bit of conservation. Good hardwood needs 45–60 minutes before it is coals. Briquettes are a fair backup if the wood is gone. Buy it the day before. On the morning of the 24th, everyone else already has.
Work backwards from eating around 15:00. Collect the meat in the morning. Light the fire at 13:00 so hardwood can become coals. Pap goes on at the edge around 13:45. When the hand test says go — about 14:00 — sosaties and tjops, then the wors. Rest the meat under foil while braaibroodjies take the dying coals. The braai starts when the fire is lit, not when the meat goes on.
Weather is a rumour. Rain moves the guests, not the fire. Garage door up, the stoep, or a big umbrella. Keep the grid out of the wet if you can. The coals do not take a vote.