On 9 August 1956, roughly twenty thousand women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the pass laws — the regulations requiring Black South Africans to carry documents controlling where they could live and work.
They marched in silence for thirty minutes. Then they sang.
The line that stayed
The phrase that came out of that day — wathint' abafazi, wathint' imbokodo, "you strike a woman, you strike a rock" — has outlived the law it was aimed at. It gets used loosely now, on mugs and in campaign copy, which is what happens to good lines. The original context was twenty thousand people standing outside a government building that had no intention of listening.
Why we're mentioning it rather than marketing around it
Public holidays are an awkward moment for small brands. There's a pull toward making the day about your product, usually with a discount attached, and it nearly always sits badly.
So: no promotion today. We're a two-person business making candles, and roughly half of what we make ends up in the hands of women who are running households, businesses and considerable portions of this country simultaneously. Naming the day properly seemed better than dressing it up.
Enjoy the long weekend, if you have one. We'll be back to talking about fragrance on Thursday.