Christmas is always marked with a public holiday, but SA's newest constitutional commission is worried that this could be interpreted as an attempt to promote Christianity over other faiths.
The commission for the promotion and protection of the rights of cultural, religious and linguistic communities - better known as the CRL commission - will this week mark a full year in operation and is already threading its way through some cultural minefields.
The issue of religious holidays was among the 26 complaints the commission has had to investigate since its 18 commissioners took office in January.
According to the CRL commission's report to parliament this week, the issue of religious holidays was raised several times, with concerns that not all religions are treated equally.
A government investigation was set up after the commission referred the matter to the department of home affairs.
The commission says the nature of the submissions it has received in its first year could be summarised in the following broad categories: language in education; community rights and cultural rituals; and religious education (and the adequacy of human resources).
Its mission is to promote and develop peace, friendship, humanity, tolerance and national unity among cultural, religious and linguistic communities.
It monitors compliance by the state and civil society with its mandate, mediates inter community conflict situations, and lobbies government on the cultural issues it is charged with.
Interestingly, a "thirst for identity" that goes beyond race is among the unexpected challenges the commission found in snap surveys at its provincial conferences during the year.
"The various groups . . . expressed their thirst for identity. The issue of identity was profound (and) a great number of respondents had great difficulty in defining their identity. Inherited identities of the past were no longer useful and adequate . . . Many people and communities continue to define themselves in terms of race: whiteness or blackness," the report says.
Elsewhere in the report the commission also states it is "conscious of the fact that the scars of historical racial and ethnic conflict may never disappear".
For instance, the commission last year mediated a dispute between the Khoisan groups of Steinkopf in the Northern Cape over a play depicting the massacre of 32 children in the 1800s. The accuracy of the play was contested, igniting long-hidden hostilities.
According to the last census, about two-thirds of South Africans are Christian, mainly Protestant, spanning a variety of churches.
There are also a number churches which combine Christian and traditional African beliefs.
The largest number of non-Christians are either Muslim, Hindu or Jewish.
The majority of the first cases dealt with religious or customary issues, and the details of the complaints offer a fascinating glimpse of the diversity of SA's population.
One case involved a Jewish student who asked the commission to resolve a dispute with his university, which refused him permission to wear his yarmulke during classes.
The compromise reached with the university was that he was allowed to wear head-dress in theoretical classes, but not during the practical ones where there is a danger of accidents.
Flowing from this incident, the commission launched an independent study of the implication of wearing religious symbols and attire outside the communities where they apply.
A similar complaint from a woman who was not allowed to wear cultural clothes to work has still to be resolved with her employer.
Language complaints also featured prominently, especially at schools, where a number of parents questioned the absence of an African language in the syllabus.
It is an especially difficult terrain to negotiate. Of SA's 46m people, there are 37,2m Africans, 4,4m whites, 4,1m coloureds and a little over 1,1m Indians.
Nine of the country's 11 official languages are African, reflecting a variety of tribal/cultural groupings, which also share a great deal culturally and linguistically.
Working closely with provincial education departments, the commission is working on a programme that can accommodate the linguistic needs of schools.
In one intriguing current case the commission was asked to intervene following a complaint about a poster for the movie The Exorcist: The Beginning, which depicted a picture of a crucifix upside down. The complainant said it could be viewed as disrespect for the Christian religion and could count as "hatred and incitement to cause harm".
Taking on the mighty film industry so soon will test the resolve of the commission.
