The Heart Of Redness

“The Cult of the Unbelievers began with Twin-Twin. Bhonco Ximiya’s ancestor, in the days of the Prophetess Nongqawuse almost one hundred and fifty years ago. The revered Twin-Twin had elevated unbelieving to the heights of religion.”

It is ironic that Twin-Twin emulates the fervor of the Believers, even as he rejects belief itself. By divorcing ritual from belief, Twin-Twin has retained the form of religion, while abandoning its core function.

“Yes, Bhonco carries the scars that were inflicted on his great-grandfather, Twin-Twin, by men who flogged him after he had been identified as a wizard by Prophet Mlanjeni, the Man of the River. Every first boy-child in subsequent generations of Twin-Twin’s tree is born with the scars.”

The connection between the generations is not just experienced through memory; it is a shared physical reality. Until Xoliswa Ximiya becomes the first woman to inherit Twin-Twin’s scars, each first-born son of each subsequent generation lives the pain of the flagellation received in the name of religion. The pain is not dulled by time but felt afresh by each new recipient.

“Twin-Twin’s weals opened up and became wounds. After many months the wounds healed and became scars. But occasionally they itched and reminded him of his flagellation. At the time he did not know that his progeny was destined to carry the burden of the scars.”

It is impossible to know what kind of an effect that we will have on future generations. Rachel Yehuda of New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital conducted a study of 32 Holocaust survivors and their children and found a higher instance of stress disorders than in Jewish families who did not live in Europe during World War II. The study is evidence of epigenetic inheritance—the idea that environmental factors, including stress, can be inherited. While the study only shows evidence of these environmental factors being passed down one or two generations, each new generation of Twin’s line experiences the trauma of the flagellation firsthand, so that it never fades in its potency.

“It gnawed the souls of the twins that their father met his end in the boiling cauldrons of the British, and they were never able to give him a decent burial in accordance with the rites and rituals of his people. How would he commune with his fellow ancestors without a head? How would a headless ancestor be able to act as an effective emissary of their pleas to Qamata?”

Rather than a complete separation of the physical and the spiritual, the brothers view the body as something that gets passed on into the Otherworld. Later, when the prophetesses speak of the ancestors becoming resurrected, this is also in a physical, rather than just purely spiritual sense. The bodies of the ancestors, as well as the cattle will emerge from the water. Additionally, the decapitation leads to a breakdown in the relationship of descendant and ancestor. By not observing the accepted rites and rituals of burial, the brothers and their descendants have lost a powerful ally in the Otherworld.

“He never learned the freedom dance. He was already in exile when it was invented. While it became fashionable at political rallies, he was completing a doctoral degree and working in the communications department of an international development agency in New York. He regrets now that he acquired so much knowledge in the fields of communication and development but never learned the freedom dance.”

Acquiring the skills that would be valuable in rebuilding South Africa does not make up for Camagu’s absence during the heart of the struggle for freedom. The shared experience of fighting from within the country created bonds that exclude Camagu and the other exiles.

“The wild fig tree knows all of his secrets. It is his confessional. Under it he finds solace, for it is directly linked to the ancestors—all of Twin’s progeny who planted it more than a hundred years ago.”

Zim does not trace his lineage to Xikixa because he is not only the ancestor of Zim, but he is of Bhonco, as well. His animus toward the Unbelievers even extends toward the father of the twins, and he regards Twin as the founding father of his family.

“Hence the anger of her friends. It is that anger of many women of the community shared when they first heard of the scandal. Some blamed both women for trying to damage each other just because of a man. Ukukrexeza—having lovers outside marriage—is the way of the world, they say.”

The affair itself is not what caused the feud between NoEngland and NomaRussia, which had such profound consequences. The feud is a result of each woman turning to the igqirha, in an effort to hurt the other woman. Because NoEngland’s curse had such lasting and dire effects on NomaRussia, sympathy is largely with the young woman, even though she tried to steal away her friend’s husband.

“His daughter has been made principal of the secondary school, so he decided to make a feast to thank those who are in the ground, the ancestors.”

While Xoliswa Ximiya does not honor those that came before her, Bhonco still believes that the ancestors are responsible for her success. While both are a believer in “progress” and “civilization,” Xoliswa Ximiya’s denial of the ancestors’ influence on the outcomes of this world is a radical departure from the Unbelievers that came before her. Even the inheritance of the scars has not made her question her dismissal of the ancestors, as she plans to have the scars surgically removed.

“In a slow rhythm the elders begin to dance. It is a painful dance. One can see the pain on their faces as they lift their limbs and stamp them on the ground. They are all wailing now, and mumbling things like people who talk in tongues. But they are not talking in tongues in the way that Christians do. They are going into a trance that takes them back to the past. To the world of the ancestors. Not the Otherworld where the ancestors live today. Not the world that lives parallel to our world. But to this world when it still belonged to them. When they were still people of flesh and blood like the people who walk the world today.”

For Bhonco and the other Unbelievers, it is necessary for them to experience the pain of the Middle Generation firsthand. With their borrowed dance, they travel back to the 1850s to suffer the way that Twin-Twin and his family had suffered. It is what fortifies the feud with Zim and the Believers and is what keeps the past from losing its immediacy. Losing the dance cuts Bhonco and the others from a source of catharsis that ultimately leads to his avenging Xikixa’s decapitation.

“He embraced the stories that were beginning to spread that Mhlakaza had actually visited the land of the dead—the Otherworld where the ancestors lived—and had been caressed by the shadow of King Hintsa. Even though almost twenty years had passed since King Hintsa had been brutally murdered in 1835 by Governor Sir Benjamin D’Urban, the amaXhosa people still remembered him with love. They had not forgotten how D’Urban had invited the king to a meeting, promising him that he would be safe, only to cut off his ears as souvenirs and ship his head off to Britain. There must be something in Nongqawuse’s prophesies if Mhlakaza could be caressed by the shadow of the beloved king.”

Mhlakaza’s understanding of history is essential in helping him shape a narrative that will speak directly to the amaXhosa people. D’Urban’s betrayal of King Hintsa is still personally felt by those who believe in the prophesies, and the image of Mhlakaza getting the blessing of the murdered king helps bolster his authority among the Believers.

“Everyone remembered how the news of Cathcart’s death had spread like wildfire, sparking jubilation and impromptu celebrations throughout kwaXhosa. People got to know of the Russians for the first time. Although the British insisted that they were white people like themselves, the amaXhosa knew that it was all a lie. The Russians were a black nation. They were the spirits of the amaXhosa soldiers who had died in the various wars against the British colonists. In fact, those particular Russians who killed Cathcart were the amaXhosa soldiers who had been killed by the British during the War of Mlanjeni.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is an ancient proverb dating back to the fourth century BCE. Because of the death, destruction and humiliation that Cathcart brought to kwaXhosa, when he is killed in the Battle of Inkerman in the Crimean War by the Russians, the amaXhosa adopt the Russians as their own.

“Xoliswa Ximiya is not happy that her people are made to act like buffoons for these white tourists. She is miffed that the trails glorify primitive practices. Her people are like monkeys in a zoo, observed with amusement by white foreigners with John Dalton’s assistance, But, worst of all, she will never forgive Dalton for taking them to Nongqawuse’s Pool, where they drop coins for good luck. She hates Nongqawuse. The mere mention of her name makes her cringe in embarrassment. That episode of the story of her people is a shame and a disgrace.”

As dismissive of the ancestors as she is, they have their own kind of stranglehold on Xoliswa Ximiya. She feels that their legacy impinges on the present, and she resents their encroachment into her life, as well as the perception of “her people” by others.

“‘We stood here with the multitudes,’ she says, her voice full of nostalgia. ‘Visions appeared in the water. Nongqawuse herself stood here. Across the river the valley was full of ikhamanga. There were reeds too. They are no longer there. Only ikhamanga remains. And a few aloes. Aloes used to cover the whole area. Mist often covers this whole ridge right up to the lagoon where we come from. It was like that too in the days of Nongqawuse. We stood here and saw the wonders. The whole ridge was covered with people who came to see the wonders. Many things have changed. The reeds are gone. What remains now in that bush over there where Nongqawuse and Nombanda first met the Strangers. The bush. Ityholo-lika-Nongqawuse.’”

Like Bhonco, Qukezwa experiences the past firsthand. She may not travel back in time, the way the Unbelievers do, but her connection to Nongqawuse and the Believers of the Middle Generations is so strong that she holds their experiences as her own. In this regard, Bhonco is more like Qukezwa than his own daughter.

“Most of the refugees in the mountains were the Unbelievers who believed—it was in the days when Unbelievers believed—in Qamata, the god of the amaXhosa. The one who was called Mdalidephu or Mvelingqangi by various prophets of old. Those Unbelievers who believed in Thixo, the god of the white man, were rumored to have been given succor on the grounds of the magistrates’ courts, and some as far afield as the Native Hospital in Kingwilliamstown. They were supplied with blankets and food.”

The Unbelievers are defined by their rejection of the prophesies, rather than by their own belief system. Before Twin-Twin disavowed all religion, the Unbelievers continued on with the belief system of their ancestors. But because they did not change course and accept Mhlakaza and the prophetesses, they are now “Unbelievers.” That type of framing continues to this day, as well. People are referred to as “non-believers” when they believe in something different than those labeling them. This quote also shows how the need to survive could affect someone’s spiritual choices. The fact that resources were only shared with those who converted to Christianity shows how the amaXhosa people were sometimes pressured to convert by the British and other converts.

“Bhonco smiles. Then he remembers that as an Unbeliever he is not supposed to smile. He is supposed to be angry about the folly of belief that started before the Middle Generations, and about the sufferings of the Middle Generations. And that must be reflected in his face. Oh, the burdens that have been placed on his kindly disposition by his Cult of the Unbelievers!”

Bhonco’s natural disposition does not lend itself to constant grief, but as leader of the Unbelievers, he feels that it is his obligation to continually experience the pain of his forbearers. Bhonco has “resurrected the cult” (6), and in doing so, he has had to reconstruct Twin-Twin’s belief system with a 150 years of intervening life between the two men. What started out as a rejection of belief is now a rejection of everything that the Believers hold dear. The Unbelievers have become reactionary, and Bhonco rejects joy because he considers it to belong to the Believers.

“‘I have not joined the Believers. On this issue of the gambling city they happen to be on the same side as me. The gambling city will destroy this place.’”

John Dalton shows that he is not an ideologue. He is not loyal to either side and will align himself with those he agrees with on any given position. It is this same manipulative approach that his great-great-grandfather used when simultaneously working for the British government, while trying to set himself up as a trader among the amaXhosa.

“She walks away. She does not even say good-bye. She just walks away. He looks at her with pitiful eyes. How he longs to lose his breadth in hers. But then, after that had been done, what would they talk about?”

Camagu realizes that his desire for Qukezwa is physical, and maybe even spiritual, but it is lacking on an intellectual level. At this point, he still values his western education over what Qukezwa can teach him about his connection to South Africa.

“‘What is land compared to civilization?’ asked Dalton impatiently. ‘Land is a small price to pay for a gift that will last you a lifetime […] that will be enjoyed by your future generations. The gift of British civilization!’”

The British justify their theft of kwaXhosa by telling themselves and others that by bringing them Christianity and British culture, the amaXhosa are receiving something more precious than land. The implication is that the amaXhosa are better off as a subjugated people of the British empire than as an autonomous people without the “benefit” of British civilization.

“‘You see now?’ says Dalton to Camagu. ‘That’s what you get when you dig out the past that is best forgotten.’”

Dalton does not have the same relationship with the past that Bhonco, Zim, and Qukezwa do. He is an individualist who thinks that he alone is responsible for his success as a businessman in Qolorha-by-Sea. He does not acknowledge the privileged status he inherited from his ancestors’ work with the British invaders, their missionary efforts, and their work in trade. He tries to bury the past while simultaneously benefitting from it. Although they are on opposite sides of the question of development in Qolorha-by-Sea, Dalton is like Xoliswa Ximiya in that he views his life as autonomous from anyone that came before him.

“Qukezwa is not convinced. ‘All the Khoikhoi are one person,’ she says. ‘You cannot say the private parts of that woman have nothing to do with me.’”

When Camagu tells the story of a Khoikhoi woman whose private parts are kept on display in a Western museum, he does not understand why Zim and Qukezwa get offended. He was educated in an individualist society and has trouble grasping the connection that Qukezwa, who is part Khoikhoi, would feel with this anonymous woman whose body has been desecrated and exploited. To Qukezwa, it is as if the assault happened to her.

“When Zim is not dozing under his gigantic tree, listening to the rolling songs of the spotted-backed amahobohobo weaverbirds, he spends hours on the hill, gazing longingly at the place where the sea meets the sky. He knows the Russians will not come. But he waits for them still, in memory of those who waited in vain.”

Zim has such a strong connection to his ancestors that he is able to put aside the fact that he knows that the Russians will not come to help the amaXhosa. Toward the end of his life, he honors those that came before him by adopting their mindset that they will be saved, even though he knows it is futile.

“Yet Twin and Qukezwa’s belief was not weakening. They refused to cultivate their field. Like everyone else, they were hungry. To ease the pain of hunger they tightened leather belts around their stomachs. On days when they could not find any roots, they survived on the bark of mimosa trees. They even had to eat shellfish, which was not regarded as food at all by the amaXhosa.”

Later, Camagu and others make their living off of cultivating the sea. This speaks to adaptability and how the need to survive can change aspects of culture. Shellfish may have been regarded as inedible by those of the Middle Generations, but by Camagu’s time, it is considered a delicacy that the best hotels are willing to pay for. Circumstances help shape culture, and the cattle killing and subsequent starvation of the Middle Generations change attitudes towards what is acceptable.

“‘The advance of Christian civilization will sweep away ancient races. Antique laws and customs will molder into oblivion,’ proclaimed the governor.”

The arrogance of Grey shows that there was never an intention of living in peaceful coexistence with the amaXhosa. The intention was always to conquer and replace. Military means were used alongside a legal system that codified the theft of life and liberty by the empire’s subjugated peoples.