Today is Reconciliation Day here in South Africa...very interesting to Google... In short, our “Boer” forefathers where attacked by the Zulus this day in 1838. 470 Voortrekkers defeated 10 000-15 000 Zulu warriors! 3000 Zulus died and only 3 Voortrekkers where lightly wounded,including their leader,Andries Pretorius. The blood of the dead Zulus turned the Ncome River red, in what is today,KwaZulu-Natal and from there it was called the Battle of Blood River. Andries Pretorius made a very interesting pact with God should He make victory the Boers'....very long and interesting story,but still,today,we Afrikaners commemorate this day and spend it honouring our God and brave forefathers!
This bronzed picture is a piece of Africana which belonged to Cules' Grandparents. It depicts the hard times experienced by the Voortrekkers after escaping British Rule in the Cape Of Good Hope . These pioneers trekked all the way North from the Cape and suffered through terrible ordeals on the African mainland,fighting,Zulus,Xhosa,Matabele,Khoisan,wild animals and horrible diseases....to name but a few...The men,woman and children walked over mountains and fought their way North....They literally took their ox wagons apart and reasembled them at the bottom of the mountains whenever they couldn't drive them across..time and again and carried them piece by piece over these mountains...Talk about tenacity!!
It has pride of place in the short hallway in our old farmhouse.
Typically me,my house can be a mish - mash of styles because I can never make up my mind as to what I really like,except for the fact that lots of thingies needs lots of cleaning and I like to spend my time doing more fun things off course! I bought this chandelier in a frenzy of French Country style loving and then realised that all those white thingies wasn't going to work in my household of greasy hands,lots of animal poo no doubt being carried in from outside etc
The black Stetson on the right was given to Cules as a gift when one of his fellow horseshoeing student buddies in Oklahoma,won a big rodeo event one night and got a huge horse float and truck as prize!
Anyway..,here is a close- up of the picture
Have a great weekend everyone!
The End
Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting. I know nothing about African history. But wait - now I do.
ReplyDeleteInteresting information. I do not know much about African history.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that, love the picture. Love that hall tree too that the Stetson is hanging on! ;D
ReplyDeleteHi Liesl .. the treks of the Boers .. it's always interesting to remember. Cules' bronze is beautiful .. but I love the riempe bench .. and those sticks .. and actually I love the chandelier - good mix .. cheers and enjoy the Christmas season .. Hilary
ReplyDeleteSuch a great post, Liesl. I think we will read it in class next week! Have a lovely weekend, too! xo
ReplyDeleteThere is so much history in S.A. so it is great to have memories that belong to your family. Keep well Diane
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I wish I knew more world history.
ReplyDeleteGreat story. Andries Pretorius wouldn't be any relation to P.J. Pretorius the big game hunter would he?
ReplyDeleteHey Joe! Major Philip Jacobus Pretorius, 1876-1945 ,was indeed a relative of Andries Pretorius and single handedly caused the Huns in South west Africa a great deal of trouble! What a life that guy had!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this bit of history.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post.