The Heart Of Redness

The Middle Generations

Xikixa is the father of the twins, Twin-Twin and Twin. He served in the court of King Sarhili. He shared his wealth with his sons and had them circumcised along with the king’s son, which gave them good standing in the community. During the Great War of Mlanjeni, Xikixa fought alongside his sons. At one point in the war, the twins, “accompanied by a small band of guerilla fighters—chanced upon a British camp hidden in a gorge” (19). They watch in horror as the British soldiers decapitate the corpse of an umXhosa soldier, and then put the head in a pot of boiling water. Not able to stand it any longer, the guerilla soldiers ambush the camp and are horrified to discover that man that the British soldiers had decapitated was their father, Xikixa. The amaXhosa soldiers capture John Dalton, but British reinforcements run them off before they can take revenge for Xikixa’s death and dismemberment. According to his son, Twin, Xikixa’s decapitation renders him an ineffective ancestor: 

A good ancestor is one who can be an emissary between the people of the world and the great Qamata. A good ancestor comes between his feuding descendants whenever they sacrifice a beast to him, and brings peace among them.