SO I went to the Eastern Cape last week for a family traditional celebration hosted by my father. My father sort of fell sick last year around December, we were all shaken up by it really. Having seen what sicknesses of age look like I got scared, in a calm sort of way though, unlike my sister and mother. They took to crying and screaming which didn’t help anything but cause them headaches, but maybe they felt better after letting it all go. Anyway my father’s sickness I was telling you, I came home for Christmas and he was talking to some person called Doc and feared someone was out to get him and if drove fastert than 40km/h from the airport we will surely die. My mother said he had not been sleeping well for the past week and she guessed the dillussion was due to that.

SO my father had a gathering on Christmas day at the family home in the village. All the nearest relatives were summoned and told what is to be done. What is to be done was directed by a traditional healer called iGqirha. My father is to:

Apologise to ancestors whom have not been honoured in the past

Have traditional brew pots and containers washed in preparation for the May ceremony

Slaughter a goat in preparation for the COW sacrifice

Slaughter the cow and have a feast to honour an ancestor- the name escapes me now.

So we did that and it was a success, depending on which side of ancenstoral honouring you fall.

This sparked in me an interest to clear understand my family tree and where my cousins, the youth that are here today lie. All these surnames from the same branch or trunk, surely this needs investigation.