The Xhosa Cattle Killing

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They believed that the prophecy was received from the spirits of their ancestors, who were resurrected in order to bring Xhosa to its former glory and eradicate the white man out of the land.
A Xhosa girl named Nongqawuse received a prophecy that a New World with the whole Xhosa people rising from the dead is soon upon them, and their crops and cattle must all be slaughtered.
With the support of her uncle, Mhalakaza, and the Xhosa paramount chief, Sarhili, the Xhosa people firmly believed in the prophecy, and they went on a frenzy decimating their enormous stocks of cattle and crops.
Cattle sacrifice was a common way to appease angry ancestral spirits, and they also had the belief that the cattle were "contaminated' if the owners themselves were sick and infected.
On the eighth day of the prophesied day, the sun was supposed to rise blood-red, and there would be a huge Thunderstorm, and "the Dead would arise". However, in actuality, the sun had risen like any other sun, and the people restlessly waited inside their dwellings until sunset.
On the other hand, many Khosa people were transported across the border into Cape Colony because of a massive program of labor "recruitment". those who agreed to sign an agreement contract to work for the British Cape Colony were given food and relief.

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