THE CROSS CONQUERS THE SPEAR

The Cross Conquers the Spear:

The early missionaries at the time of South Africa’s discovery and colonization came across peoples of such natural riches. The people ranged from the Mafekane to the Khoi Khoi. All were people of this land. The Zulu tribe were probably the most revered and spirited fighters. Indeed the rites of passage for many young Zulu boys was to display fighting skills in brutal, but not fatal sparring matches.
When the colonial powers and the early Huguenot farmers began advancing their territorial claims across South Africa, skirmishes erupted. The missionaries thus had a difficult time in approaching new communities that were already sceptical of the ‘pale white men’. In this depiction we see a scared missionary being carted off by Zulu fighters, but the story ends well. Although the initial encounters were met with resistance, we see the tips of the spears beneath the missionary beginning to waver and bend. Such was the power of good, pure intention and its unrivalled strength in human relations. The Cross Conquers the spear is a tapestry of hope...