Somewhere between the past and the present between the living and the dead are places that have stood the test of time, Legendary places linked to tales, strange and amazing Places that will long remain etched. In the human mind, This is an ancient land, A land steeped in archaeological and palaeontological treasures, Stone age, artifacts implements and fossils found in the Free State are evidence of human settlement since ancient times It’s, rich cultural tapestry, is enhanced by fascinating folklore, myths and Legends Ethnic Music, Let’s journey through this beautiful land to discover some of the legendary places and people who have made the Free State a place of undiscovered gold To enter through the Golden Gate in the eastern Free State seemed to be the most appropriate. Starting point with the awesome sandstone formations in this National Park, adding a golden hue to the surrounding landscape. Music Modderport is truly a piece of heaven on earth and not merely from an aesthetic point of view. It has the extraordinary ability to attract the religious from many different groups. It first attracted the Bushman, then Christian, missionaries and thereafter members of the Christian Zionist movement. So it would be true to say that, as Jerusalem is to the Muslims, Jews and Christians, so Modderport is to these groups of people. There are places in South Africa where the soil is considered holy and possesses magical properties And Modderport is one such place. This is one of the the holes at which pilgrims have been taking earth out. They believe it to be holy earth, because we are right here at the back of the cave church and at a number of places. There are these little holes, sometimes with candles as offerings And people come here. They take the earth mix it with water and then either drink it or bathe in it, and this purifies them and obviously a purified state is what you want to be as a pilgrim To be found. Among the good spirits of the monks and brothers is a remarkable woman who is revered to this day by many Sotho people Buried near the graves of the Christian missionaries is the great Basuto prophetess’Mantsopa 39. Besides her powers of prophecy, she was also a healer and offerings are made here on her grave on a daily basis. Some of them are rather unusual, for instance, these little canisters of snuff. Now these are put here to enable the ancestors to breathe more freely. Sometimes, money offerings are found, which is an appeal for wealth and it’s also considered good manners to place a rock or stone on her grave. When visiting it, I’m going to do just that At certain times of the year. Mantsopa’s spirit is said to inhabit the cave church Bell ringing. All along the Maluti and surrounding mountains are caves and craggy overhangs protecting some of the best preserved specimens of Sun Bushman paintings. One of the most significant of these ancient art galleries is the one at Tandjiesberg. This cave has the finest example of San rock art in the eastern Free State, And I’ve discovered on the walk up here that this painting is not merely a simple depiction of what these people saw and ate. It has a far more profound meaning, a very deep spiritual connotation Sven. Can you enlighten me a little further 39? Yes, certainly Tandjiesberg, we’re very lucky. It’s a very rich cave. There are well over 550 painted images, but this you can look at in some ways as a church and these as the stained glass windows in the church and it’s. Essentially a religious art. The form of religion it takes is shamanism which is practiced by hunting and gathering people like the San or Bushmen all over the world, though it takes very many different forms, and here, for example, you have numerous human figures. Some of them, for example, sometimes bleed from the nose. There are a number of hallucinatory beasts in the animal. What you have to remember is that this rock isn’t just a neutral canvas on which people painted This rock is what separates this world from the spirit world, and most of these images that we see here are not depictions of something out there. These are, in fact, the spirit world beings and animals brought out onto the rock by the medicine people or the shamans. Can you explain this creature up there? He looks completely different to the others. Yes, it’s a very interesting one. It’s done in a white pigment, It’s a doglike creature attacking a human creature, and this is the last episode of art. We have It dates from about a hundred and fifty years ago to roughly about three hundred years ago, and this is in fact, a form of apocalyptic art. This is the Bushman seeing their own demise. Turning to the spirit world to a very different spirit world, where there are hallucinatory beasts, fantastic beings and looking to them for salvation in a world which they no longer understood and could no longer come to terms with Further south at Zastron, are more examples of this Art form – and there’s, one cave where something quite extraordinary happens. The eland paintings on the wall of this cave mirror those we saw at Tandjiesberg, but there’s something extra special about this cave. Local people truly believe that if you sit here very quietly and close your eyes and listen, you can actually hear the spirits of the Bushmen talking in the wind Eerie wind, sound On the farm Tienfontein outsides Zastron, where we had to climb a steep rocky mountainside to Reach the overhang were some of the finest examples of San Bushman art. In fact, we were reliably informed that our film crew were the first ever to record these splendid paintings. Music. Have you ever been stared at by a rock? Well, here in Zastron there’s a marvelous eye in the Aasvoelberg that doesn’t take its gaze off the town, But how it got its hole is another story. Although it looks like a natural phenomenon, it is said to have been created by the town.’s founder the legendary Renier de Winaar, who proved to be more than a match for the devil. One day Renier was sitting on the mountainside smoking his pipe. When the devil appeared to him, The devil asked Renier. What he was doing. Smoking was the reply. The devil then asked him for some tobacco, but added that he didn’t have a pipe, but Renier then handed the devil, his rifle and told him to suck on the front end. He then pulled the trigger and the devil.’s head blasted a hole right through the mountain. Today, the fossilized head lies on a farm, some 15 kilometers away Renier and his beloved stable boy. Vosmerrie became inseparable in the years following his third wife,’s death, and they continue to sit together in quiet. Fellowship Music, In fact near his grave site. There’s not only a strong sense of his presence, But the devil is still said to be hanging around Speak to anyone in these parts, and they will tell you that even today, Renier can be seen sitting on the mountainside puffing away on his pipe contemplating His victory over the devil, It’s difficult to avoid Renier de Winaar of Zastron. You can even end up starying in the converted, stables where he once kept, his horses Die, Ou, Stal or The Old Stable, as it is now known. Another fascinating character from Zastron is Thomas Umpupeke, who is handing down the legend of the the stone man who believe it or not, is also a devil type figure perched. On top of the Aasvoelberg who comes down at night to eat naughty boys and girls, The farewell gaze across the cosmos to the highest Spitzberg in the southern hemisphere. We began a journey back in time a hundred years ago, The time of the Anglo Boer war and the cemetery of the concentration camp at Bethulie, which seems to be populated by many sad ghosts. Eerie sounds This garden of remembrance to the thousands of Boer women and children who died in the Bethulie concentration camp brings to mind the words of Emily Hobhouse, who wrote about the terrible suffering in these camps. Music. Emily Hobhouse is a name that cropped up again at Philippolis. Emily Hobhouse is very famous in the Free State. In fact, there’s a town named after her. This woman was an English woman. She felt great compassion for the women and children in the concentration camps. During the Anglo Boer war, She came out here after the war to help the Boer, women and children get back on their feet again. How she did this was she set up a spinning and weaving school and the Boer women made mats and lovely blankets, and eventually they started making lace work. These wares were exported even internationally, and this truly helped them back on their feet again. Music In the main street of the town is the building where Emily Hobhouse ran her spinning and weaving school. Like most things today, it’s a little more commercialized. It was now time to leave behind the ghosts of the past and take a cruise down the longest river in South Africa, The Orange, But this was to be more than just a social cruise, as we’d been told about the famous Inyoka who is said To live at the bottom of a waterfall in these waters, But before more is said about that, just look at the shapes of those rocks, which seemed to be precariously balanced one on top of the other. Do you also get the feeling that a water spirit could live in these waters? We’re coming closer now to that waterfall. It’s just around the next bend Sound of waterfall. What we’re looking for here in this gorge on the Orange River, is something that is older than humankind itself, the legendary Inyoka or water spirit. Now this monster is apparently snaked shaped and enormous, and it’s lived here for eons and eons. The local people around here believe it symbolizes rebirth. They fear it and they revere it. What we have to watch out for are certain strange patterns or ripples that form in that little pool down there and that symbolizes, the presence of this creature Not only is Philippolis the oldest town in the Free State. It’s also the hometown of a world renowned philosopher and writer. Lawrence Van der Post Memorial Garden tells a story. In fact, it tells a never ending story That open passage way down there. For instance, symbolizes the fact that life is a journey And the curved wall over there is the spiritual wall. You cannot see where it ends, because we don’t know where our spirits begin. Neither do we know where they end On my right. These blocks indicate certain stages of his life, for instance his love for Philippolis, his time in England and his association with the royal family. If we walked down this passageway something very interesting here, the only thing linking the spiritual wall is the actual box containing Lawrence’s ashes sitting there. As you can see that’s the only join on the spiritual wall and on the ground down here there’s a white line, dividing life and death, These glorious white iceberg roses are indicative of his time in England and, of course, the Kalahari sand. Because of his great great love for the San Bushmen people, The white pebbles behind me symbolized the time he was a prisoner of war in Japan, where he was also greatly influenced by the Zen Buddhism philosophy. The water for his beloved Philippolis Philippolis is very dry and the water symbolizes a life force and, of course, the rocks for his beloved Africa At the heart of the quaint village of Philippolis. Is this magnificent Dutch Reformed Church? It was built in 1869 and has some rather remarkable features. For instance, this pulpit it’s carved out of wild olive, and you’ll notice that the bottom section looks rather like a chalice, whilst the top section has definite gothic influence, and over here we have a baptismal font where the legendary Lawrence Van der Post Was actually baptized right here Across here we have a very special Bible over a hundred years old and written in Dutch. This Bible was confiscated by the English soldiers during the Anglo Boer war and then brought back here at a later date to its rightful place. Another legendary name to come from these parts is the Adam Kok dynasty, Leaders of the Griqua clan Adam Kok, the first, the second and the third. These two cannon behind me have rather an unusual history. This area here was meant to become a Griqua homeland, as proclaimed by Doctor Philip, and he bought these cannon in to be used against the Boers who were moving into this area to farm. However, the whole thing was resolved peacefully and in fact, over the mound you can find the kraal of Adam Kok. The third One gets a sense that Philippolis is not only a place where time has stood still, but also the place where one can serve time. Hello Hi welcome to Philippolis Old Jail. What’s this! My goodness me, I’m, really going to jail Guys. I’m really going to jail. I’ve done it this time Mood Music! That evening we let our imaginations wander Music. There’s a story that’s told in these parts and it’s a true story. A Basuto musician was tragically killed on the road in a car crash nearby. His body was brought here, but he can still be seen today in the shadows playing his violin Violin music Back in the real world. We partied late into the night, enjoying the warm hospitality of these rural Free, Staters Music. It was indeed a sad farewell to this. The oldest town in the Free State, where they seem to turn everything to music, You can’t even put a saw down without someone picking it up to play a tune, Music being played on a saw Music. This skull is unique. It is probably the only specimen of this time frame and we had the skull dated very recently by means of new methods, and it seems that the skull is about 250 000 years old. It seems to form part of the debate of the origins of modern humans, and there are at present broadly two ideas about the origin of ourselves. Our ancestors And the one idea is that we all come from Africa In seeking out the legends of this province. We were left with several lasting impressions, one of which was it’s, surprising, changing weather patterns, Music, But the most sustaining image is the sunshine in both its weather and its people. Such legendary warmth and hospitality are truly beyond measure Music.

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Originally posted 2023-02-13 07:50:56.

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