Walt has finally figured out why "Where next? Swaziland next?" has a perpetual lock on our "hit parade". It's not the text you're looking at, right? Could be the National Geographic-style picture of nubile Swazi maidens?
Never let it be said that Walt doesn't heed the wishes of 1000s of readers. [Have you considered that it might be just the one guy, looking at it 1000s of times? Ed.] Here is a three-minute video clip of the famous Swaziland reed dance. For anyone who cares, notes on the cultural aspects of the dance may be found below the video window.
Umhlanga, or the Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi and Zulu tradition held in August or September of each year. Tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi/Zulu girls and women travel from their villages to participate in the eight-day event. In Swaziland they gather at the Queen Mother's royal village, which currently is Ludzidzini Royal Village, while Nongoma is the site of the royal reed dance in Kwazulu, a province of South Africa.
After arriving at the Queen Mother's royal residence, the women disperse to surrounding areas and cut tall reeds. The following night they bundle them together and bring them back to the Queen Mother to be used in repairing holes in the reed windscreen surrounding the royal village. After a day of rest and washing the women prepare their traditional costumes consisting of a bead necklace, rattling anklets made from cocoons, a sash, and skirt. Many of them carry the bush knife they used to cut the reeds as a symbol of their virginity.
Today's Reed Dance ceremony developed in the 1940s and 50s from the Umkwasho custom where young girls were placed in age regiments to ensure their virginity. The official purpose of the annual ceremony is to preserve the women's chastity, provide tribute labour for the Queen Mother, and produce solidarity among the women through working together.
The women sing and dance as they parade in front of the royal family as well as spectators, tourists and foreign dignitaries. After the parade, groups from select villages take to the centre of the field and put on a special performance for the crowd. The many daughters of King Mswati III also participate in the Umhlanga ceremony and are distinguished by the crown of red feathers in their hair.
The notes are by Alex Ohan, producer of an excellent slide show of the Reed Dance. With regard to the last two sentences, Walt presumes that the king's daughters are ineligble to be taken to wife. Although, Africa being Africa, and Mswati being Mswati, my presumption might bear further investigation.
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