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The Umhlanga, or Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual cultural event which takes place in August in Swaziland. This year, 98,000 unmarried and childless girls and women travelled from the various chiefdoms to the Ludzidzini Royal Village to participate in the eight-day event. The young, unmarried girls are placed in female age-regiments- the 'older' (14-22yo):
... and all girls are required to undergo a physical virginity test before being allowed to participate. The girls wear beaded skirts and colorful sashes, leaving their breasts bared and their thighs exposed. They also wear anklets, bracelets, and necklaces. Each sash has appendages of a different color, which denote whether or not the girl is betrothed. Each maiden carries a long reed in the parade, symbolizing their chastity, and then carry them above their heads in a slow procession up the hill to Enyokeni Palace. If the reed should break before the girl reaches that point, it's considered a sign that the girl isn't a virgin.
On the final day, when the Parade ends in front of the royal residence, this reed is then deposited as they approach the king, before they dance exuberantly in front of him. Swazis insist that international media falsely portrays the annual ceremony as exploitative, and that it's a centuries-old ritual that's a celebration of girl-power, and of the girls' chastity. Internationally though, it's gained infamy as the parade from which the Swazi King picks his new brides.
King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, is now 48 (looking like this):
All but one of his 15 wives and 100+ fiancees (who only become wives after they've been impregnated) have been selected from those who perform at the Umhlanga. And the eldest of his 30 children, Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini (the girl in the middle of the 1st pic) leads the procession.
So then, what do you think of the Swazi Reed Dance?
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