Umhlanga,
or Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi and Zulu cultural event created in
the 1940s in Swaziland under the rule of Sobhuza II. In
Swaziland, tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women
travel from the various chiefdoms to Ludzidzini to participate in the eight-day
event.
Umhlanga The ceremony was an adaptation of the umcwasho ceremony, an older cultural
practice in Swaziland whereby the young unmarried girls were placed in female
age-regiments. Girls who fall pregnant outside marriage had their families
fined a cow.
The reed dance begins when
the girls gather at the Queen Mother's royal village, which currently is Ludzidzini Royal Village.
The girls then disperse the following night 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 ,the girls will then prepare their traditional costumes consisting
of a bead necklace, rattling anklets made from cocoons, a sash, and skirt. Some
of the girls carry the bush knife they used to cut the reeds as a symbol of
their virginity.
On the ‘the day’, the
girls including the Kings princesses (distinguished
by the crown of red feathers in their hair )sing and dance as they parade in
front of the royal family as well as a crowd of 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.
Source: Internet
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