What is the Swaziland reed dance?
The Umhlanga, or Reed Dance, brings together the unmarried girls and young women of the country to cut reeds for the annual repairs to the windbreaks of the queen mother’s village; it lasts for five days.
How is the reed dance celebrated?
For visitors, the highlight of the event is the reed-giving ceremony. Led by Zulu princesses, the young women make a sea of colour in intricately beaded outfits as they each collect a cut reed and present it to the king. Zulu men also participate in this part of the ceremony, singing and mock fighting.
What do girls wear at the reed dance?
The girls wear traditional attire, including beadwork, and izigege and izinculuba that show their bottoms. They also wear anklets, bracelets, necklaces, and colourful sashes.
What is the purpose of Reed Dance?
The Royal Reed Dance is an annual event which aims to celebrate and unify the Zulu nation as well as honouring the nation’s virgin maidens. In light of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, this cultural practise hopes to curb this epidemic by promoting a culture of respect for young women who, vow to remain virgins until marriage.
What are the advantages of the reed ceremony?
The Reed Dance does many good things: it fosters self-esteem, strengthens community, and provides a strong sense of cultural identity essential for nation-building.
What do people eat reed ceremony?
The main cultural dishes consist of cooked maize, mielies (maize cobs /corn on the cob), phutu (crumbly maize porridge, usually eaten cold with amasi, but also hot with sugar beans, stew, cabbage etc), amasi (curdled milk which tastes like cottage cheese or plain yoghurt), sweet pumpkin and boiled madumbes ( a type of …
What is important about Royal Reed Dance?
Who invented Reed Dance?
Goodwill Zwelithini
The origin of Reed Dance is traceable to Goodwill Zwelithini when he introduced it in 1991 in South Africa. The Reed Dance takes place in a royal kraal of the Zulu king known as Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal.
What is the Swaziland Reed Dance Festival?
Every year at Umhlanga, known more commonly in English as the Swaziland Reed Dance Festival, thousands of unmarried women and girls pay homage to the King and the royal family in an eight-day ceremony full of dancing, rites and rituals.
What is the reed dance ceremony?
The Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi and Zulu tradition held in August or September. 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.
What is the Zulu Reed Dance?
Strange tradition where Zulu And Swazi virgin girls dance nak*d for their king in annual reed dance. As part of the ceremony, the young women dance bare-breasted for their king, and each carries a long reed, which is then deposited as they approach the king.
Who invented the reed dance in South Africa?
In South Africa, the reed dance was introduced in 1991 by Goodwill Zwelithini, the former King of the Zulus. The dance in South Africa takes place in Nongoma, a royal kraal of the Zulu king.