Last weekend we attended one of Swaziland’s two big, annual cultural events, the Umhlanga (Reed) Dance. The main ceremony is held in Lobamba at the King’s royal residence, the official location of all Swazi cultural ceremonies. But we just went to the regional one (which happens a few weeks later as the King travels to his other royal residencies throughout the kingdom replicating the ceremony). The Reed Dance ceremony is for the young, maiden (virgin) women of Swaziland. The traditions and symbolism behind it is fairly complex... from a spectator's point of view, it looks like a large parade or procession of girls and women in traditional wear dancing and singing for the king and his men.
Here are some pics, as it's hard to describe otherwise. there were between 10,000 and 16,000 participants at this regional ceremony (the national one had about 80,000). Red feathers worn in the hair indicates royalty-- in this case, the princesses.
The pics don't do this event justice-- the sounds and movement of it are amazing. We'll put together a short video to post for next time.
1 comment:
Beautiful picts guys! Can't wait to see more!
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