Reed Dance 090406

Once a year, Swazi maidens from across the kingdom come to the Ezulwini Valley to gather reeds that will be used to "repair" the
Queen Mother's traditional kraal. They walk for a day to find the best reeds (younger girls are not required to walk as far).
Then on day 2 the young women present the reeds to the Queen Mother. And on Day 3 of this Umhlanga--this year September 4, 2006--
at least 40,000 virgins parade, dance and sing before the king in multiple groups: first the very young girls (under 8),
next the girls related closely to the king, and the rest are sorted according to the royal residence closest to their homes.
The next queen/fiancée is traditionally chosen from among these young women performing in the Reed Dance, although rumor has it
that #15 or 16 was NOT chosen for 2006. Though now a very short skirt is required as part of the dance costume, virtually all girls
bare one or both breasts. Let's be honest, that is why Adrian and Rick insisted upon viewing "this important cultural event."
Please also see another view of Swaziland...


	(L) We are about to enter the King's residence in Ezulwini Valley where the maidens dance for the king.		(L) The King allows all the participants to camp on his property for the ceremony. I cannot image Queen Elizabeth allowing this.

	(L) Though our Swazi friend has led us to believe that we all are properly dressed, both Adrian and Rick are stopped by enthusiastic young men to fix both. Here Adrian is stripped down to hang the cloth over his right shoulder.		(L) Adrian and his Swazi counselors pose with their weapons now that they are correctly attired warriors.

	(L) Now it's Rick's turn. While his cloth is on the right shoulder, it's pinned. So his helper un-pins then knots the garment to be proper.		(L) After we walk around the stadium where people are staring at us as much as we at them, we sit where there are open benches. We waited quite a while for the Queen-Mother and King to arrive but the groups of girls finally began chanting and parading.

	(L) More than 40,000 maidens lined up over an incredible distance that extended way beyond the arena, itself about 300 yd. long (3X a football field).		(L) Each group pauses to chant and dance in front of the King, who is somewhere in the white section of the stands. We left before all the groups performed for the King, and definitely before the hours of ritual singing.

	(L) Almost at the exit, we were asked by a Western-dressed woman to pose for a photo with a young girl. As it turns out, it must have been submitted free-lance to the Swazi Times newspaper which ran us in their special 4-color Umhlanga supplement!		(L) More pictures from the special supplement, where newspaper photographers got much closer than we felt we could do without causing international relations problems.

	(L) Our picture in the Umhlanga supplement was below the photos on this page, right next to a young woman with a pendulous breast displayed. I didn't want to post it for fear of an X-rating, so just ask Rick for a copy!		(L) Our final photo is with our young friend Mkhululi, holding his daughter Ayanza, and next to his wife Katie. We were very grateful to have such warm and informative hosts for such an important cultural event!