reed dance

had the most amazing weekend. went paragliding in the most beautiful place in this country (in my opinion) on saturday and on sunday went to the reed dance.

the reed dance occurs once a year. it is a time when the king takes a new wife. polygamy is legal here; the current king has 14 wives (the last had 80). the maidens of country (must be a virgin) spend a week preparing for the weekend celebration. the main one, 2 weeks ago, had over 100,000 maidens! the one i attended had 20,000.

i wish i could post photos. i can't do justice writing about the celebration at all. it was like a national geographic documentary. so foreign, exciting and intoxicating. the dance takes place in a huge outdoor arena with spectators all around. the maidens were wearing next to nothing - a wrap tied to one side and a bare chest or perhaps a string of beads. some girls were wearing a very small piece of fabric where the front was the only part covered. we asked why some wore these tiny pieces of cloth and the man who was explaining the event to us stated that these girls (aged 7-20) wanted to show the king they were READY to become women.

we walked around watching everyone get ready. shakers were worn around the ankles and some had whistles. we were swarmed every where we went. everyone kept begging "please take MY photo!"\

it took about 30 minutes for the maidens to enter the arena. it was amazing. they were singing and dancing. the princesses came first. they had red feathers in their hair which identified them as royalty; the more feathers the closer in line to the head of the family they were. it was easy to tell upper class from lower class girls as the lower class (rural?) had dirty wraps. regardless, everyone was beautiful.

after the maidens, the princes entered (again with red feathers in their hair). they had black and white wraps, spears and an animal pelt in the front. after the princes came the king himself surrounded by his warriors. the king carried a gold spear. i was so excited to be witnessing this.

after the king arrived he and the warriors went around to each group of girls and did some kind of dance and chanting 'thing'. i believe in traditional times this is when the king would pick his wife but i've been told it is already decided before the reed dance takes place nowadays.

we stayed for about 2 hours. we had purchased traditional wraps at the market the day before and a few kind women helped us tie them properly once we arrived. i was so glad to be wearing swazi attire (we cheated and wore our bras though). we had many people tell us they appreciated us wearing these outfits.

i wish i was a better writer as this was truly the most incredible event i've ever seen. i'm surprised it is open to the public and we were allowed to take photos.

there has been a lot of talk about the sexualization of the event. women don't go topless now and i was wondering how many of them felt nervous and how many onlookers where not appreciating the tradition but the naked women dancing around.

i suggest googling 'reed dance' to see some photos and i'll try and get some photos up soon. the king is rather handsome!