Princess Nqobangothando has taken a leading role as the annual reed dance at eNyokeni Royal Palace kicked off in South Africa.
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Princess Nqobangothando at the annual reed dance at eNyokeni Royal Palace on September 6, 2014
in Nongoma, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / City Press / Khaya Ngwenya)
The 2017 annual reed dance in South Africa got off to a colourful
start some days ago as the Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini
presided over the event. Thousands of young women came out to
participate in the event.
It all started well with the local mayor expressing his pride in the continuation of the decades-old custom.
What you need to know abou Reed Dance
The ceremony is known as Umkhosi woMhlanga, and takes place every
year in September at the Enyokeni Royal Palace in Nongoma,
KwaZulu-Natal. The girls come from all parts of Zululand, and in recent
years there are also smaller groups from Swaziland, as well as more
distant places such as Botswana and Pondoland.
All girls are required to undergo a virginity test before they are
allowed to participate in a royal dance. In recent years the testing
practice has been met with some opposition.
The girls wear traditional attire, including beadwork, and izigege
and izinculuba that show their bottoms. They also wear anklets,
bracelets, necklaces, and colourful sashes. Each sash has appendages of a
different colour, which denote whether or not the girl is betrothed.
As part of the ceremony, the young women dance bare-breasted for
their king, and each maiden carries a long reed, which is then deposited
as they approach the king. The girls take care to choose only the
longest and strongest reeds, and then carry them towering above their
heads in a slow procession up the hill to Enyokeni Palace. The
procession is led by the chief Zulu princess, who takes a prominent role
throughout the festival. If the reed should break before the girl
reaches that point, it is considered a sign that the girl has already
been sexually active.
The ceremony was reintroduced by King Goodwill Zwelethini in 1991,
as a means to encourage young Zulu girls to delay sexual activity until
marriage, and thus limit the possibility of HIV transmission.
-culled from Wikipedia
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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