The Zulu Reed Dance
More than 25 000 Zulu virgins gather at the King’s Enyokeni Traditional Residence for this very colourful and meaningful ceremony every September which promotes respect for young women, and preserves the custom of keeping girls as virgins until marriage. In the olden days, the women gathered at the Zulu Reed Ceremony (Umkhosi woMhlanga) and men at the First Fruits Ceremony (Umkhosi wokweshwama).
The Zulu Reed dance is an educational experience and opportunity for young maidens to learn how to behave before the Zulu King .
This is done whilst delivering reed sticks, singing and dancing. Maidens learn and understand the songs while the young princesses lead the virgins. The maidens wear ‘izigege’ and ‘izinculuba’ that show their bottoms. Traditional attire includes beadwork to symbolise African beauty at its best.
At this stage the maidens are taught by senior females how to behave themselves and be proud of their virginity and naked bodies. That allows maidens to expect respect from their suitors who intend approaching them during the ceremony.
The second phase is educating the young maidens ‘amatshitshi’ by their older sisters ‘amaqhikiza’ on how to behave in married life. Young maidens are encouraged not to argue or respond immediately but to wish the suitor well on his journey back.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DAoJc3sQkI
The Zulu Reed Dance
More than 25 000 Zulu virgins gather at the King’s Enyokeni Traditional Residence for this very colourful and meaningful ceremony every September which promotes respect for young women, and preserves the custom of keeping girls as virgins until marriage. In the olden days, the women gathered at the Zulu Reed Ceremony (Umkhosi woMhlanga) and men at the First Fruits Ceremony (Umkhosi wokweshwama).
The Zulu Reed dance is an educational experience and opportunity for young maidens to learn how to behave before the Zulu King .
This is done whilst delivering reed sticks, singing and dancing. Maidens learn and understand the songs while the young princesses lead the virgins. The maidens wear ‘izigege’ and ‘izinculuba’ that show their bottoms. Traditional attire includes beadwork to symbolise African beauty at its best.
At this stage the maidens are taught by senior females how to behave themselves and be proud of their virginity and naked bodies. That allows maidens to expect respect from their suitors who intend approaching them during the ceremony.
The second phase is educating the young maidens ‘amatshitshi’ by their older sisters ‘amaqhikiza’ on how to behave in married life. Young maidens are encouraged not to argue or respond immediately but to wish the suitor well on his journey back.
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNAhrOpZPi4
This is Eswatini’s (Swaziland’s) best known cultural event, and has a more open feel than the Incwala. In this eight-day ceremony, young girls cut reeds, present them to the Queen Mother (Indlovukazi) – ostensibly to repair the windbreak around her royal residence – and then dance in celebration. Up to 40,000 girls take part, dressed up in brightly coloured attired – making it one of the biggest and most spectacular cultural events in Africa.
The proper festivities kick off on day six, when dancing gets under way in the afternoon. Each group drops their reeds outside the Queen Mother’s quarters then moves to the main arena, where they dance and sing their songs. The dancing continues on day seven, when the king is present. This is the main day that most visitors attend. Each regiment dances before him in turn.
Little can prepare you for the sheer scale of the pageantry, with column upon column of girls advancing like vast ululating centipedes across the parade grounds of Ludzidzini, each dissolving in turn into the pulsating mass of bodies around the royal kraal. Up close, it’s an almost overwhelming immersion in noise and colour, as the girls stamp, sing and sway in step, anklets rattling, naked flesh and dazzling costume blurring into a living, chanting kaleidoscope. The warrior escorts, adorned with cow tails and clutching knob-stick and shield, are sternly intent on their duties and seem contemptuous of tourists, but the girls are all smiles. It’s Eswatini’s biggest holiday and, after days of tramping the hillsides, cutting reeds and camping out, they’re determined to party.
Today the Umhlanga is as well attended as ever. Indeed cultural historians marvel at how its ever-increasing popularity in Eswatini defies the apparent decline of traditional culture elsewhere. It offers the visitor a unique experience. There are no special visitor arrangements – except for a special grandstand to accommodate visiting dignitaries – but simply turn up at Ludzidizini and follow the crowds (Day 7 is the main day). Police will direct you where to go, and where to park.
The event takes place around the last week of August / first week of September in the Lobamba area, next to the Ezulwini Valley. The dates for the 2019 Umhlanga Reed Dance have now been confirmed. The festival will start on Tuesday 27th August, with day 7 (main day) falling on Monday 2nd September.
Tourists visiting the annual Reed Dance are allowed to take photographs on Days 6 and 7 (main day) – as the maidens walk to deliver the reeds to the Royal Residence, and then as they dance in the main arena. Photography at other times is restricted to accredited members of the media, who can check the Media Accreditation section on this page for further information.
Reed D
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bR_ZrIzap0
03 - The Book Of Leviticus - Chapter 23 - New Heart English Bible
Proclaim as feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Fifty Days Later, the Day of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and Booths.
Credits: New Heart English Bible
World English Bible was made by narrator David Williams
https://bit.ly/2FFBJhk
https://bit.ly/323wRKm
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBP7HS22BLE
The Zulu Reed Dance
More than 25 000 Zulu virgins gather at the King’s Enyokeni Traditional Residence for this very colourful and meaningful ceremony every September which promotes respect for young women, and preserves the custom of keeping girls as virgins until marriage. In the olden days, the women gathered at the Zulu Reed Ceremony (Umkhosi woMhlanga) and men at the First Fruits Ceremony (Umkhosi wokweshwama).
The Zulu Reed dance is an educational experience and opportunity for young maidens to learn how to behave before the Zulu King .
This is done whilst delivering reed sticks, singing and dancing. Maidens learn and understand the songs while the young princesses lead the virgins. The maidens wear ‘izigege’ and ‘izinculuba’ that show their bottoms. Traditional attire includes beadwork to symbolise African beauty at its best.
At this stage the maidens are taught by senior females how to behave themselves and be proud of their virginity and naked bodies. That allows maidens to expect respect from their suitors who intend approaching them during the ceremony.
The second phase is educating the young maidens ‘amatshitshi’ by their older sisters ‘amaqhikiza’ on how to behave in married life. Young maidens are encouraged not to argue or respond immediately but to wish the suitor well on his journey back.
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ4AWPyUQeQ
Umhlanga [um̩ɬaːŋɡa], or Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi and Zulu event. In Eswatini, tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women travel from the various chiefdoms to the Ludzidzini Royal Village to participate in the eight-day event.[2] The young, unmarried girls were placed in female age-regiments; girls who had fallen pregnant outside wedlock had their families fined a cow.[1]
Umhlanga was created in the 1940s in Eswatini under the rule of Sobhuza II, and is an adaptation of the much older Umcwasho ceremony. The reed dance continues to be practised today in Eswatini. In South Africa, the reed dance was introduced in 1991 by Goodwill Zwelithini, the current King of the Zulus. The dance in South Africa takes place in Nongoma, a royal kraal of the Zulu king.
In Eswatini, girls begin the rite by gathering at the Queen Mother's royal village, which currently is Ludzidzini Royal Village.[1] After arriving at the Queen Mother's royal residence, the women disperse the following night to surrounding areas and cut tall reeds. The following night, they bundle the reeds together and bring them back to the Queen Mother to be used in repairing holes in the reed windscreen surrounding the royal village.
After a day of rest and washing, the women prepare their traditional costumes consisting of a bead necklace, rattling anklets made from cocoons, a sash, and skirt. Many of them carry the bush knives, which they had earlier used to cut the reeds, as symbols of their virginity.
The women sing and dance as they parade in front of the royal family as well as a crowd of dignitaries, spectators, and tourists. After the parade, groups from select villages take to the centre of the field and put on a special performance for the crowd. The King's many daughters and royal princesses also participate in the reed dance ceremony and are distinguished by the crown of red feathers they wear in their hair.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1pvoeJzGSQ