The Reed Dance, known as Umkhosi womhlanga, is an ancient tradition of the Swazi and Zulu people. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group in South Africa, numbering 10-11 million. They also live in the neighboring countries of Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Botswana.
Zulu people. Source: Wikipedia
Historical Context and Origins
The Reed Dance festival has been tirelessly celebrated by countless generations and is steeped in the history of the rise of the Zulu kingdom under the great King Shaka.
Today’s Reed Dance is a revival of the older “umcwasho” custom. Under that practice, unmarried girls were grouped into age-regiments. Umhlanga was created in the 1940s in Eswatini under the rule of Sobhuza II, and is an adaptation of the much older Umchwasho 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 former King of the Zulus.
The Zulu Reed Dance Festival
The Zulu Reed Dance Festival is a time-honored tradition that has existed for generations. It is an annual event in early September at the Enyokeni Royal Palace in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The festival is held in honor of the Zulu people’s ancestors and is a way to give thanks for the bountiful harvest.
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This culture-influenced festival aims at paying respect to women and preparing young girls for womanhood. It is a celebration of virginity and fertility and an avenue for young Zulu women to show respect for their elders. Thousands of young women travel from all over South Africa to participate in the Reed Dance every year.
The Ceremony
Once a year, thousands of people make the long journey to one of His Majesty’s, the King of the Zulu nation’s royal residence at KwaNyokeni Palace, in the heart of South Africa’s Kingdom of the Zulu.
The festival takes its name from the riverbed reeds, which are the central focus of this four-day event. The reed-sticks are carried in a procession by thousands of young maidens who are invited to the King’s palace each year. As the Reed Dance ceremony begins, the young women prepare to form a procession led by the chief princess. Each maiden carries a reed which has been cut by the riverbed and it symbolizes the power that is vested in nature. And still, today an expectant hush falls on the crowd as the chief princess is the first to choose a reed.
Reed Dance procession. Source: The Guardian
For visitors to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s most popular tourist destination, the Reed Dance festival offers the unique opportunity to experience the natural beauty and majesty of the Kingdom of the Zulu, combined with the vibrant spectacle of Zulu cultural life.
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As well as joining in traditional singing and dancing, the reed dance is an opportunity to school the girls in their culture. Older Zulu women teach the young girls, who have to be virgins in order to participate, about how they should act as grown women.
For visitors, the highlight of the event is the reed-giving ceremony. Led by Zulu princesses, the young women make a sea of colour in intricately beaded outfits as they each collect a cut reed and present it to the king. According to Zulu tradition, the original ancestor emerged from a reed bed, so the laying of reeds at the king’s feet symbolises respect for the Zulu culture.
Virginity Testing
Another critical aspect of the festival is the virginity test. It is a ritual performed on all the young women attending the festival. A group of older women inspects each girl’s virginity before she is allowed to participate in the reed dance. Upon passing the virginity test, their senior princess leads thousands of Zulu girls, carrying the reeds, singing, and dancing. As a sign of honor and respect, they present their reeds to the Queen Mother, an important figure in the Zulu community.
Growing Zulu Girls Becoming Beautiful Traditional Dancers – Future of the Reed Dance
In the KwaZulu-Natal region, thousands of bare-breasted maidens perform the reed dance in front of the monarch to honour their beauty and virginity. They sometimes surround the king during some important broadcast, as a sign of dignity and virtue.
Traditional Attire and Symbolism
The women of KwaZulu-Natal make some of the finest beadwork in Africa, and the Reed Dance is an especially vibrant and colourful occasion on account of the rich beadwork on display.
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The girls wear traditional attire, including beadwork, loincloths and skirts that show their bottoms. They also wear anklets, bracelets, necklaces, and colourful sashes.
Cultural Significance and Expression
Zulu Reed Dance is a three-four-day event characterized by art, dance, music and cuisine. It brings communities and families together to celebrate their heritage. It is usually a joyous occasion that honors the fertility of the Zulu people.
The Zulu people use dance to express their culture, power, and tribal loyalty as well as communicate with their ancestors. It also offers them a sense of social affirmation, enjoyment, and happiness. Different forms of dance assist people unfamiliar with the Zulu culture in learning about it and appreciating its importance.
Every dance that the Zulu perform communicates a story or is used to mark an event. In a way, it recounts history, expresses emotions, celebrates rites of passage, and helps unite the community.
Other Zulu dance forms
- Ingoma: Perceived as one of the purest remnants of Zulu culture, Ingoma is characterized by frantic dances, chanting, and high-kicking emotions.
- Imvunulo: Unlike the other dances that are carried out by a group of individuals simultaneously, the Imvunulo dance is performed by a single participant.
- Isicathamiya: Isicathamiya is a type of Zulu dance where men or boys perform while standing in a straight line or arc.
Contemporary Issues and Criticisms
However, there is growing criticism from human rights groups who claim cultural ceremonies are enforced in Swaziland by the last absolute monarchy in Africa.
She says forcing or bribing young girls to attend the Umhlanga is a violation of their human rights. “Chiefs abuse their power and penalise families who don’t take part. The whole idea is for women to show themselves naked in front of the king so that he can choose a wife. It’s very degrading to women. We don’t walk around bare-breasted at home. Why should we do it at cultural ceremonies?”
The Swazi Reed Dance (Umhlanga)
Settled between the 18th and 19th centuries on the Veld highlands, geographically protected by the Lebombo Mountains, the Swazi people persisted in a traditional society, centred around a Sovereign and his Royal Court, based in the Lobamba village.
The second, called Umhlanga, or reed dance in the local language, while not a sacred event, is definitely the most traditional and representative of the power of the Royal Court. A jubilation of dances and songs, in which the young girls exalt their femininity, adorned in colourful vestments, and their purity through the nudity of their bodies, obligatory by tradition, bringing as a gift to the Sovereign and the Queen Mother, long bamboo canes that will then be used for the annual restoration of the palace.
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