social documentary photographer
Reed Dance
The Kingdom of eSwatini (Ex-Swaziland) is a country located in South Africa, between South Africa and Mozambique. Its most famous cultural event is the Dance of the Reeds or Reeds or The Reed Dance, also called the dance of the virgins.This cultural event also called Umhlanga is the main ritual of the Royalty in the Kingdom of eSwatini. It takes place during the summer solstice, for eight days; and the main person in Incwala is the king, when there is no king there is no incwala or dance.
Umhlanga is a traditional dance where up to sixty thousand unspoiled Swazi virgins congregate to dance in front of the King of eSwatini (ex-Swaziland). The girls are between four and twenty-five years old, wearing collars, short skirts and long tassels that indicate their availability to get married, and most of them are naked from the waist up. The maidens must be virgins.
The end of the dance of the virgins is that the young woman who is chosen by King Mswati III, can not refuse and will become the concubine of the monarch until she becomes pregnant, proving that "serves", which is fertile. Only then will she marry and become one of his women. If it is not fertilized, it will be repudiated.