September 20, 2006: South African white girls join Swaziland's "reed dance" [NSFW]

[Undertoad]

It must be foriegn cultures week on IotD or something.

The reed dance? I had not heard of this thing until looking for more information on the above picture. The reed dance turns out to be a major cultural event in Swaziland.

Every year, all the virgins in the country are gathered at the Queen Mother’s house. They wear almost nothing. They form a big line and walk to the river. There, they use knives and machetes to cut reeds - like the ones shown above - and carry them back to build a wind break around the royal palace. After that, they dance. For two days. Naked.

In fact it would appear that the white chix here are unusually clad for the event. They're from South Africa; they're on a cultural exchange of some sort. But clearly they have not embraced the culture completely and one wonders whether it has been truly ascertained that they are virgins.

this page has photos of the trek

The presence of all these virginal young girls in various states of nakidity has, unfortunately, attracted a huge voyeuristic tourist crowd.

Here's a bit of a disconnect. African feminists are against it:

"The reed dance is an example of traditions that oppress Swazi women. Where the king is given the power every year to choose a young virgin woman to be one of his many wives," FemAct said.

But website "Celebrating Women" finds it to be a celebration of womanhood:

The next day when Ndileka joins the throngs of maidens at Umhlanga, I lose track of her in the crowd of identically-dressed young women. Afterwards, she is still high on Swazi womanhood when I locate her surrounded by Reed Dancers who are pulling their cell phones from underneath their shields, preparing to reconnect with the real world.

"It was wonderful." Ndileka bubbles. "I can't wait for next year! You are not afraid of showing your bum because the other girls have also got their bums out, your breasts because everybody's got their breasts out. You don't have to worry about someone staring at you because everyone is dressed the same. Some girls are really big and I was proud of them for showing off their bodies like that; they were confident."