Sunday, September 20, 2009

More on Umhlanga (please start w/ first entry)






Dear Reader:

I realize I should have posted these entries in reverse order so that they could be read from top to bottom. However, I didn't think that far ahead, so if you haven't already read the first Umhlanga 2009 entry, please scroll down and work your way back to the top.

The official estimates, which may be inflated, declared that some 80,000 maidens participated in Umhlanga this year, most travelling from rural areas by public transport or by government-provided buses and kombis. The government also provides barracks-style housing and food for thousands of participants, which makes me wonder what the whole event ends up costing. Most urban Swazis I’ve spoken with don’t attend the events although they may watch it on TV, and most don’t seem to let their daughters participate. I was told by one such person that the rural girls just come for the free meals, as many are OVCs (orphans & vulnerable children) who live in near-perpetual hunger. I’m sure other girls participate for the chance to travel out of their villages (and, probably, to meet boys, although the girls must be “certified virgins” to participate). Certainly there were many young and not-so-young men roaming around the fairground. And according to one local newspaper columnist, Umhlanga girls are renowned as easy picking for sexual predators.

The government also estimated that nearly 30,000 tourists travelled to Swaziland during, and presumably to attend, the Reed Dance festivities. I doubt that I saw more than a hundred or so obvious tourists on the day I went (meaning white folks with lots of cameras although those with the fanciest cameras were likely the press).

Once the reeds were deposited, the long lines of girls moved on to the parade field and began to snake their way around with each group again singing and dancing for the crowd of royals and spectators. There was also a group of official singers who sang the same song with gusto over and over (and slightly off key). The king and his entourage eventually came out and ran among the girls to inspect, or perhaps, to honor them, as photographers madly rushed behind.

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