{"id":1016,"date":"2016-09-11T18:05:49","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T16:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2016-09-11T18:05:49","modified_gmt":"2016-09-11T16:05:49","slug":"zulu-reed-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/zulu-reed-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"Zulu Reed Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1017\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1017\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pic10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1017 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pic10.jpg\" alt=\"pic10\" width=\"642\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pic10.jpg 642w, http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pic10-300x148.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1017\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">by Ntombizethu Shabangu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-ZA\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Joining friends and relatives of thousands of young girls attired in traditional Zulu dress to watch them sing, dance and celebrate their culture, is a powerful and moving experience.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-ZA\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">This annual ceremony, known as the Mkhosi woMhlanga or the Zulu Reed Dance, is a centuries-old tradition. It takes place in September, right at the start of spring, at the eNyokeni Palace in Nongoma, Zululand.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-ZA\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Girls from all over the country arrive in the area for the traditional Zulu festivities. These are spread over several days and represent an important rite of passage for the young women.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-ZA\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">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. As part of this, they promote celibacy until marriage and teach the girls respect for their bodies.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-ZA\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><i><u><b>While the lessons and ceremonies are steeped in Zulu tradition and culture, this mass gathering of young people is also an opportunity to discuss contemporary social issues that affect them, such as HIV and teen pregnancies.<\/b><\/u><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-ZA\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">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. Zulu men also participate in this part of the ceremony, singing and mock fighting.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-ZA\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">According to Zulu tradition, the original ancestor emerged from a reed bed, so the laying of the reeds at the king\u2019s feet symbolises respect for the Zulu culture. The reeds are also used to build traditional Zulu huts and to craft the mats and baskets for which the Zulu people are famous.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joining friends and relatives of thousands of young girls attired in traditional Zulu dress to watch them sing, dance and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-september-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1018,"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions\/1018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. The constant WPCACHEHOME must be set in the file wp-config.php and point at the WP Super Cache plugin directory. -->