Hundreds of young women and girls on Saturday, October 15 danced before Eswatini’s King Mswati III.
The annual Umhlanga/reed dance ceremony started in the morning with the women — referred to as maidens — wearing colourful skirts and necklaces marched to the royal residence in Mbangweni.
In the week-long ceremony, young girls cut reeds, present them to the Queen Mother (Indlovukazi) – ostensibly to repair the windbreak around her royal residence – and then dance in celebration.
“I am happy, it means a lot to me to be a maiden,” a young woman, who gave her name only as Jasmine, 27, from the city of Manzini told AFP.
The maidens then proceeded to a nearby stadium where they would dance for hours before the 55-year-old king.
The king had arrived at the venue surrounded by “Amabutho”, traditional Swati warriors, and he sat next to his mother on a throne set up in the stadium.
A national version of the Umhlanga/reed dance festival was held in September in the city of Lobamba.
King Mswati III has ruled since 1986. He has the right to pick a new wife among the dancers during this century-old dance festival.
The king – referred to as Ngwenyama, “the lion” in SiSwati – has 15 wives and at least36 children. Some of these wives he married while they were still minors.
