Reed Dance

Umkhosi Womhlanga

Ukufika kweCovid 19 kushintshe izinto eziningi. Umkhosi Womhlanga oba khona minyaka yonke ngomunye wemigumbo omkhulu obuthintekile. Ngonyaka owedlule (2020) ngenxa yemigomo yeCovid lomcimbi wenzewa usuku olulodwa esikhundleni sezinsuku eziwu-4. Kusenjalo nezintombi zamiswa kwamenywa izintombi eziwu-30 kuphela ukuzothamela lomcimbi esigodlweni eNyokeni, kwaNongoma. Yize kunombango ngesihlalo sobukhosi ngemuva kokukhothama kwenkosi yamaZulu uGoodwill Zwelithini Zulu owalandelwa eduze undlukulu … Read more

The Reed Dance Continued

The annual Reed Dance took place earlier this month and there’s been a fair bit said about it. But what about the history or origin of the practice? Some websites report on the ceremony as a new tradition introduced by King Goodwill Zwelithini as a means of helping in the fight against HIV and AIDS, … Read more

Umkhosi Womhlanga, a Poem by Tunde Dada

Earlier this week we wrote about the reed dance ceremony that took place over the weekend at the Enyokeni Royal Palace. The reed dance, or uMkhosi woMhlanga, is practiced by both the Zulus and the Swazis as an annual celebration of their young maidens. Below is a poem about the ceremony that was penned by Nigerian author, … Read more

uMkhosi woMhlanga

The annual reed dance, that sees tens of thousands of young women gather at King Goodwill Zwelithini’s Enyokeni Royal Palace, took place over the past weekend in Eshowe. After dancing their way to the palace the maidens present the king with long reeds as symbols of their purity. In addition to preserving an important Zulu … Read more

Siyaya Emhlangeni

Every year in September thousands of young women converge at KwaNyokeni Palace, one of the royal residencies of King Goodwill Zwelithini. Here they present the King with reeds as a symbol of their purity – it is said that if the reed that they choose breaks, it is a sign that they have lost their virginity, … Read more

Royal Zulu Reed Dance

The annual Royal Zulu Reed Dance (uMkhosi woMhlanga) took place last week with thousands of young women attending the ceremony at the Enyokeni Royal Palace in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal. The festival, which takes its name from the riverbed reeds which the young maidens carry, was reintroduced by King Goodwill Zwelithini in 1991, as a means of … Read more