Zulu Reed Dance Weekend

Sawubona,

This weekend we are heading to the annual Zulu Reed Dance. It is a few hours from here in Durban in a more rural area of KwaZulu Natal province in South Africa. There will be thousands of young girls (ages 16-20 years old) who will dance for the Zulu royal family. The dance is said to promote marriage, loyalty and chastity. It was abandoned for many years until the present Zulu King brought it back into existence in his effort to stop the spread of AIDS. At the end of the dance, the King and other men in the royal family get to choose one of the girls as his wife since polygamy is a huge part of the royal Zulu culture.

We're looking forward to learning more about the traditional Zulu culture. As students we were told to dress in traditional African clothing (long colorful skirts). My host Mama noticed me getting my clothes together for the event and started telling me about when she would dress traditionally with her family. My Mama and I don't get the chance to talk very often as she knows very little English and I know very little Zulu. Typically I chat with my siblings who are all quite fluent in English and Zulu. She got out all of the colorful beads that she used to wear and insisted that I wear some of her beads to the reed dance tomorrow afternoon. I really appreciate how our host families here truly treat their host students as a daughter or sibling...it has really made the home stay experience that much more amazing.

I hope to post some pictures from the event after the weekend...until then I leave you with the above photo of a few young girls we saw doing traditional Zulu dancing outside of the market....a preview of what's to come!

Hamba Kahle