Relevance of the Reed Dance Ritual in the 21st Century - Coursework Example

DISCUSS THE RELEVANCE OF THE REED DANCE RITUAL IN THE 21ST CENTURY AND HOW THE RITUAL HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS. Introduction Reed dance is a type of traditional dance practiced in the southern parts of Africa between communities such as the Swazis and the Zulus. Reed is a plant that that is majorly found in wet places and looks like tall grass. In this region, the reeds were used for building hence traditionally regarded as a crucial plant and a mark of respect for the Zulu culture. There the naming of the dance after the reeds is symbolical to signify the importance of the event. The event is regarded as a ritual because it contains a serious of activities that normally followed in order. Reed dance was revived in 1991 by King Goodwill Zwelithini with the main of promoting the virginity of the young girls. The dance is also referred to as uMkhosi woMhlanga ceremony, and it is used to prepare the women for womanhood. The event contains a series of activities like singing, dancing, reed cutting and presenting the king with the reeds. The family members or the older generation normally join the young girls who are dressed in traditional regalia for the dance. The parents are also dressed in the traditional attire during the couple of days they celebrate their culture. The reed dance event is hoary and normally takes place at the start of spring just around September at the eNyokeni Palace in Nongoma, Zululand (The kingdom of Swaziland, 11).The reed giving ceremony is normally the center stage of the occasion, and Zulu princess normally leads it. The men also participate in the reed presentation as well as singing and mock fighting. The reeds are laid at the King’s feet following as a symbol for the respect for the Zulu culture, and they believe their ancestors emerged from the reed bed. The reeds were important in building traditional Zulu huts and craft work like basket and mat making. The event took eight days in appropriate (Hauser-Schäublin, Brigitta, and David, 31). The event follows the following sequence: i) Day one: The young girls gather at the Queen Mother’s royal village where they gather in groups and are registered for security reason. The chief further appoint four men to guard and supervise them. They finish their day spending in relative places or relatives around; ii) Day two: The girls are grouped into two with the older group (about 14 to 22) and the younger group (about 8 to 13).Later in the afternoon they match to the reed bed. The older girls may match up to 30 kilometers while the younger girls match around 10 kilometers; iii) Day three: The girls cut the reeds each about 10 to twenty using long knives. They use grass, plastic to tie the reed bundles; IV) Day four: They set off to the Queen Mother’s Village carrying the collected reeds; v) Day five: Resting day as they prepare the dancing costumes and hair preparation; vi) Day Six: Dancing begins in the afternoon, and the girls drop their reeds at the Queen Mother’s quarters. The groups are still maintained, and they kept on singing; vii) Day seven: The last day of singing and His Majesty the King is normally present and; viii) Day eight: Cattle of about 20-25 are slaughtered for the girl’s .After the meal, the occasion is done, and the girls go home. The relevance of the reed dance in the 21st Centuary Reed dance has been practiced amongst the Swatis and Zulu in the southern part of Africa. Though neglected over time, the ritual was revived with an ambitious project of encouraging virginity among the girl child. However this has not come easy with the modern world making the condition harder to practice and fully traditionalize. The King has even tried to make the Reed dance special and relevant by introducing extra activities like lectures on HIV menace how it can be rectified to eliminate the stigma and encourage youths to engage in educative activities. This is because in the HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases had become a problem in Africa and more so o the southern part of the continent which dominate in HIV related issues. The King so this as an opportunity to shape the society and have a platform to encourage and teach the youth of the various social values the need to keep and respect ( Dlamini S B , 32). The need to keep reed dance relevant seemed to have failed with the western culture coming into play. According to traditionalist Noosa Vlakati, the current crop of ladies is not like the old school time. This is because a good number of the ladies are not virgin but purport to be. This directly shows that the people who practice reed dance lack a proper prove of virginity hence giving the system some loop hole. This is critical because the main aim of the reed dance was to encourage the ladies to retain virginity till marriage. Another practice that is becoming irrelevant is the preparation for womanhood which was achieved through the teachings and the long distance walk. This has change since they currently use the Lorry hired for them by the government. Even the clothing is now changing and a lot of the ladies put on the western pants and only use bead to cover their virgin. Therefore the introduction of modern technique rubbishes the need for the traditional practice (Hauser-Schäublin, Brigitta, and David, 53). Reed was supplied for the king to use for the maintenance and this is passed with time since reeds are never relied on as good building materials on the modern day. The house that they purport to cover is just used temporarily by the king and he never uses the building only on occasion .This is contrary to the traditional system where the King lived and served from the palace. The irony is the need for maintenance of the palace that is rarely used by the king. The traditional system that encourages the keeping of virginity till marriage is not reflected on the spread of HIV and AIDs. The HIV epidemic in Swaziland is one of the highest in the world at 40% of the entire population is suspected to be positive (The kingdom of Swaziland, 2). This make such traditional practices lack meaning because you expect a moral society out of such practice but that is not the case. Modernity has gotten into the people to an extent that most people get married in the church and only remember the traditional system later. Therefore the whole practice lack meaning since the people failed to respect it, the King doesn’t give it too much concentration and the goals which it ought to achieve are never going to be achieved. Therefore the tradition is past its time and should be eliminated to give room for ideologies that are more relevant to our modern troubles. The reed dance rituals have changed a little since its re-introduction in 1991. The ritual no longer only focus on virginity and the passage to womanhood but currently they have used the occasion to teach ladies about STE, HIV AND other sexually transmitted diseases (Hauser-Schäublin, Brigitta, and David, 48).The cut reeds was normally tied using grass and currently they have adopted the use of plastic with only few traditional minded girls still using grass. The clothing is also changing with the traditional system that expected ladies only to wear beadwork and leave their boobs and buttocks open. The vagina was covered with disengage which is made of beads. However, pictorial view from the work of Walters (8) shows that the current ladies incorporate few modern clothing such as panties. Such changes made the traditionalist Noosa Vlakati to lament that girls wearing underwear’s beneath their beaded skirt were there due to their love for partying but not for their devotion for the traditional occasion. She further claimed that time has change and most ladies were not loyal to the practice and lied about their virginity. The ladies are more destructed from the event and during their trip and they go as far as partying on their way and engaging in funny dances. In the old days, the King advertised the news using runners. However they have adopted modern technology of using radios and television and the ladies used to walk long distances unlike today where they use buses. The last change is the recognition of gender issues with women pushing for gender balance in the society. In Swaziland, they want the right to own property and be recognized as part of the decision makers in the society (Dlamini, 14). Conclusion Reed dance though significant in the Past has not been able to achieve its goal of keeping virginity, HIV in control and preparing ladies for womanhood. Therefore the whole practice is irrelevant and a system that is past its time but just practiced for formality purposes. And with other cultures reshaping and conforming to the need of modernity, we cannot afford to continue such tradition in the 21st century. Work cited Dlamini sibongile Betty. Sacred spaces .Indiana University. : bsdlamin@indiana.edu Hauser-Schäublin, Brigitta, and David D. Harnish. Between Harmony and Discrimination: Negotiating Religious Identities Within Majority-Minority Relationships in Bali and Lombok. Leiden: Brill, 2014. Print. The kingdom of Swaziland. Umhlanga, the Reed Dance. South Africa, 2011. Print. http://www.thekingdomofswaziland.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=54 Walter Calles. The Zulu Reed dance. A celebration of Zulu culture, 2014. http://www.southafrica.net/za/fr/articles/entry/article-zulu-reed-dance Read More