How the Reed Dance and Umcwasho Customs Relate to the HIV Aids Pandemic - Coursework Example

How the Reed Dance and Umcwasho Customs Relate to the HIV/Aids Pandemic INTRODUCTION Reed dance is a cultural ceremony, performed by women and unmarried girls in Swaziland. This is a cultural event held in Swazi and Zulu, wherein women tend to travel to Ludzidzini, the royal village, performing dances. It is an eight-day event where women celebrate and perform wearing bright colour attire. It was initially referred to as an open air party, wherein people, not only belonging to the same culture, but also tourists get an opportunity to enjoy the dance. This cultural event was initiated in the year 1940, when the women performed to entertain the male members. However, this cultural event led to the upsurge of diseases like HIV/Aids, as it was performed in an open air with an intention to provoke the male members to have sexual relations. It is evident from the histories that during the 1940s, women were treated as sexual objects and were used by men for their sexual pleasure. During these cultural events, women were sexually exposed to various sexual diseases majorly HIV/Aids. This aspect of sexual exposure gave rise to the number of HIV/Aids population in Swaziland, which exhibits the positive relation between Reed dance and the rising health issue (DSpace software, “Introduction and Background to the Study of Umhlanga”). However, in the contemporary society the concept of reed dance have been restructured to a considerable extent. In the present day, the reed dance is performed as a mode of celebration wherein the performance is conducted by the women for their spouses or fiancé. The new form of this event helps in reducing sexual relation before marriage by the young women as earlier, prohibiting the chances of HIV/Aids. The reintroduction has also been helping women to enjoy their freedom in a safe environment, without being sexually exposed to the outsiders (DSpace software, “Introduction and Background to the Study of Umhlanga”). Emphasising these notions, in this essay, the purpose is to evaluate the significance of reed dance and Umcwasho customs with relation with HIV Aids. DISCUSSION As per the Swazi Culture, unmarried women perform reed dance as a symbol of cultural presentation. It is observed that this tradition followed in Africa have an impact not only on the virginity of a women but also leads to an increased risk of HIV/Aids. Reed dance is a cultural event performed in the month of September, wherein the motive of the event was performed to pay respect to the Queen. As per the traditional custom, the king picks a new female member to dance in front of the crowd wearing the traditional outfit, which includes short beaded skirts and the women are to perform topless (Dlamini 2-8). This can be comprehended in a way that women were used as an object by the men for their sexual pleasure. The dance wearing the topless traditional attire, gave rise to provocation and lead to the rise of sexual attraction within the community, which in turn gave rise to HIV/Aids. Moreover, it was witnessed that only virgin women and girls were allowed to participate in the ceremony, which further increased such health issues within the society (DSpace software, “Introduction and Background to the Study of Umhlanga”). The virgin women, as a part of the custom of Umchwasho, during the reed dance celebration, were surrounded by the males and were beaten by them to obtain sexual pleasure, which can also be related with the thought of sadism. This festival was facing several criticisms, as women were losing their rights along with dignity as they were being sexually used by men. This unprotected sex relations with many men, by the women led to various issues, such as unwanted pregnancy and HIV/Aids. It is to be noted that in the initial days of the reed dance ceremony, various tourists were allowed to view the dance of the women wearing the traditional outfit, which has been argued to be sexually provocative (Dlamini 2-8). This also curbed the rights and dignity of women, making them indulged into unprotected sex with men of the same custom and tourists as well. This further increased the risks of HIV/Aids in Africa, as this dance event attracted the attention of men and aggressively expressed the patriarchy domination over women. Unprotected sex with men, whose sexual history is not known, also gave rise to higher degree of risks of HIV/Aids victims. This open air party was the probable reason for spread to HIV/ Aids in the huge area and population. Moreover, it is to be mentioned that as per the tradition of reed dance or Umhlanga, the young girls were referred as “Libutfo le Mbali”, which implies “flower, connoting a maiden or a virgin” (DSpace software, “Introduction and Background to the Study of Umhlanga”). Correspondingly, as per the tradition or custom, women were bound to face the wrath, which lead to the HIV Aids due to the sexual interaction. Such rise in the number of HIV/ Aids led to the change in the tradition of reed dance where the issues regarding the aspect of virginity, human rights and such diseases were faced in the global arena (Dlamini 2-8; DSpace software, “Introduction and Background to the Study of Umhlanga”). However, in the recent years, the reed dance was helping reduce the rising figures of HIV/ Aids. The Kings were taking steps to avoid or reduce the number of sex during this occasion. To reduce the sexual exposure it was observed that the virgin girls were asked to wear a tassel, which was yellow and blue in color, as a symbol of piousness. This would warn the men from keeping distance from the girls and avoid sexual interaction to take place at a greater and unwanted frequency. This particular aspect of the Umcwasho culture was a new step to reduce the risk of HIV/Aids in Swaziland. According to The Christian Science Monitor (p.1), due to the previous custom about one quarter of the populations were affected with HIV/ Aids positive. Moreover, around 20,000 people were already killed due to the effect of HIV/ Aids in the year 2001. Additionally, following the restructuring of the Reed dance ceremony, the King has been encouraging the women and men to delay their sexual relations until the time they are married. This also helped in spreading awareness regarding HIV/ Aids, contributing towards reduction in the number of aids victims (Dlamini 2-16). This delay in sexual relation and the change in the mindset of men from treating women as a sexual object for pleasure to an individual with honor were also helping in reducing the number the HIV/ Aids pandemic. Moreover, the steps taken by the King in the 21st century, to restrict the young adults from having sexual relation, were in order to reduce the HIV/ Aids number, with the help of the Reed dance ceremony (The Christian Science Monitor, “Swazi King revives tradition to fight AIDS”). Additionally, as per the restructured Reed ceremony and the Umcwasho custom, in order to reduce the frequency of HIV/ Aids patients, prohibiting sexual provocation among the viewers, the King instructed that Swazi virgins were to wear a different color tassel as a symbol of piousness and people in relation would were a different color tassel. Moreover, to create awareness and reduce sexual interaction, touching a virgin girl led to a fine as per the newly set norms (Dlamini 2-16). Moreover, in the present day context, women who were engaged were allowed to perform the reed dance in front of their spouses and to enjoy the festive mood (DSpace software, “Introduction and Background to the Study of Umhlanga”). Women of this particular custom, due to the pandemic of HIV/ Aids realized the importance of purity and virginity. Therefore, reed dance was now celebrating the purity of the women and young girls without affecting their virginity. The aspect that gave rise to sexual interaction and rise to HIV/ Aids was also being reduced to a certain degree. In this regard, “abolishing the double standard that maidens must be pure, but men must be experienced… that culture breeds shame and disunity” no more existed in the contemporary society in relation to HIV/ Aids (Mail & Guardian Online, “Buthelezi: Reed dance reduces Aids figures”). Moreover, the reed dance ceremony, which is a cultural event today, exhibits unity and pride of the women. Thus, this change helped in reducing the number of population having HIV/ Aids (Dlamini 2-16). CONCLUSION From the above discussion, it can be comprehended that reed dance is a cultural ceremony, which gave rise to HIV/ Aids risks within the Swazi community, as women in the initial years were treated as an object of sexual pleasure. However, with the rise in the number of Aids suffering people and the criticisms faced in Swaziland, the reed dance event was restructured during the 1990s. This led to the changes in the event and helped in reducing the number of HIV/ Aids occurrences, to a considerable extent as women were now seen with dignity and respect. Works Cited “Introduction and Background to the Study of Umhlanga.” DSpace software. n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014. Dlamini, Betty Sibongile. “Umhlanga (Reed) Dance: Swaziland.” Indiana University (n.d.) 2-8. Dlamini, Betty. “The Significance of Cattle in Swazi Culture.” Indiana University (n.d.) 2-16. “Buthelezi: Reed dance reduces Aids figures.” Mail & Guardian Online. 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2014. “Swazi King revives tradition to fight AIDS.” The Christian Science Monitor.2001. Web. 04 Nov. 2014. Read More