Umhlanga- The Reed Dance

The Reed Dance, or Umhlanga in siSwati, is a traditional eight day ceremony in Swaziland in which all the maidens from around the country cut reeds to present to the Queen Mother. On the seventh day, all of the girls dress in traditional clothing and dance before the king. This year, nearly 60,000 maidens participated in the festivities.
For more information on the Reed Dance, check out this website.

Before the actual dancing began, people gathered in the field surrounding the stadium. We got the chance to talk to many people, including Peace Corps volunteers, many Swazis attending the ceremony, and even some of the young girls who were participating.

After this photo was taken, all the girls flocked around my camera to see the picture. They were very excited.

This is Sharon and her sister, Michelle. They really enjoyed hanging out with us,  and Michelle especially enjoyed having her picture taken.

During the ceremony, we caught a glimpse of the King who was seated with the Queen Mother, as well as his fourteen wives.

This is King Mswati III and the Queen Mother to his right.

The First Day in Swaziland

So today, being our first day in Swaziland, we decided to take a hike in the mountains near our house. This place is gorgeous. Every view looks like something out of a storybook.

There are all kinds of interesting plants here, this one in particular was my favorite.

There are cow fences all throughout the mountains in Swaziland. Cows just roam around wherever they please, so fences are put up to limit them a bit. Oh, and cows apparently aren't afraid of highway traffic.

We even made a new friend!