S.Africa's Zulus Fete Young Women's Purity Amid Royal Succession Spat

As twilight nestles behind the mountains in Nongoma town, the birthplace of South Africa's ethnic Zulu group, thousands of young women bathe in a cold, shallow river

Nongoma, South Africa, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Sep, 2022 ) :As twilight nestles behind the mountains in Nongoma town, the birthplace of South Africa's ethnic Zulu group, thousands of young women bathe in a cold, shallow river.

Bare-breasted, the gleaming young women wearing in colourful traditional beads, pick up reeds which they will carry as they file past the newly crowned Zulu king MisuZulu Zulu.

The King emerges from a tight circle of Zulu warriors to accept his first ever reed as the new monarch, smiling as the crowd sings unending praises.

The rest of the girls walk past the king in a colourful ceremony lasting several hours.

Every September - the start of southern hemisphere spring, tens of thousands of women, known locally as maidens, participate in the "reed dance" in KwaZulu-Natal province which opens into the Indian Ocean.

It is an age-old annual ceremony in celebration of sexual purity and promotion of sexual abstinence among young girls.

The ceremony is a traditional rite of womanhood, rooted historically in an occasion for the king to select new wives among his subjects.

The 47-year-old new head of South Africa's largest ethnic group is also known by his official title as MisuZulu kaZwelithini.

He was recognised as monarch at a traditional ceremony last month following the death last year of his father King Goodwill Zwelithini, who had reigned for 50 years.

This year's festivities were eagerly awaited.

It is the first time the dance is taking place since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and MisuZulu's first time to preside over the reed dance.