Swaziland’s royal bride-choosing festivities<\/a>, when
\n her father was to select another wife.<\/p>\n The annual reed dance, at which 20,000 girls in beads and traditional skirts
\n danced before King Mswati III, ended late Monday with no indication of
\n whether he had chosen a bride. In recent years, the king has increasingly
\n made his choice in private, after a screening by palace aides and his mother.<\/p>\n
Royal officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue
\n is considered sensitive, said Tuesday the king had privately chosen three
\n potential brides and might unveil one at a ceremony in southern Swaziland
\n this weekend.<\/p>\n
After the road test<\/em>…<\/p>\n Royal officials had tried to keep word of Princess Sikhanyiso’s party
\n quiet during the reed dance, but acknowledged late Monday it had occurred
\n on
\n Friday to celebrate the end of a ban on sexual relations for girls younger
\n than 18. The chastity rite is separate from the bride-choosing ritual.<\/p>\n
In 2001, Mswati temporarily revived the ancient "umchwasho" rite
\n — symbolized by the wearing of woolen tassels — to fight AIDS, which
\n is at crisis levels in Swaziland, but it was ridiculed as old-fashioned
\n and unfairly focused on girls. Days before the reed dance, the king announced
\n he was ending the ban a year early.<\/p>\n
His eldest daughter, a 17-year-old who was rarely seen in the umchwasho
\n tassels herself, said Friday’s party with loud music and alcoholic drinks
\n was a private gathering that did not warrant the public scrutiny it received.<\/p>\n
"We were just enjoying ourselves," Princess Sikhanyiso was quoted
\n as saying in a local newspaper. Ntsonjeni Dlamini, who oversees traditional
\naffairs, was not amused.<\/p>\n
"We were so shocked that the girls decided to turn the reed dance ceremony
\n into a drinking and dancing spree," Dlamini said Monday.<\/p>\n
He said he was compelled by tradition to beat the celebrating girls —
\n including the king’s daughter — with a stick.<\/p>\n
We smell a reality TV show – "The Swazi Princess Diaries". MTV is already making
\ninquiries..<\/p>\nNote to Prince Mgunisawta, Senior Advisor to his Royal Majesty King Mswati III, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Swaziland: $100,000 in unmarked, nosequential bills deposited in the dumpster behind our office on Dummer Street as a token of good faith would move negotiations along nicely….<\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
from the
\n Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swaziland’s King Mswati III, attends the annual reed dance in Ludzidzini, Swaziland, Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, where young girls perform a dance after days of gathering reeds to present to the king. The annual reed dance gives Mswati an opportunity … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[576],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wacky-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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