Umkhosi womhlanga pt 5 (Uncut) (Patreon)

Umkhosi woMhlanga (Royal reed dance) takes place every year in September at the Enyokeni Royal Palace in Nongoma Enyokeni, KwaZulu-Natal. The girls come from all parts of Zululand, and in recent years there are also smaller groups from Eswatini, as well as more distant places such as Botswana and Pondoland.

All girls are required to undergo a v**ginity test before they are allowed to participate in a royal dance. In recent years the testing practice has been met with some opposition.

The girls wear traditional attire, including beadwork, and izigege,izinculuba and imintsha that show their b*tt*ms. They also wear anklets, bracelets, necklaces, and colourful sashes. Each sash has appendages of a different colour, which denote whether or not the girl is betrothed.

As part of the ceremony, the young women dance bare-br**sted for their king, and each maiden carries a long reed, which is then deposited as they approach the king. The girls take care to choose only the longest and strongest reeds, and then carry them towering above their heads in a slow procession up the hill to Enyokeni Palace. The procession is led by the chief Zulu princess, who takes a prominent role throughout the festival. If the reed should break before the girl reaches that point, it is considered a sign that the girl has already been s*xually active.

The ceremony was reintroduced by King Goodwill Zwelethini in 1991, as a means to encourage young Zulu girls to delay s*xual activity until marriage, and thus limit the possibility of HIV transmission. In 2007, about 30,000 girls took part to the event. The organisers of the ceremony have occasionally enforced strict rules on photographers, as some of them have been accused of publishing pictures of the rites on p**nogr*phic websites.

In past years, the event was attended by former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma (himself a Zulu), and former Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Zweli Mkhize