How can Eswatini's 'Reed Festival', as the biggest festival in their country, be small?
It is a week-long festival with up to 100,000 people at its peak!
What is this concept?
The entire country of Eswatini has a population of only 1.2 million, and their capital, Mbabane, has a population of 60,000!
It can be seen that this festival is very popular.
Of course, there are only 1.2 million people in the whole country, where did so many chu women come from to participate in this festival?
So every year, many girls come from all over the world to participate in the festival, including from Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and even residents of West African countries like Côte d'Ivoire.
The event is divided into several days, and on the first day, all participating girls go to the palace to register, and it is mandatory to register to participate in the festival.
Then the staff divided the tent for the girl and arranged accommodation, which was the standard Chase ------ the long tents near the tent, which were the girl's residence.
These girls are known locally as 'bali', which means flower.
It is said that only girls participate, but it is obvious that the etiquette of African brothers to the word 'girl' is different from that of Chinese people, and Xiao Peng saw that many six or seven-year-old girls also came to participate in this reed festival.
And on the second day of the festival, all the girls have to leave the palace and start a long walk, singing songs all the way for about ten kilometers, until they reach the river where they want to cut the reeds------ the reed festival, how can they do without reeds?
Each girl had to harvest twenty reeds.
The reeds here are thin and long, one can be close to two meters high, but twenty is the thickness of the bowl, and the girl can carry it.
This is the girl's ticket to the Reed Festival.
It is also a tradition that in Eswatini, reeds are used to build fences, and the outer walls of the palace can be built------ yes, the outer walls of the Eswatini royal palace are made of reeds, and when the wind blows, they disappear。。。。。
The girls showed their respect for the Queen Mother of Eswatini through the ceremony of laying reeds.
This is the true meaning of the Reed Festival.
And choosing a concubine for the king is just an incidental entertainment.
Strange to say, Eswatini is a standard patriarchal society, where it is common for men to marry a bunch of wives, but sometimes they are unusually respectful of women.
For example, the next king or the next patriarch of the family is appointed by the woman with the highest status in the family.
And not what men say.
This reed-cutting usually lasts for several days, from the second day to the fifth day of the festival, because in order to show that the girls have traveled a long way to get the reeds back, the girls have to wait until the afternoon to start their journey and arrive in the middle of the night.
So what do you do when you cut the reeds and go back to the tent?
Class!
The marquees were not only where the girls lived, but also where they were educated, and there were experienced teachers on site who taught them 'the skills a woman needs when she got married', such as 。。。。。。
Sing?
Dance?
Most of the teachers are married women, including aunts and very young girls.
In Africa, you can't tell if a girl is single based on their age, some girls are only teenagers and are already mothers of several children.
By the way, the instructors here are female policemen, and the police uniform of this Eswatini policewoman is exactly the same as that of the Eagle Nation police!
Eswatini keeps saying that it wants to go to the eagle country, but in fact, many things have become entrenched here, such as police uniforms.
Around the tent are a group of men, who have to keep the girls' living quarters safe and safe for food and water.
They are the 'warriors' who have been carefully selected for this grand event.
The mission is to protect the girls until the end of the seven-day event of the Reed Festival.
In their words: "Take care of these young ladies their responsibility, keep them safe, lead them, help them", all straight male cancer patients.
Of course, they also had to do it, after all, this is a grand event, it is easy to have accidents, such as acute illness and the like, and there are all kinds of medical staff on the scene, ready to help.
Both warriors and medical staff are the elite of their tribes sent by each 'chiefdom'.
Everything in Eswatini is governed by the 'chiefdom', which is the most basic political unit here, probably like the sub-district office in China, where all ideas and opinions are discussed and negotiated within the boundaries of their respective 'chiefdoms', and then these opinions are conveyed to the 'constituencies', and the 'constituencies' convey these opinions to the ears of the king.
But here the power of the 'chiefdom' is greater, after all, a 'chiefdom' represents the voice of a tribe, and each tribe has its own allied tribe through marriage and the like, and if these voices are ignored, it is easy to get into trouble.
The struggle between tribes and tribes has been a topic in Africa for thousands of years: territory, food, women, etc., any small thing can cause two tribes to break their heads, and it becomes a war between two tribes, with countless casualties.
There are even wars between some tribes that have lasted for hundreds of thousands of years, and the reason for the war between the two tribes may be that the pigs in our village run to your village and you don't pay me back, which can make the two tribes hostile to each other for thousands of years, and there is really no one.
This kind of thing is very common in Africa, well, this amazing continent.
Anyway, once in a while, I listen to those girls downstairs singing under the guidance, which is still very pleasing to the eye, but I can't stand listening to it every day, Xiao Peng himself will hum along.
Xiao Peng knew that the theme song "akaaka" sung by Shakira was actually a national song of Eswatini, and Xiao Peng didn't understand the lyrics, anyway, it was 'aka hi hi hi hi' singing blindly.
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On the sixth day, when Xiao Peng thought he would still be as bored as before, Kevin came back with a few colorful blanket-like things, threw them on the bed, and asked them to change them and follow him.
Xiao Peng was puzzled: "What is this?"
Clothes?
It doesn't look like it!
” Kevin explained: "This is the national costume of Eswatini, called 'arire', it is better for you to participate in this event or wear this one, you can pick one yourself." ” Yang Meng curiously picked up one and looked at it: "Apron?
” Xiao Pengle: "Don't say it, it's really similar!"
Hey, what's a man's head on this?
” Kevin explained: "Oh, only the current king can appear on this 'arire', and this man is none other than the current king of Eswatini, Mswati III. ” Xiao Peng picked up the 'arire' and looked at it.
It's still a two-piece suit, one around the waist and the other on the body like a cloak.
It's a familiar shape, oh, and wrap a scarf around your waist after taking a shower, that's what it means.
On the other hand, it can be understood that the 'arire' is nothing more than two colored bath towels, one wrapped around the waist and one wrapped around the shoulder?
Regardless of men and women here, almost all have their own 'arire', but I didn't expect Xiao Peng to wear it himself?
Kevin explained to Xiao Peng: "The traditional color of 'arire' is generally the same as the color on the Eswatini national flag, that is, red, yellow, blue, white and black, black and white come from the shield on the national flag, representing the harmony between ethnic groups, red represents the blood shed by soldiers in history, blue represents peace, and yellow 。。。。。。。
Damn, I forgot, how can there be so much exquisiteness, you just think it looks good!
” Xiao Peng was holding a red 'arire' with black and white patterns on it, which was the most common 'arire' here, but when he just put it on, he took it off.
Throw it aside and don't even look at it.
Kevin was stunned: "Xiao, you look good in that one!"
Why did you throw it away?
” Xiao Peng pointed to the king's head on it and said, "Damn, do you think it is a pleasant move to have such a big black and white head in the middle of your legs?"
” Kevin shrugged: "It's normal here!"
Cultures are different, cultures are different.
You'll be flattering in this 'arire'!
” Xiao Peng shook his head violently: "Yes, I still don't want to be so likable."
He chose a blue 'arire' with red and white patterns, while Yang Meng chose a black and white 'arire', and walked out of the hotel with Kevin.
"Kevin, where are we going in this dress?"
Xiao Peng asked puzzled.
"Go to the palace!"
Kevin gives the answer.
Xiao Peng thought he was going to meet with some dignitaries.
It turned out that Kevin led them to the outer wall of the palace, where there were a lot of wooden shelves that had been built.
Yang Meng took the digital camera to adjust the lens: "Kevin, what do you mean by calling us over?"
What's there to shoot here?
Do you shoot wooden shelves?
” Kevin picked a good position with great experience: "Here and here, hurry up and get ready here."
It'll look good in a while. ” Xiao Peng didn't understand why, but Kevin found a shade and sat down.
Xiao Peng waited curiously for a while, but found that there are more and more people here, both men and women, what does this mean?
Xiao Peng didn't wait long, and saw some topless girls in short skirts singing in rows and carrying reeds here, dancing and building their reeds on the wooden shelves that had been erected.
"Feelings, this is to build a wall for the palace?"
Yang Mengle said.
Holding the camera and filming around, many people next to him are doing the same thing with him.
Watching a group of topless girls dance, Xiao Peng didn't have any impulse, only a shock.
He also took down his camera to record it all.
The girls contributed their reeds in batches and then left one after another.
"Where did they go?"
Xiao Peng asked Kevin.
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"Go to the river and take a shower and get a nice haircut.
Preparing for tomorrow's gala, what, do you want to go and see it?
Kevin asked rhetorically.
"Can I watch them take a shower?"
Yang Meng was a little dumbfounded.
Kevin shrugged: "Just go to the river, and wash with them if you want, as long as you don't touch those girls, of course."
Otherwise, the warrior next to you won't be cheap. ” "Jinnyima has blown up!"
Yang Meng sighed: "This custom is really 。。。。。。
That's great!
”