There is this practise in the Kingdom of Swaziland in Southern Africa. Every year at this time, young girls must parade more or less nude infront of the King so that he may choose his wife. He chooses a new wife every year! The girls are usually in their teens and are expected to be virgins.

And yes, they also have a practise of virginity test. A girl who is a virgin is actually given a certificate. The tests are normally conducted at the main stadium in broad daylight and in the presence of everybody who cares to come and see.

Where are human rights people? Where are the vocal fighters of girls' rights? It is not just femala circumcision we have to fight against. This practise is in Swaziland has no place in modern society.

Abeg leave the dance jare. . . surely, if i lived in Swaziland, I will be buying ticket to the event every year.

Most Of Africa is Backwards. I saw this shit on Taboo on The Discovery Channel. Shit like this gives africa a bad name.

mind ur business jo. swazi king like better thing

Ibime, Bawomolo, this is the 21st Century. But the show is usually free and public. No ticket

That king like better thing oo!! even his kids bare their titties for him too

Mswati III arrived in the stadium framed by mountains in the capital Mbabane in a brand new BMW - one of 20 bought just for the occassion.

The king, dressed in traditional clothing and wearing a beaded necklace, was welcomed by cheering, flag-waving supporters.

"We all trust him," said a young man with a front-row seat, also in traditional dress.

"He's a good man. He believes in his country. He loves everybody. We are all like the royal family."

The king has a taste for the finer things in life - something he shares with his 13 wives.

how can u hate on this man

@poster
wat really is the problem here
the girls are not forced to perform the dance
they come of their own accord
and are not exploited or made to undergo any lascivious sexual acts

pls lets get off this colonial hang up of unclothedness automatically meaning the girl/woman must be promiscous, go to the western fashion week in milan,paris ,new york, and tell me how terribly diffrent the reed dance girls is, these models are worse they do hard drugs which these girls dont,obviously of all the thousands of girls the man only chooses maybe one or two and the kate moss,naomi campbell e.t.c are almost near naked in stuffs they wear,how come you dont call them ignorant and backward? or that the fashion designers are exploiting them??
how come you dont say the anorexic models are ignorant and backward for allowing themselves to be brainwashed??
some of these girls come from abroad,far and wide and are actually proud and exited to participate so they r not dumb,ill experienced african girls you are likening them to be.

you say it all i m sick and tried of this 21st century of a thing is their tradition let they do what they like .

lucabrasi:

@poster
what really is the problem here
the girls are not forced to perform the dance
they come of their own accord
and are not exploited or made to undergo any lascivious sexual acts

please lets get off this  colonial hang up of unclothedness automatically meaning the girl/woman must be promiscous, go to the western fashion week in milan,paris ,new york, and tell me how terribly diffrent the reed dance girls is, these models are worse they do hard drugs which these girls don't,obviously of all the thousands of girls the man only chooses maybe one or two and the kate moss,naomi campbell e.t.c are almost near naked in stuffs they wear,how come you don't call them ignorant and backward? or that the fashion designers are exploiting them??
how come you don't say the anorexic models are ignorant and backward for allowing themselves to be brainwashed??
some of these girls come from abroad,far and wide and are actually proud and exited to participate so they r not dumb,ill experienced african girls you are likening them to be.

@ lucabrasi and Benincitys: would you let your sisters and daughters participate in this reed dance in the hopes of catching the eye of King Breastorama?

Or in the name of tradition or however you want to spin it?


Let the men also show their own assets in similar fashion. I've said why not turn the entire Swaziland into a giant nudist camp and apply for international AIDS assistance at the same time.

the girls are not forced to perform the dance

i hope u don't really believe this given the fact that lots of the girls are usually seen waiting in line for food after the reed dance. in a country with a 70% poverty rate, some of these girls are forced to "audition" for marriage into the wealthy royal family. i doubt reed dances back in the olden days cost as much as 3 million dollars. this is more of a celebrity show in the name of preserving an archaic and depriving culture.

@tpia
its not a matter of weighing the rights and wrongs,the point here is that these girls do it out of their own volition and they are adults, why isnt anyone condemning the nudists,models strutting the runways in milan and paris cause they r white?
the point here is that its their culture and he fact that the average white girl are prudish or dont have the assets these girls have shouldnt be reason for them to condemn the culture like they have everything african, women going topless has been part of africa for hundreds of yers yet we dont hear of sexual promiscuity in the old days,remember the practice where a girl had to be a virgin untill her wedding day or the husband will collect the dowry back was predominant during the old days when girls went half naked??
wats the diffrence between some "designer clothes" stars like j lo,lil kim,jordan e.t.c wear and girls in the reed dance going topless?

bawomolo:

i hope u don't really believe this given the fact that lots of the girls are usually seen waiting in line for food after the reed dance. in a country with a 70% poverty rate, some of these girls are forced to "audition" for marriage into the wealthy royal family. i doubt reed dances back in the olden days cost as much as 3 million dollars. this is more of a celebrity show in the name of preserving an archaic and depriving culture.

but its true they r not forced,go n read about the reed dance thing and you ll realise girls come from all over even western world to perticipate in it,its thier culture,does it mean the fact that people return to lagos island from america,uk e.t.c just for ojude oba or eyo means their backward and ignorant?
of course they will be given food just like in any festival or celebration,that doesnt mean the girls are being enticed to bare their breasts cause of food, if anybody was forcing them it ll be the parents or guardians and not the king or his subjects which has got nuifn to do with him or the culture/festival

This is my problem with all these over-westernised people.
@luca, thanks bro

When westerners do anything and they call them different names, we are always ready to accept but if it comes from other cultures (esp Africa) they come up with arms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2226617.stm


the practice is outdated and has no place in the modern world. And the fact that Swaziland has an extremely high rate of AIDS shows how irresponsible the festival organizers are.

If they must stick to archaic traditions, then there's still nothing wrong with the girls being covered. They don't have to expose their breasts for every groping monarch and westerner to see.

The people who dress half naked most times because of the weather or because they're at the beach, are still not in the same category as these ones. Models do theirs on the catwalk because its their job and they get paid for their work as adults, unlike these ones. Any girl under 16, in most western countries, who is forced to do something like this, knows its illegal and her pimps liable to be prosecuted.

This is a dance where 20 to 30 thousand young girls go topless in the name of tradition. To what purpose beyond being a sight for Hot men to jack off to? And why can't the Swazi males also bare their own pricks? Any man who needs to see young women's breasts in order to get high, will always find an avenue to feed himself regardless. Porn is a multibillion dollar industry. Others are even making financial gains from it- these girls are doing their own for free in the name of one useless tradition.



And yes, parts of Nigeria also used to have this ceremony in ages past. It was discontinued because not every part of culture is beneficial or even sensible.

I notice the press only shows pictures of young beautiful girls whenever they cover this festival. If the women pictured were old grandmas with sagging boobs I'm sure most of you insisting its the Swazi females' right to go topless, would be the first ones shouting the dance has to stop.

though who knows sha. Boob is boob.

No one has the right to determine what is out of date for any other group of people.

Does the media ever condemn all the porn stars? What about we start saying also that sodomy is absolutely wrong. If a people decide to do something, why should some westernised people think they know everything and condemn such people.

This is the kind of mentality that drove America into Iraq (the mentality of thinking that they know all things and everyone has to agree with whatever they allude to)

No one has the right to determine what is out of date for any other group of people.

does that include ritual killings, slavery and circumcision. it seems Africans refuse to accept change. the dance itself is not a big deal, the enormous cost of the dance in a country that depends on aid is mind boggling. no one is going to sanction the swazi king for the reed dance and his exorbitant birthday celebration. the people that would face the consequence are citizens of a country with an high rate of unemployment and HIV.

Does the media ever condemn all the porn stars?

you definitely haven't read some feminist papers or social conservative articles

but its true they r not forced,go n read about the reed dance thing and you ll realise girls come from all over even western world to perticipate in it,its their culture

the age range of the dance ranges from 4yr old to women in their twenties. i guess a 5yr old girl would be willing to go bare chested for the king.

does it mean the fact that people return to lagos island from america,uk e.t.c just for ojude oba or eyo means their backward and ignorant?

i know u didn't just compare eyo or a masquerade festival to the reed dance. are wives chosen in the eyo festival

of course they will be given food just like in any festival or celebration

lots of the girls wait HUNGRILY for the food.

if anybody was forcing them it ll be the parents or guardians and not the king or his subjects which has got nuifn to do with him or the culture/festival

and why would their parents/guardians be forcing them, harsh economic conditions and archaic cultural standards? it's amusing how u try not to admit some of these girls are being forced.

@ lucabrasi and Benincitys: would you let your sisters and daughters participate in this reed dance in the hopes of catching the eye of King Breastorama?

Or in the name of tradition or however you want to spin it?


Let the men also show their own assets in similar fashion. I've said why not turn the entire Swaziland into a giant nudist camp and apply for international AIDS assistance at the same time.

Please tpia tell them. Im not even in the mood to discuss this. Dont know what "western world' has to do with someone having an opposing view on this.

dance naked, na thir own. but this public spectacle of a "virginity test" is sick and no different from porn and YES Swaziland has a VERY high % of Aids yet lucabrasi and co are consonantly ignoring that issue.

awon elede.

bawomolo:

does that include ritual killings, slavery and circumcision. it seems Africans refuse to accept change. the dance itself is not a big deal, the enormous cost of the dance in a country that depends on aid is mind boggling. no one is going to sanction the swazi king for the reed dance and his exorbitant birthday celebration. the people that would face the consequence are citizens of a country with an high rate of unemployment and HIV.

Why must Africans accept every kind of change? That's akin to "follow follow" without using our brains. We dont have to accept everything that is practiced by the white man in the name of change. Has the white man ever seen anything good enough in African practices to change to such?

bawomolo:


you definitely haven't read some feminist papers or social conservative articles

I wont read feminist papers. They are not mainstream

Why must Africans accept every kind of change? That's akin to "follow follow" without using our brains. We don't have to accept everything that is practiced by the white man in the name of change. Has the white man ever seen anything good enough in African practices to change to such?

again answer my question, what about circumcision, ritual killings, etc. should they be allowed to remain since we can't force any group to change from barbaric practices. u seem to be blinded by ur dislike of white people.

I wont read feminist papers. They are not mainstream

this coming from the same man that accuses people of "follow follow"

bawomolo:

again answer my question, what about circumcision, ritual killings, etc. should they be allowed to remain since we can't force any group to change from barbaric practices.

Infact lets go back to killing twins while we're at it. After all it was the evil western world people that tolsdus to stop it. Lets stop being "follow follow" and too back to killing them

Bring back Osu sef in full force.

dudu-bobo:

Why must Africans accept every kind of change? That's akin to "follow follow" without using our brains. We don't have to accept everything that is practiced by the white man in the name of change. Has the white man ever seen anything good enough in African practices to change to such?

I wont read feminist papers. They are not mainstream

must you always wait for the white man to tell you what to change?

Is the white man's brain a different color from your own?

Is it because the modern media is posting fake prescreened pictures of porn star wannabees pretty girls as a smokescreen.  So men are looking with their other eye instead of the proper two located on the head.

Grandmas dey there abeg. Check these other pictures.

Dont know why women always have to be used as objects not worthy of respect, in African culture.

I also agree that we should not always follow everything introduced to us simply because they introduced some good things to us.

@bawomolo
no one is saying ritual killings is right, same as the weterners had their share of shameful and violent past but the fact still remains that the reed dance is the culture and we have not heard of any rapes s a result of the dance any orgies e.t.c saying salvery and circumsicion is an african thing is a totally false, the jews and other caucasian whites circumsice as well

again like i said,if anyone included a 5 yrs old,its not the king's fault but the parents,and i hope you are not inferring that the king specificlly requested for underages or 4/5 year old girls as well??

so the fact that oshun osogbo adherents struggle for food make it wrong as well then?
what im saying is that,if anyone is forcing them to participate,it has absolutely zilch to do with the king simply because for each girl that opts out,2 or more are willing to replace them
@karmamod
the fact that swaziland has a high rate of aids nd hiv is not enough reason for them to bin their culture,i need you to show me exactly how these girls are being taken advantage of,in spite of the many years thereed dance has been going on,how many of them has the king chosen?anyone will think he prolly would have like 500wives by now right?
@tpia
its not a matter of them being young girls or old women,im not concerned about that im talking about the total freedom to practice their culture/festivals, why are the indians not given the third degree about their festivals and culture but we africans are??
the most important thing that transcends them either showing only girls or not is that its a deep seated culture they have been practicing for a long time

they dont have to dance bare breasted for men to jerk off to. Nothing wrong with them covering up for the reed dance.



I dont know why the Italians havent gone there to source for women, since their king glories in that kind of festival. After all, its their culture.

what is the difference between this dance and what western women do in strip clubs? Seriously, what is the difference between this dance and what some women do while walking down the road almost bare chested? The west will always have their way with us. I'll only turn against it if they were forced to do so. They did the same with muslims only to withdraw after seen seeing some o their women dress the same way in the western world. If we preach freedom, we should not impose our cultural values and religious principles on others because they chose to live in a particular way. These girls are even clothed to an extent as opposed to strip girls that walk around naked. Some American movie stars(excluding the porn stars) must either show part or their full naked body in any movie as long as the price is right. What is good for the goose should also be good for the gander.

.

dillycool:

that is very embarassing if i were tobe one of them i would just leave the country

70% of swazi's live below the poverty line. where would they leave to. the atlantic ocean??

bawomolo:

70% of swazi's live below the poverty line. where would they leave to. the atlantic ocean??

italy.

tpia:

italy.

smart man, market dey for there