Young women attend Maidens Conference to prepare for annual Reed Dance ceremony

Doreen Premdev|Published 1 year ago

The purpose of the annual Maiden’s Conference is to educate, promote and raise awareness about social ills facing young girls.

Thousands of young girls and women, dressed in colourful traditional wear, participated in the Maidens Conference as they prepare to take part in the annual Reed Dance in September. The Maiden’s Conference was held recently at the KwaZwelibomvu Sports Ground in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

The annual event is aimed at educating young women, and promoting and raising awareness of social ills facing girls. The maidens’ traditional dance takes place ahead of the annual Reed Dance which is held at eNyokeni in KwaNongoma.

Close to 3000 young girls and women from across the city attended the Maidens Conference where various educational institutions and non-profit organisations provided information and opportunities, intended to enhance the livelihood of young women, said Khaya Sengani of the eThekwini Municipality’s communications unit.

Young women and girls at the Maiden’s Conference held over the weekend at the KwaZwelibomvu Sports Ground in Ward 100.

“The Maidens Conference programme intends to educate, promote, facilitate, and raise awareness on moral regeneration and management of social ills especially to young women,” said Mr Sengani.

“The women will also be participating in the South African Reed Dance ceremony - it is one of the most remarkable annual cultural programmes. Thousands of young women gather to celebrate the custom of retaining their virginity before marriage. His Majesty the King of the Zulu nation revived this cultural practice as a means of infusing the indigenous behavioural system that was practised by the Zulu nation. This is to ensure young women at an early stage of life are capacitated with cultural practices that are sacred within the nation.”

The Reed Dance celebration serves as an educational platform and is a custom embraced by the provincial government and municipalities - to prevent delinquency, misbehaviour, and unprotected sex among young women. The other key objective, Mr Sengani said, is to ensure the delay in sexual activity until marriage. This could limit the possibility of HIV transmissions, unplanned marriages and single parenting which could place strain on the productive life of the young females in the country, he added.

“The three-day Umkhosi woMhlanga (Reed Dance) has become an annual event that is highly anticipated by parents of the maidens and maidens themselves. Due to resource constraints and age limit, the eThekwini Municipality conducts the Maidens Conference with an aim of preparing the girls to attend the annual event held in Nyokeni Kraal. The maidens of eThekwini receive an opportunity to participate in the ceremony,” said Mr Sengani.

The annual Reed Dance Conference is to be held on Saturday September 9 at eNyokeni Royal House kwaNongoma. The event attracts many young girls and virginity tests are one of the criteria used to select who is suitable to participate in the royal dance programme.