Swaziland's chastity rite ended
2005-08-22 21:24
Mbabane - At dawn on Monday, thousands of Swazi girls removed tasseled scarves symbolising their chastity, abandoning an ancient rite revived to combat the modern scourge of Aids.
King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, in 2001 reinstated for five years the "umchwasho" rite, banning sexual relations for girls younger than 18.
But the move was ridiculed as old-fashioned and unfairly focused on girls - and the king himself was accused of ignoring it.
With criticism mounting, Mswati decided to end the ban a year early.
The girls arrived at the queen mother's residence at Ludzidzini singing: "Saphose safa ngumchwasho" - loosely translated as: "We were sick and tired of umchwasho."
They dropped their woolen tassels in a heap, which state radio said would be burned at a public celebration on Tuesday marking the official end of the chastity right.
They then bathed in a river in a ritual intended to purge the bad omens associated with wearing the tassels, the radio station reported.
The abandonment of the rite comes days before the annual reed dance ceremony at which Mswati traditionally picks a new bride from thousands of young girls who dance before him dressed in little more than beads and traditional skirts.
More than 20 000 Swazi girls have registered to take part in the reed dance, with more expected to come from neighbouring South Africa.
At 36, Mswati already has 12 wives, one bride-to-be and 27 children.
His late father, King Sobhuza II, who led the country to independence from Britain in 1968, had more than 70 wives when he died.
Aids has hit Swaziland harder than almost any country in the world, with roughly 480 000 people in this nation of over a 1 million estimated to be infected by HIV.
- AP