Marula Festival

Each year, Marula Festival begins in mid-February and lasts until mid-May, bringing with it a harvest of exotic green fruits known as 'marula.' Women and children harvest the green fruits as they fall to the ground and keep them until they mature to a creamy yellow color. After that, the fruits are placed in water, sugar is added, and the mixture is fermented before being distilled into beer. Marula beer, often known as buganu, is a strong alcoholic beverage.

Although the Marula Fruit may be found all throughout Africa, it is most popular in Eswatini. The Marula is considered by the Swazi people as much more than a food source; it is seen as a miraculous medicinal component with enormous reproductive potential. Each family presents the King and Queen-mother with Marula gifts as well as some Marula beer. Only after the royal family has had some of the beer is the rest of the country allowed to partake.

Time: from mid-February to mid-May