Swaziland Festivals

A trip to Swaziland is a must-do if you want to learn about the country's rich culture and meet its welcoming people. Visitors are welcome to attend some of the two major festivals' celebrations. Swaziland's most famous event is Umhlanga, the animated Reed Dance ceremony. It takes place during the last week of August or the first week of September, and it brings together young women from all around the country for a joyful song and dance performance.

Incwala is a three-week-long kingship ritual that takes place in December and January. Representatives of the Bemanti people carry water from all of Swaziland's major rivers, which had gathered at the new moon, to start the celebrations. Young men then construct a royal kraal at Lobamba out of lusekwane tree branches and other flora. The "great day," when the king, dressed in his finest robes, symbolically tastes the first fruits of the crop followed by joyful song and dance, reaches its culmination.

Location: Swaziland