Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati III was on Wednesday ensconced in a sacred location for an annual ritual to prove he is fit to rule over the landlocked Southern African nation for another year.
But some traditionalists in this poor country of 1,1-million privately hold that if he does not complete the ”invincible dance” — a crucial part of the traditional Incwala ritual — he should commit suicide.
They also blame the ”modernised monarchy” for the nation’s ills, saying the queen mother’s penchant for flying had angered the gods and was partly responsible for a crippling drought.
She has just returned from China and South Africa. Her predecessor, however, never set foot in a plane.
The Incwala, or ”festival of the first fruit”, rituals began on Tuesday and are aimed at gaining the blessings of the gods and ancestors, sanctifying the kingship and opening the harvest season.
But for the past five years, the subjects of the 35-year-old king — who was enthroned in 1986 — have been struggling to grow maize, the staple crop, and a quarter of them now need relief food as a result of the drought.
The king has been widely criticised for refusing to introduce democratic reforms and his image has been tarnished by a series of indiscretions, including plans to spend millions of rands on a private jet and the alleged kidnapping of a schoolgirl to become his 10th wife.
The dates for the Incwala are determined by traditional astrologers based on the position of the moon and span several days.
The rituals are complicated and involve hard work. In the run-up to the festival, envoys from the Bimanti clan, or water people, are sent to neighbouring Mozambique to collect foam from the sea, which is then used to cook sacred food.
Others fan out to South Africa and Zimbabwe to collect rare shrubs to make a potion to cleanse the king.
After the start of the ceremony, the king enters a sacred enclosure at Ludzidzini, 16km southeast of Mbabane, and spits to the east and west to show he had broken off with the old year and opened the new.
A wild party follows, with the ”invincible dance” performed by the king in front of senior members of the ruling Dlamini dynasty and group dances by thousands of Swazis sporting leopard-hide skirts and cowhide shawls.
According to tradition, the king must complete this dance so that he may continue his reign.
The other events associated with the ritual are diverse — young warriors who have not fathered a child have to kill a ceremonial black bull with their bare hands and young men have to walk far to collect branches of the sacred lusekwane bush by moonlight.
Swazis believe that if any of these men have made love to a married woman or made a young girl pregnant, the leaf he touches will wither. Then those who are untainted can beat the offender.
The monarch also has to observe days of abstinence and remains in seclusion until the next full moon when the lusekwane branches are collected and burnt.
But before this is done, other traditional ritual objects are torched to signify the end of the old year. — Sapa-AFP