Today before leaving Swaziland, we visited a Swazi cultural village. Here, they put on a little show featuring many of the dances of their culture. My personal favorite was the original Single Ladies dance, where all the unmarried girls got together and danced.
Following the show, we were given a tour of the huts. The walls with four horizontal rows indicate that those are sleeping huts, whilst three rows indicate the kitchen- both indoors in a hut and outdoors.
Married women wear goat skin aprons, which are the equivalent of wedding bands in other cultures. It was very informative, and though they are a patriarchal culture, the grandmother has the last word as the oldest person in the family. She was selling several beaded things, and I bought a Swazi necklace. They said that traditionally, this necklace had been given as a token of affection from a Swazi male to a female. If she rejected the necklace, she rejected his affection.
Following the cultural village, we went to a store specializing in woven things. It was incredible to see these items, because they appeared to be straight out of a high end home decor boutique, but for a fraction of what would be paid in the States.
Crossing back into South Africa was another adventure where we had to push our way to the front of the line and hope for the best. This time, it was run out of a building rather than a van.
Overall, Swaziland was beautiful. It was surrounded by mountains. It wasn't without its problems though. Driving through, as in South Africa, poverty is evident. Shacks could be seen by the roads. It was a strange juxtaposition at one point. As we drove into Swaziland, we passed some shacks on a mountaintop. The view was incredible. In the States, people would pay millions, and have, for a mountain view like that, and in Swaziland, it was shared by the most humble of people.
---
Antes de salir de Suazilandia, visitamos a un pueblo cultural. Aquí presentaron sus bailes tradicionales. Mi favorito era el Single Ladies original donde todas las mujeres solteras se juntaron a bailar.
De allí, nos dieron tour del pueblo. Las paredes con cuatro líneas horizontales indicaban que los (huts) eran para dormir y los de tres indicaban las cocinas de adentro y afuera.
Las mujeres casadas usaban (mandiles) hechos de piel de cabra, que va siendo igual a los anillos en otras culturas. Era muy informativo, y aunque son una cultura muy patriarcal, la abuela va siendo la que tiene más poder como es la más grande de la familia. Estaba vendiendo varias cositas, entonces me compré un collar Suazi. Sale que tradicionalmente, ese collar, se los daban los muchachos a la muchacha que querían. T si ella rechazaba el collar, también rechazaba el amor.
Después, fuimos a una tienda que vende canastas. Era increíble verlas porque muy fácilmente, se venderían en boutiques de decoración, pero en Suazi por un precio bajísimo comparado con lo que pagaría en EUA.
Para cruzar de nuevo a Sudáfrica, era otra aventura donde teníamos que empujar para que nos atendieran, pero esta vez era en edificio y no camioneta.
Sobretodo, Suazi era hermoso. Las montañas preciosas. Aún asi, no faltaban problemas. Pasando por el paisaje, igual que en Sudáfrica, se veía la pobreza. Era yuxtaposición en un punto. Mientras manejamos por Suazilandia, pasamos unas cabañas en la montaña. La vista era increíble. En el EUA, la gente pagaría, y han pagado, millones de dólares por tener una vista asi de la casa, y allí en Suazi, era compartida por la gente más humilde.
No comments:
Post a Comment