Reed dance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reed dance - Essay Example Their merit and usefulness to building the society are being constantly evaluated by the think-tanks of the society. In this essay, a discussion is attempted about their merits and demerits and their continuing intrinsic strength to hold sway over the people. 1. Swaziland Reed Dance The married women of Swaziland consider it as the occasion of lifetime. â€Å"Umhlanga, or the Reed Dance, is the culmination of eight days of honoring the Queen Mother in late August or early September when the reed harvest happens. For eight days maidens march to the fields of reeds, chop them down, bundle them up, and present them as windbreakers for the Queen Mother’s residence.†(Witnessing†¦)The ceremony is especially for the girls to show honor and respect to their Queen Mother and the King Mswati III. The girls arrive from their respective villages for the traditional rite of passage ceremony so that all the participants are accounted for. Once this procedure is over they are sen t to the nearby valleys by foot to fetch ten foot tall reeds and they bring it to their place of residence. 1. Lattmaar Holi of Barsana (India) This is a traditional ritual cum festival celebrated in the District of Mathura in Northern India. It has immense cultural significance. It is a ritual to assert the rights of women and proclaim before the world that they are not only equal but more equal to menfolk. â€Å"Latt† means a big strong stick. â€Å"Maar† means to hit. Yes, this festival symbolizes violence. In the course of celebrating this ritual the super-charged women attack menfolk with bamboo sticks and it is no ordinary lashing. Men need lots of skills, which they have practiced intensely at least a month before the ritual to escape from the lashes that are unleashed without intermission from all ends. It is not a solo fight of one woman attacking one man. Men need to be ready to take blows from a group of women and they do their job mercilessly with a vengean ce. 2. During Umhlanga, the girls are educated and counseled about becoming women as per their local traditions and beliefs. â€Å"This tradition is focused on encouraging young Swazi women to abstain from intimate relations and keep their virginity intact until they are considered old enough to be married.† (Witnessing†¦) On completion of these formalities the girls gather for two days of dancing and other celebrations. On the first day, all of them assemble and deliver their reeds to the Queen Mother and to King Mswati III. Next, they do a march past before the King and other important guests and the tourists who arrive in large numbers to witness this semi-naked phenomena. â€Å"At Umhlanga, thousands of virgins dance in front of the Queen Mother and the King at the royal residence stadium—and it is quite a spectacle.†(Witnesing†¦) The maidens are dressed in traditional attire and â€Å"Their regalia consisted of bead necklaces, wool sashes, rattli ng anklets made from cocoons, and the four-inch-wide blue pleated skirt. Many carried a machete, â€Å"to cut the reeds.† (Witnessing†¦) They all reveal their bare breasts while dancing and singing and this dance is supposed to be for the unification of the Kingdom’s women. His Majesty King Mswati III often utilizes this occasion to publicly court a prospective fiancee and he joins the celebrations to pay tribute to the participating maidens. â€Å"The current monarch, King Mswati III, has 14 wives, which is

Is Dubai Las Vegas on steroids Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Is Dubai Las Vegas on steroids - Essay Example This is especially so where the front runners happen to be two great cities, with one resting in the East, that is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the other on the West, that is the United States. The two words, that is, bug and hook have been used symbolically in the description of the mental picture that one has when the two cosmopolitans are mentioned.The mention of the two cities triggers a feeling that is more of an enticement, rather than just a mere attention. The cities are scenarios that capture one’s interests fully.The term bugging is also being used as a slang to signify bulging or growing larger in all dimensions. Dubai and LasVegas both share these two characteristics. From what could be termed as scratch, the two cities have experienced enormous developments in both structural and technological fields, though at different rates, to an alarming level. The following essay gives an outline and a partial analysis of the past, the present and the expected futur e conditions of the cities, their similarities and their differences in terms of social and cultural aspects, and in relation to the definition of freedom. It starts with a description of the history of the two cities. ... Though mainly known for its speedily expanding city, Dubai is also a home to various landscapes ranging from the sand deserts, the coral reefs to the rugged Rock mountains (Quinn, 2006). In history, the Persian Gulf was one of the most relevant trading locations dating back to 3,000BC in the reign of Sumer kingdom, which was a Muslim empire. The kingdom carried out and influenced trade along the Gulf which harbors Dubai, and began civilization with Dubai as one of the trading centers. The trading spot later became an important link between Europe and India to the Portuguese and to the British. Due to numerous attacks by pirates, Dubai and the other neighboring emirates sought protection from the British and this led to the emirates being termed as the Trucial States. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Dubai’s ruler, who was known as Sheikh Hasher gave a tax relief to the foreign traders. This offered them an incentive to expand their trade by locating their headquart ers to Dubai leading to a boost in development. Some major ports had also been established forming linkages between the trading blocks in the region. An example is the British port which was important in enabling trade between the British and the Indians. A further boost in trade was enhanced by Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed who authorized the dredging of a creek, giving way to larger cargo ships. The city of Dubai was hence born from the trade of imports and exports. This however received a major boost when oil was discovered in 1966. The huge revenues from oil trade transformed the state into one of the richest in the Middle East. When Britain withdrew its reign from the territory,