Behold, the Marula Season is upon us! Every year Swaziland sets aside a month of celebration to enjoy the fruits of the earth. One fruit specifically, the marula fruit that ripens and becomes alcohol. Women from around the country gather for the weekend and bring their marula for both themselves and as a gift for the king. For a country that is normally highly against alcohol and against anyone that consumes it, it seems they are easy to set aside all beliefs and drink their heart's desire for the month. It's a contradiction I do not understand but also a very fun tradition that I'm happy I got to experience. This past weekend was the official start of the Marula Season and my first encounter with this unique holiday.
The Marula Festival (which is the official kick off for the Marula Season) is held annually in my region, and takes place within the King's Kraal. I went down on Friday to check out the scene. It was identical to tailgate parties in the U.S. Truck after truck entered the area carrying loads of Bo-Make (mothers) and Bo-Gogo (grandmothers). There were grills set up, a Coca-Cola booth, people selling goods, and everyone just hanging out, talking and sitting beneath trees. I found out that the dancing and festivities were to begin the following day.
On Saturday I went down and met some friends. As we sat under a tree and talked, two men interrupted us and started with the normal marriage proposals and propositions of love. We eventually turned the conversation towards HIV, which is our goal as HIV health educators. What started out as a normal conversation on health, HIV, and AIDS took a turn for worse when a police officer joined the conversation and blamed us personally and America, for bringing HIV to Swaziland. As soon as a figure of authority said this, it immediately became a statement- and being a woman in a male dominated society anything we said would be a lie. The 2 men we were talking to immediately started blaming us. It was the most frustrating, difficult, and unpleasant conversation I have EVER had. Not only were their facts all wrong, gender specific issues were addressed (women could not/should not say and do things- even at the most basic level), they brought in the Bible which they had NO idea what they were talking about but because we were women they would not listen to a word we said, and anything that a male figure head would say would automatically become the truth no matter how inaccurate and laughable that statement would seem. This conversation nearly ruined the day for me, but luckily more friends arrived and the drunk Bo-Gogo stumbling around and singing diverted my attention. We went into the main area where I bought some Swazi jewelry to compliment my traditional Swazi wear I was sporting. As we sat inside waiting for the dancing to start,another man approached us. This time the conversation was a pleasant one. We talked about traveling and the States. He had traveled all around the world and his wealth was made apparent not just in the places he's been but in his attire. He was very pleasant but as we talked, I could not help but wonder what do the 70% of Swazi's that live in Rural Communities and live on less than 2 dollars a day think and feel when they see a someone like him? Do they just accept it as a way of life, or do they question the possibility of corruption and injustice? The rich and the poor are on opposite ends of the spectrum and it's heartbreaking to see it and not be able to do anything to change it. The dancing started shortly after. It was amazing. Endless groups of women entered the kraal dancing and singing. The King and the Queen Mother entered with armed guards a little while later. We left shortly after in order to make it back to site, missing the dance by both the King and Queen Mother. Maybe next year I will catch their dance. In the meantime, here's to another beautiful day in Swaziland!
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