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Naked Zulu dancers cover up after tourists take their pics |
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By: Agencies |
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Date:
2008-10-16 |
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Place: Johannesburg |
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The king and them: The virgin dancers wear wearing nothing but beads and short fringed skirts | Teenage girls in an African tribe have been ordered to cover up during traditional dances because European tourists keep taking pictures of their bare bottoms.
Young virgins have been performing the Zulu Royal Reed Dance for centuries wearing nothing but beads and short fringed skirts.
But now King Goodwill Zwelithini has told the girls to put on sarongs or traditional undergarments called umuntsha to cover their buttocks. He said the event was "not for looking at maidens' bottoms".
Locals are said to be fed up of "lascivious" male tourists who "act like paparazzi" and "zoom in on bare flesh with their hi-tech cameras".
For the king
Zulus say their traditional ceremony is being sullied because of the wrong sort of attention from visitors.
Photography at the dances, performed by thousands of virgin girls in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is strictly regulated.
All cameramen are supposed to be bona fide members of the press. But recent checks have shown some photographers were just ordinary tourists taking pictures without approval.
The King chooses his wives from among the dancers.
The dancers usually do not wear underwear because the routine is designed to be a proud display of their
innocence. |
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