Cultural Day!

28 September 2017

Today my students are headed off to the royal village of Matsieng, to perform in a national traditional day. They are representing Maseru district!

After a very exciting hour or so on the bus (read: not at all exciting unless you’re 12) we arrived in Matsieng, which is a small village about half an hour from the capital, where the king and his family reside.

Within ten minutes of arriving, my new coworker very exasperatedly declared that she was going “to sell me” and be done with it, because we could not get into the arena due to the sheer amount of people who wanted to say “hello” to the singular white person (I was not actually the only white person, but oddly, I never did see the other PCV who was there. This is a happenstance that has never before, nor ever after, occurred. PCVs ALWAYS find each other.)

With the special privilege that comes with possessing a camera, I was quickly ushered on to the stage, so that I could take photos without people getting in the way. This was, admittedly, very awkward, and I forced my supervisor to come with me so I would not be alone, which she did.

[Image: A girl in a white grass skirt and pink top dances, a yellow whistle in her mouth. She is the leader of the group, and the whistle gives directions to the other girls.]

My kiddos competed in three dances, and we ultimately won second for the one boys dance, and third for one of the girls dances. I was informed in no uncertain terms that my boys were robbed of the title. They were by far the best performance, and this is not just my bias. Interestingly, they also had perhaps the most traditional performance, with the chorus wearing fur masks, which I suspect is more of a Zulu thing.

[Image: Primary school boys, dressed all in black and white, and wielding sticks, are lined up shoulder to shoulder to dance.]

Since it was the weekend, and I was already so close to another volunteer, I decided to leave from the competition and head to visit Leseli kapa Maggie. On the way out, one last person stopped me to ask for a photo, this time a man asking for a picture of himself in his regalia.

[Image: a portrait of an older Mosotho man, wearing a hat made of porcupine quills, and a spotted hide cape.]