Photos of the People of Swaziland

The Swazi people are distinguished by their friendliness and were always more than happy to have their photo taken. These photos give a broad picture of Swazi people, their family life, at work and at play.

Although store-bought "European" dress is widespread, many would wear traditional clothing, the "emahiya", a toga-like garment, usually red, white and black, printed with bold designs and worn by both men and women. These are in two parts: the top part, "umhelwane", is a large piece of fabric tied with a knot at the shoulder and the bottom part is called "lihiya" and wrapped around the waist: "emahiya" is plural of "lihiya". The men would wear "emajobo", a sporran-like loin covering made from animal hide, over their lihiya. Married men would wear more than one lihiya at the time.

Married women would wear the "sidvwaba", a cow-hide apron and their hair in a beehive style, called "sicolo"; they would help each other with teasing their hair into this shape. Old men often would wear the "umbodze", a head ring; in the old days this used to be fashioned from bees wax. The Swazi are masters in making themselves look good during the many different traditional ceremonies that take place.