Gwai · Sheep
Gwai Gwai, printed in the Mitupo collection as Gwai Gumbi, is a Shona clan of the Gwai totem, the sheep. Its men are greeted as Mukuruvambwa, Gumbi and Gora, and its women as MaChuma. The detembo calls the clan the children of Mbarure and Chigondo, and the family of Nyamhunga and of Gora.
Maita Gwai, Maita Mukuruvambwa, Zvaitwa Moyo ndizvo,
Vane chuma chisingaverengwi Vakatorerwa umambo naMabvakure, Maita hwai yangu iyi,
Ikachema kunofa dangwe, Ukaidya unopera mazino, Maita vana vaMbarure,
Maita vana vaChigondo, Zvaitwa mhuri yaNyamhunga, Zvaitwa mhuri yaGora,
Maita zvenyu vari Goromonzi, Vari Mharamasimbe, Kuziva zvenyu vari Manyewe,
Vari Baramhanya, Tatenda vari Mburwi, Zvaitwa Chuma,
Zvaitwa Gono, Zvaitwa Gumbi, Zvaitwa Gwai,
Maita vari Mhondoro, Maita Sembe, Chuma-Chitunge,
Tinotenda vari kwaMashayamombe, Tinotenda Chinhove changu chichi, Zvaonekwa vari Doworo,
Maita mwana waGora, Zvaonekwa Gwai rangu iri, Zvaonekwa Mukuruvambwa.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The detembo greets the clan as Gwai and Mukuruvambwa, people with wealth beyond counting (vane chuma chisingaverengwi), and says their chieftaincy was taken from them by Mabvakure, a word Duramazwi reChiShona gives for people who come from elsewhere. It calls them the children of Mbarure and of Chigondo, and the family of Nyamhunga and of Gora.
It thanks the clan's animal as 'my sheep' (hwai yangu) and warns that if it cries, the firstborn dies. It greets the clan at Goromonzi, Mharamasimbe, Manyewe, Baramhanya, Mburwi, Mhondoro, Mashayamombe's and Doworo, and thanks them as Chuma, Gono, Gumbi, Sembe and Chinhove.
Its opening lines also thank the clan as Moyo ndizvo. The version printed in the Mitupo collection ends with lines on what cattle give, the hide slept on, the horn as a gonamombe, the dung smeared on the floor and the tail as a whisk, and closes on Sahayi and Changamire, names the Moyondizvo detembo also carries.
Those who carry a totem do not eat its animal. Some families keep away from one part of it only, such as the heart, and the old belief holds that a person who breaks the rule loses their teeth.
The praise names are for every day, not only for ceremonies: a person is greeted by them, thanked with them, and a wife praises her husband with his.
Gwai Gwai mutupo wegwai, hwai. Varume vanokudzwa seMukuruvambwa, Gumbi naGora, vakadzi seMaChuma. Detembo ravo rinoti vane chuma chisingaverengwi, asi vakatorerwa umambo naMabvakure. Rinovadaidza kuti vana vaMbarure naChigondo, mhuri yaNyamhunga neyaGora. Rinovakwazisa vari Goromonzi, Mhondoro nekwaMashayamombe.
The sheep. Duramazwi reChiShona gives gwayi as the sheep, and the detembo thanks the clan's animal as 'hwai yangu', my sheep.
That it was taken from them by Mabvakure (vakatorerwa umambo naMabvakure). Duramazwi reChiShona gives mabvakure as people who come from elsewhere; the poem says no more.
Men are greeted as Mukuruvambwa, Gumbi and Gora, and women as MaChuma. The detembo also calls the clan Gwai, Chuma, Gono, Sembe, Chuma-Chitunge and Chinhove, and the children of Mbarure and Chigondo.
In Mudzi, Hurungwe, Mhondoro-Ngezi, Mberengwa and Mwenezi, though families carrying it live all over Zimbabwe and beyond.
Traditionally, people of the same mutupo and chidawo do not marry: they are counted as one family. Between different Gwai clans some families allow it, often after a ceremony that cuts the kinship (kucheka ukama).
Pick your totem and clan once. The app greets you by your praise name after that.
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