Hungwe · Fish Eagle
Hungwe Matapatira is a Shona clan of the Hungwe totem, the bird that sources name as the fish eagle. Its men are greeted as Hungwe, Chasura and Maokomavi, and its women as Manyoni. Its detembo calls the clan Shiri, the bird that travels by the sky.
Mazviita Shiri, Hungwe, Matapira,
Ziendanomudenga, Pasi yakatya ndove, Mudyanavana,
Kunyima vana zvinoshura, Vakadzi kuvarume vavo, Vaira shiri nebanga hazvionani,
Zvombo zveshumba, Muranda wavanhukadzi. Zvaitwa Hungwe yangu yiyi,
Shiri isina shura nomunhu, Haiwa, maita Shiri, Mwana waChasura.
Maita zvenyu vaChifambanokudenga, Zvaitwa vaira Shiri, Shiri chena, tarirai kwadzinobva,
Gonerakudera, vaMurefu, Mapatapasi, VokwaChinobhururuka,
Muira shiri wangu yuyu, Shiri iri Hungwe. Aiwa zvaonekwa maokomavi.
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 Shiri, the bird, and as Hungwe and Matapira, and calls it Ziendanomudenga and Chifambanokudenga, the one who travels by the sky. It names the clan the child of Chasura, gives it the praise names Gonerakudera and Mapatapasi, and closes on Maokomavi.
The poem calls the hungwe a white bird (shiri chena) and a bird that brings no ill omen to people (shiri isina shura nomunhu). It praises the clan as Mudyanavana, one who eats with the children, and warns that to withhold from children brings bad luck (kunyima vana zvinoshura).
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.
Hungwe Matapatira mutupo weshiri, Hungwe. Varume vanokudzwa seHungwe, Chasura naMaokomavi, vakadzi seManyoni. Detembo ravo rinovadaidza kuti Shiri, Ziendanomudenga, mwana waChasura. Rinoti hungwe ishiri chena isina shura nomunhu. Rinoyambira kuti kunyima vana zvinoshura.
These facts concern the Hungwe totem as a whole, not this clan alone. The Wikipedia article on the Shona names the Hungwe (fish eagle) dynasties among those that ruled from Great Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Bird on the national flag, coins and school badges is the hungwe: a stone carving whose image was taken from Great Zimbabwe, modelled on the African fish eagle, linked with the nation's ancestral spirits and sometimes called Shiri yaMwari.
Shona people (Wikipedia print), p. 3; Dada Nerurimi RwaAmai, Danho II Vol. 2, p. 89; Dada Nerurimi RwaAmai, Danho II Vol. 2, p. 90
The fish eagle. Both the Wikipedia article on the Shona and a study note on totems name hungwe that way. The Matapatira detembo itself calls it a white bird of the sky and does not name the species.
Yes. The stone bird on the flag, the coins and school badges is the hungwe, modelled on the African fish eagle and sometimes called Shiri yaMwari.
Men are greeted as Hungwe, Chasura and Maokomavi, and women as Manyoni. The detembo also calls the clan Shiri, Matapira, Ziendanomudenga, Gonerakudera and Mapatapasi.
In Gutu and Masvingo, 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 Hungwe 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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Provisional Test ZimbabweZimbabwe VID test and Highway Code
DanhoZIMSEC O and A Level past papers
BhaibheriThe Shona Bible and its hymnals
DenheZimbabwe's public record
