Mhlanga · Zebra
Mhlanga Dhuve is a Shona clan whose totem is the zebra, commonly found in Chipinge, where Chief Mapungwana's people keep Dube as their totem and Mhlanga as their chidawo. Its men are greeted as Dhuve and its women as Mhlanga. The detembo thanks the clan as Mapanda and Muriwo, and gives it the names Bhasera, Mapfupfu and Chivara.
Aya Dhuve,
Tinotenda Mapanda, Tiashire Muriwo, Tinogarira imwi babayo, Mwana wangu wokubereka, ABhasera, Amapfupfu, Chivara, Ndichjo chamwakafira, Dhuve rangu riri, Iro zuva rakangoti jene'ene, Takangogarira njira, Miromo yaoma nenjara, Iyo mhamba nechikari babayo. Zvakangooma zviri pachitaya. Aiwa zvaitwa vari Mupamba neZomba. Tinotenda dhuve. Mwaita vari Chirinda, Dhuve rinotsika mapuwe eipfuta mwoto, Aiwa zvaitwa babayo.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The Mhlanga detembo is short and spoken as thanks. It opens on Dhuve, the clan's main greeting, thanks the clan as Mapanda and Muriwo, and gives it the names Bhasera, Mapfupfu and Chivara. It speaks to the one it praises as babayo, father, and greets the clan at Mupamba, Zomba and Chirinda.
Its middle lines remember hard times: the sun blazing, the family sitting by the road to wait, lips dry with hunger, everything dried up. The thanks that follow, 'Tinotenda dhuve' and 'Aiwa zvaitwa babayo', are set against that hardship.
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.
Mhlanga Dhuve mutupo weMhlanga. Varume vanokudzwa seDhuve, vakadzi seMhlanga. Detembo ravo rinovatenda seMapanda naMuriwo, richivadaidza kuti Bhasera, Mapfupfu naChivara. Rinorondedzera nguva yakaoma: zuva richipisa, miromo yaoma nenjara. Rinovakwazisa vari Mupamba, Zomba neChirinda.
Men are greeted as Dhuve and women as Mhlanga. The detembo also thanks the clan as Mapanda and Muriwo and calls it Bhasera, Mapfupfu and Chivara.
Yes. Dhuve and Dube both name the zebra, and the zebra poems in the Mitupo collection greet their clans as Dhuve. The National Archives, as quoted for Chipinge, give Chief Mapungwana's people Dube as their totem and Mhlanga as their chidawo.
With the words of the detembo: 'Tinotenda Mapanda', 'Tinotenda dhuve' or 'Aiwa zvaitwa', using Dhuve as the greeting.
In Chipinge, 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 Mhlanga 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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