Moyo · Heart
Moyo Shayamombe is a Shona clan of the Moyo totem, the heart. Its men are greeted as Shayamombe and its women as MaMoyo or Vapamoyo. The detembo calls the clan the child of Murambwa and those of Mudimuranwa's house, and praises it as the people who moulded an anthill out of their own spit.
Evoi Moyo, Shayamombe, Maita vari Manhize,
Kuziva zvenyu vokwaMudimuranwa, Maita veChigara. Maita variChikapakapa.
Maita vari Chikomba. Zvaitwa vari Man'ozhwe Vakaumba churu nemate.
Maita Moyo yangu yiyi, Zvaoneka Shayamombe, Aiwa zvaitwa mwana waMurambwa.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The Shayamombe detembo is short and made almost wholly of greetings by place. It hails the clan at Manhize, Chigara, Chikapakapa, Chikomba and Man'ozhwe, and names it as those of Mudimuranwa's house (vokwaMudimuranwa). Its one image belongs to Man'ozhwe: there, it says, they moulded an anthill out of spit (vakaumba churu nemate). It ends by naming the clan the child of Murambwa.
Shayamombe is not only a Moyo name. The Mitupo collection also prints a Dziva Shayamombe clan with a detembo of its own, and one of its Mhara poems praises Mashayamombe, so the totem is what tells the families apart.
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.
Moyo Shayamombe mutupo weMoyo. Varume vanokudzwa seShayamombe, vakadzi seMaMoyo naVapamoyo. Detembo ravo rinovakwazisa vari Manhize, Chigara, Chikapakapa, Chikomba naMan'ozhwe. Rinovati vana vaMurambwa, vokwaMudimuranwa, vakaumba churu nemate.
Men are greeted as Shayamombe, and women as MaMoyo or Vapamoyo. The detembo also names the clan as the child of Murambwa and those of Mudimuranwa's house.
Both. The Mitupo collection prints Moyo Shayamombe and a separate Dziva Shayamombe, each with its own detembo, and one of its Mhara poems praises Mashayamombe. The totem, Moyo or Dziva, tells them apart.
They moulded an anthill out of spit. The Shayamombe detembo says it of the clan at Man'ozhwe; the poem does not explain it further.
Traditionally, people of the same mutupo and chidawo do not marry: they are counted as one family. Between different Moyo 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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