Moyo · Heart
Moyo Wakapiwa is a Shona clan of the Moyo totem, the heart, a totem taken from part of an animal rather than a whole one. Its men are greeted as Wakapiwa and Chirandu, and the detembo adds Bvumavaranda, Mutakurwa and Nhandare; its women are greeted as MaMoyo or Vapamoyo.
Maita Wakapiwa, Maita veGuruuswa, Chirandu, Hekani Moyo yangu yiyi,
Kuziva zvenyu varikuMatsvitsi, Vari Tanganyika, Mutakurwa, Bvumavaranda, vauya veMhani,
Hekani Moyo, wakapiwa, Mwana waMukwengapasi naMunyepi, Vaera Moyo, vanosweroteverwa navakadzi,
Moyo Wakapiwa pasi rose. Maita vari Zangaome, vari Mahumwi, Hekani Mbuya, Ziriwosehwa.
Maita vari Garara, Matandare. Tatenda vari Daranjiva vana vaMupfumbwa. Hekani Moyo, vari Mahusekwa.
Maita vari Chikwizu neChikura, Zvaonekwa vari Jeranondo, Chipfuwamiti, vakadzi vachiuya vega,
Gwezvavanhu vari kuna Mucheranegombe. Maita vari Wona, totenda vari Dikitira, Mwana waZiriwosehwa, hekani Nhandare.
Maita vari uRozvi, vakabva Guruuswa, VaMunayisivemvura, Vanotocherwa pasi kuti uvawane.
Maita vari Daranjiva, Kuna baba vaDhimwa naChimunda, MuZungu, Mugarandakatakurwa,
Moyo Mudiwadiwa, Chisakarambwa. Pachapfuura napo vanoridza mhururu, Vana vaZiriwosehwa vakanyn'aya churu namate,
Churu chikati ny'akata. Maita vaMoyo navaMunombirei. Maita vari Matsvitsi neChikura.
Maita vari kuna Mutany'a, Mukono wakarwa pasi. Maita vari makaha, vana vamuzarabani,
Zvaitwa vari Mahanwa; hekani vaMwenda, Aiwa zvaonekwa Wakapiwa, Maita vaMhani, Moyo.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The Wakapiwa detembo traces the clan to Guruuswa and places it among the Rozvi (vari uRozvi, vakabva Guruuswa). It calls the clan the child of Mukwengapasi and Munyepi, and the child of Ziriwosehwa, whom it also greets as Mbuya, and it gives the praise names Chirandu, Bvumavaranda, Mutakurwa and Nhandare. It speaks of Moyo Wakapiwa throughout the land (pasi rose).
Most of the poem greets the clan at its places: Matsvitsi and Tanganyika, then Zangaome, Mahumwi, Garara, Matandare, Daranjiva, Mahusekwa, Chikwizu, Chikura, Jeranondo, Wona and Dikitira. It calls them VaMunayisivemvura, a name that speaks of making the rain fall (kunayisa mvura), and closes by saying that one has to dig into the ground to find them.
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 Wakapiwa mutupo weMoyo. Varume vanokudzwa seWakapiwa naChirandu, vakadzi seMaMoyo naVapamoyo. Detembo ravo rinoti vakabva Guruuswa uye vari muRozvi. Rinovadaidza kuti vana vaMukwengapasi naMunyepi, uye vana vaZiriwosehwa. Rinovakwazisa vari Matsvitsi, Zangaome, Daranjiva neDikitira.
The clan's own detembo places it among the Rozvi and says it came from Guruuswa. The Wikipedia article on the Shona names the Rozvi as the dynasty of the Moyo (heart) totem, and says the Ndebele destroyed Changamire's Rozvi state in the 1830s.
Mitupo: A Collection of Some of Zimbabwe's Totems, p. 40; Shona people (Wikipedia print), p. 3
Its detembo says so: it greets the clan as among the Rozvi (vari uRozvi) who came from Guruuswa. The Wikipedia article on the Shona names the Rozvi as the dynasty of the Moyo totem.
Men are greeted as Wakapiwa and Chirandu, and the detembo also calls the clan Bvumavaranda, Mutakurwa, Nhandare and VaMunayisivemvura. Women are greeted as MaMoyo or Vapamoyo.
The poem calls the clan the child of Mukwengapasi and Munyepi, and the child of Ziriwosehwa, whom it also greets as Mbuya. It names the people at Daranjiva as the children of Mupfumbwa.
In Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe, 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 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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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
