Shava · Eland
Shava Mazarura is a Shona clan of the Shava totem, the eland, which is also called mhofu. Its men are greeted as Mazarura and Shava, and more widely as Mhofu or Mhofu yemukono, and the detembo calls the clan the child of Rwizi Mukonde; its women are greeted as Chihera.
Maita Shava, Mazarura, Mwana waRwizi Mukonde,
VeMadzure, Muti mutema Chitungwiza, Maita Mazarura,
Mukombe wendye, Vokwanyangenyange, Vakanyanga churu namate,
VokwaMuchenje wachuru, Vari Madzure mukonde, Aiwa zvaitwa Mazarura,
Mwana waRwizi
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The Mazarura detembo is short. It greets the clan as Shava and Mazarura, the child of Rwizi Mukonde, and as those of Madzure and of Nyangenyange. It names Chitungwiza in the line 'muti mutema Chitungwiza', the black tree, and calls the clan Mukombe wendye.
Its clearest picture is of the anthill: the clan are those who built an anthill with their spit (vakanyanga churu namate), the people of Muchenje of the anthill (muchenje, a termite). It closes as it began, on Mazarura and the child of Rwizi.
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.
Shava Mazarura mutupo weShava, mhofu. Varume vanokudzwa seMazarura naShava, vakadzi seChihera. Detembo ravo rinovati vana vaRwizi Mukonde, veMadzure. Rinoti vakanyanga churu namate, vokwaMuchenje wachuru.
These facts concern the Shava totem as a whole, not this clan alone. The Wikipedia article on the Shona gives Mhofu, Mhofu Yemukono and Musiyamwa as names of the eland totem. It also says only someone of the dead person's own totem may begin a burial, and that an Ndebele of the Mpofu totem may begin the burial of a Shona of the Mhofu totem.
Shona people (Wikipedia print), p. 3; Shona people (Wikipedia print), p. 4
Yes. The Wikipedia article on the Shona gives Mhofu, Mhofu Yemukono and Musiyamwa as names of the eland totem, and the collection heads the Shava clans 'Shava - Mhofu'.
They are treated as one at a burial: the Wikipedia article on the Shona says an Ndebele of the Mpofu totem may begin the burial of a Shona of the Mhofu totem, which only someone of the same totem may do.
Men are greeted as Mazarura and Shava, and more widely as Mhofu or Mhofu yemukono. The detembo calls the clan the child of Rwizi Mukonde and Mukombe wendye. Women are greeted as Chihera.
In Mhondoro-Ngezi, 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 Shava 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
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