Shava · Eland
Shava Mutenhesanwa is a Shona clan of the eland totem, Shava. Its men are greeted as Mutenhesanwa and as Mwana waMbiru, the child of Mbiru, and its women as VaShava or Chihera. The detembo also calls the clan Masvinga, Dzvangaranga, Marambakukundwa, Chidavarume and Nechombo, the child of Chiweshe.
Maita Mutenhesanwa, Shava yangu yiyi, Zvaitwa mwana waChiweshe,
Mugova wakarasika, Mutsika pane mbiri, Mhandamakan'a,
Marambakukundwa, VokwaMutovamombe, Makatova mombe neshamhu ikamuka.
Hekani Masvinga, Dzvangaranga, Venzanga chena,
VaChimbare, Chidavarume. Maita Nhuka, Mhukahuru, Maita VaShava,
VeGumbakumba, Vepfupa gobvu. Maita Shava, Mukonde wangu yuyu,
Mwana waMbiru wakabva Rwira, Maita vokwaSadzadete, Gobvu rinodzipa mwana.
Aiwa zvaonekwa Nechombo Mwana waChiweshe.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The Mutenhesanwa detembo opens and closes on Chiweshe: the clan is the child of Chiweshe in its third line and again in its last, where it is thanked as Nechombo. In between it traces the clan to Mbiru, who came from Rwira, and to those of Mutovamombe and of Sadzadete. The Sadzadete line explains itself: sadza dete is thin sadza, and the poem adds that the thick kind chokes a child (gobvu rinodzipa mwana).
Its praise names are boasts of strength: Marambakukundwa, those who will not be beaten (Duramazwi uses the word for someone who never concedes a point), Chidavarume, Mhukahuru, and the clan of the thick bone (vepfupa gobvu). C. R. Musiwa's 1965 collection Mutinhimira weDetembo prints a version of the same praise that also calls the clan a great lion (shumba huru) and the children of Murwirapachena, and ends on Nechombo without naming Chiweshe.
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 Mutenhesanwa mutupo weShava, mhofu. Varume vanokudzwa seMutenhesanwa naMwana waMbiru, vakadzi seVaShava naChihera. Detembo ravo rinovati mwana waChiweshe, uye rinotanga nokupera nezita iroro. Rinoti Mbiru akabva Rwira, uye rinovadaidza kuti Marambakukundwa, Dzvangaranga naNechombo.
The poem calls the clan the child of Mbiru, who came from Rwira, and the men's praise name Mwana waMbiru repeats it. Both the Mitupo collection and C. R. Musiwa's 1965 collection print that line; neither says more about Mbiru.
Sadza dete is thin sadza. The poem thanks the clan as those of Sadzadete and adds that the thick kind chokes a child. The name also appears in the Mufakose and Vhuramavi poems.
Men are greeted as Mutenhesanwa and Mwana waMbiru, and women as VaShava or Chihera. The detembo adds Masvinga, Dzvangaranga, Marambakukundwa, Chidavarume, Mhukahuru and Nechombo.
In Mazowe, 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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