Shumba · Lion
Shumba Mhazi is a Shona clan of the lion totem, Shumba. Its men are greeted as Mhazi and Shumba, and its women as Masibanda or AShumba. Its detembo is full of lion praise names, among them Mukanyairi, Mupwanyanzombe, Mudyandichiomba, Mudzvovakamwe and Chiurayi, and it also calls the clan Jinda Mutasa.
Maita Shumba, Zvaitwa Mhazi, Mhondi inopondera pasina gwenzi. Hekani Mukanyairi, Maita vakuru vamasango,
Vanovhundutsa vamwe nomukanya uri muzenze, Vamadzvovera, Vabanduri vamapfupa,
Vana meso anozezesa kuringa, Mukakatira kwasviba, Vapondi vezvipenyu zvinozvifambira. Hekanhi Mupwanyanzombe, Mudyandichiomba, Mudzvovakamwe, Mufa ndichiomba, Vezvitere zvikwatakwata, Zvinenge zvizinga zvouchi,
Kuridza mutsindo pasi pasakara, Zvaitwa Chiurayi, Jenamuromo dehwe rehosi.
Tatenda vaChamakanda, vaRuminu, vaZverungu, Venyika izere mashisha namadu, Inomera nhemayakanda, Vamahonyera, Mhukahuru, Vatangi vemhuri inemukurumbira,
Jinda Mutasa, Zvaitwa Tembo yangu yiyi, Aiwa zvaonekwa weMhazi.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The Mhazi detembo is, line after line, a portrait of the lion. It calls the clan the elders of the forests (vakuru vamasango), whose eyes are fearful to meet, who hunt as darkness falls and whose footfall thuds on the ground (kuridza mutsindo). Many of its lines are praise names Duramazwi explains one by one: Mukanyairi for an animal that moves low, drawing itself along; Madzvovera for the lion's deep roar; Mudyandichiomba for one that roars as it eats; Mudzvovakamwe for one feared as a lion is feared when it roars; Mufandichiomba for one that fights on even in dying; Mupwanyanzombe for its strength; and Chiurayi for the lion's constant hunting and killing.
Towards the end it turns to people and land. It thanks the clan as VaChamakanda, VaRuminu and VaZverungu, of a land where nhemayakanda, a black mushroom, grows, and as the founders of a famous family. It calls them Jinda Mutasa, a jinda being a great man at a king's court, and just before its close it greets them as Tembo.
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.
Shumba Mhazi mutupo weShumba. Varume vanokudzwa seMhazi naShumba, vakadzi seMasibanda naAShumba. Detembo ravo rinorumbidza shumba nezvidao zvakaita seMukanyairi, Mudyandichiomba, Mudzvovakamwe naChiurayi. Rinovati vaChamakanda, vaRuminu navaZverungu, vatangi vemhuri ine mukurumbira. Rinovadaidzawo kuti Jinda Mutasa.
Yes. Duramazwi gives Mhazi as a name some people of the Shumba totem are called by. The detembo thanks the clan as Mhazi in its second line and closes on it.
Duramazwi explains Chiurayi as a praise name of the Shumba people that speaks of the lion's constant hunting and killing. The Mhazi detembo uses it alongside Mudyandichiomba, Mudzvovakamwe and Mupwanyanzombe, all names drawn from the lion.
Near its close it calls the clan Jinda Mutasa. A jinda is a great man or councillor at a king's court. The poem says nothing more about the link.
In Chirumhanzu, 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 Shumba 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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