Tembo · Zebra
This Tembo Mazvimbakupa family is a Shona clan of the Tembo totem, the zebra (mbizi). Its men are greeted as Samaita, Mazvimbakupa and Tembo, and its women as VaTembo and Madhuve. Its short detembo hails the clan as the people of Chivara, of Mudzinganisagumbo and of Ziki.
Hekani Tembo, VokwaChivara, VokwaMudzinganisagumbo, Vari Machecheche , Machera, Rukono rwaBenhura, VokwaNemhapa,
Vari Zimbabwe, Vokwa Tachiona, Nyewe dzaZvezve, Maita variMandedza, VokwaKuringambizi huringa makumbo,
Kumusoro kunehwara, Zvaitwa variMandedza, Mwana waWachekwemwoyo,
Aiwa zvaonekwa vokwaZiki, Vamambwa matema.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The detembo is a short one, and most of it is a greeting to the clan's people and homes. It hails the Tembo as the people of Chivara (vokwaChivara), of Mudzinganisagumbo, of Nemhapa, of Tachiona and of Ziki, calls the clan Rukono rwaBenhura, Benhura's bull, and the child of Wachekwemwoyo, and greets it at Machecheche, Zimbabwe and Mandedza.
One line speaks of the zebra itself: kuringa mbizi huringa makumbo, to look at a zebra is to look at its legs, a saying the longer Mazvimbakupa poem shares. Chivara too is a praise name in that poem. This one closes on the people of Ziki, whom it calls Vamambwa matema, the people of the black dogs.
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.
Tembo Mazvimbakupa mutupo weMbizi. Varume vanokudzwa seSamaita, Mazvimbakupa naTembo, vakadzi seVaTembo naMadhuve. Detembo ravo rinovakwazisa sevokwaChivara, vokwaNemhapa uye vokwaZiki. Rinovaisa vari Machecheche, Zimbabwe neMandedza. Rinoti kuringa mbizi huringa makumbo.
The poem hails the clan as vokwaChivara, the people of Chivara, in its opening lines, and the longer Mazvimbakupa poem uses Chivara as a praise name. Neither says more about who Chivara was.
Yes. The Wikipedia article on the Shona gives the zebra totem's names by gender: Madhuve for women, and Dhuve or Mazvimbakupa for men.
Traditionally, people of the same mutupo and chidawo do not marry: they are counted as one family. Between different Tembo 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.
Made in Zimbabwe by Invalcre (Pvt) Limited. Free, and they work offline.
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
