Tembo · Zebra
Tembo Mazvimbakupa is a Shona clan of the Tembo totem, the zebra, also called mbizi. Its men are greeted as Mazvimbakupa, Samaita and Tembo, and its women as Madhuve and Manjenjenje. The detembo adds Zvimbakugova, Matendera, Mashongera and Njuma isina nyanga, the beast without horns.
Maita Mazvimbakupa, Maita Mbizi, maita Zvimbakugova, Maita Tembo yangu yiyi,
Hekani Matendera, Ngwere, Njuma isina nyanga, Zvaitwa Mbizi, zvaitwa Chivara, Njuma yeRenje,
Hekani vaTembo, Mashongera, Manjenjenje ganda ravasikana, Paswe-ziso-mombe-somuchena,
Chinakiramatondo, Maruki, Musimira, Mapfaravara Matungachuma, Manyerenyete nyora dzenhurura,
Mazambacheka Mangarivari Matoyameso, Mbizi yakashonga mikonde savakadzi, Mhuka isina ukasha kana hundwa,
Zvaitwa Romo, zvaitwa Zenze, Chigadhugadhu magunde avasikana, Chitendera chamambo changu chichi,
Chishongo chavakadzi icho chirimudondo, Vachisiyesiye Mutsikapatinhira, Vemiswe michena inepfumvudza,
Maita voKwachipfuvachadziviremuto, Mago matema akasvipa namagaro ose, Vadyi vamachinda mazana anorasirwei,
Kusvipa dzangare baba wako ano matura mangani? Zvaitwa maDhuve, zvaitwa mwana waChihota, Maita vaZungu, vakauya vari pamachira,
Kuringa mbizi huringa makumbo, Kuringa mutumbi noruvara unoyeverwa, Mhuka inoti kana yomhanya mumatombo,
Kuatsika inoona moto kuti cheru cheru cheru, Chisikwa chinomuririmira usina mhotswa nechimwe, Kumira kungoti charavanda,
Ungati mheno anodziudza, Kuwa kweBinga zuva rinoora. Hekani vaNyemba, mubvana waChivazve,
Muroro wangu yuyu, mubvana waCharindapanze, Zvaitwa vari kutsoka, Mahwemanyoro, kudziva ravaSenwa, Zvaitwa vaHota, maita vaZomba,
Maita vari kuGwara, Zvaitwa vari kuManyochwa, kwakafira Bindu naChigudza. Totenda vari uZomba, vari Dzimbahwe, nevari Mabweadzibva.
Maita vari Guvira mucheka wakasunge nyika. Mazviita zvenyu vari Manyika, Binga guru, Vane mutupo usingagarwi nenhunzi,
Vakati chidawo chisina masvisvinwa, Maita vari Chirovarova, vari kuChai, Mahwemanyoro,
Kuziva zvenyu vari Zomba, kumashapa kunodyiwa ndurwe nechirimo. Zvaitwa muHota, zvaitwa tateguru, hekani sikarudzi.
Maita zvenyu dehwe rembizi, gakangoma, Muno kunaka kunokungurwa navagera zvavo. Aiwa zvaonekwa Zvimbakupa – Samaita.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
This long detembo is above all a portrait of the zebra. It calls it the beast without horns (njuma isina nyanga) and an animal with no fierceness in it (mhuka isina ukasha), adorned as women adorn themselves (mbizi yakashonga mikonde savakadzi), and likens it to black wasps. To look at a zebra, it says, is to look at its legs, and when it runs over stones its hooves strike fire: cheru cheru cheru.
Around the portrait the poem gives the clan its many names: Zvimbakugova, Matendera, Ngwere, Chivara, Mashongera, Maruki, Musimira, Romo and Zenze, Madhuve and the child of Chihota. It greets the clan at Gwara, at Manyochwa, where it says Bindu and Chigudza died, and at Zomba, Dzimbahwe, Mabweadzibva, Guvira, Manyika, Chirovarova, Chai and Mahwemanyoro, and says its totem is one that flies do not settle on (mutupo usingagarwi nenhunzi). It closes on Zvimbakupa and Samaita.
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 seMazvimbakupa, Samaita naTembo, vakadzi seMadhuve naManjenjenje. Detembo ravo rinorumbidza mbizi, njuma isina nyanga, mhuka isina ukasha, yakashonga mikonde savakadzi. Rinovakwazisa vari Gwara, Manyochwa, Zomba, Dzimbahwe naMahwemanyoro. Rinoti kuManyochwa ndiko kwakafira Bindu naChigudza.
For men. The Wikipedia article on the Shona gives the zebra totem's names by gender: Dhuve or Mazvimbakupa for men, and Madhuve for women.
Yes. Both words name the zebra, and the Wikipedia article on the Shona lists the totem as Mbizi/Tembo. The Mazvimbakupa detembo uses both, greeting the clan as Mbizi and as Tembo.
It calls it the beast without horns and an animal with no fierceness in it, adorned as women adorn themselves, and says its hooves strike fire from the stones as it runs.
In Marondera and Shamva, 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 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.
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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
