Tembo · Zebra
Tembo Wakapiwa is a Shona clan of the Tembo totem, the zebra (mbizi). Its men are greeted as Samaita, Mazvimbakupa, Tembo and Tembo Wakapiwa, and its women as VaTembo and Madhuve. Its short detembo hails the clan as the people of Chivara and calls it Rukono rwaBenhura, Benhura's bull.
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 Wakapiwa detembo opens by hailing the Tembo as the people of Chivara and of Mudzinganisagumbo, and goes on to name Nemhapa, Tachiona, Zvezve and Ziki. It calls the clan Rukono rwaBenhura, Benhura's bull, and the child of Wachekwemwoyo, and greets it at Machecheche, Zimbabwe and Mandedza, the last one twice.
Its one picture of the animal is the saying kuringa mbizi huringa makumbo, to look at a zebra is to look at its legs, a line the Mazvimbakupa poem shares. It ends on the people of Ziki, Vamambwa matema, those 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 Wakapiwa mutupo weMbizi. Varume vanokudzwa seSamaita, Mazvimbakupa naTembo, vakadzi seVaTembo naMadhuve. Detembo ravo rinovadaidza kuti vokwaChivara, vokwaMudzinganisagumbo, Rukono rwaBenhura. Rinovakwazisa vari Machecheche, Zimbabwe neMandedza. Rinopera richiti vokwaZiki, Vamambwa matema.
No. The Mitupo collection prints Tembo Wakapiwa among the zebra clans and Moyo Wakapiwa, a heart totem, as a separate clan with its own poem.
Benhura's bull. The Wakapiwa detembo gives the clan this name among its greetings, beside the people of Chivara and of Nemhapa. It does not say who Benhura was.
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
