Zimuto · Porcupine
Zimuto Nungu is a Shona clan of the porcupine totem, nungu, whose detembo the Mitupo collection heads Ngara Wamambo. Its men are greeted as Wamambo and Chirasha, and its women as Maphosa. The poem also calls the clan Maposa, Hananda, Zimbovora, Zimwaya and Zimuto.
Wamambo, Maita Nungu yangu yiyi, Maita Chipiri mukuwasha waMambo. Hekani Maposa, Chirashamihwa, Masvingo aGovere. Maita Chikandamina, Weshanu uri pauta. Maita vari Chirungurira, Manjekechera, vari Gokomere, Chizuza changu chichi. Maita Nungu, Hananda, Zimbovora. Mazviita vaRusvingo naMazambara, Vakafura dombo nomuseve rikabuda ropa, VaMupumbuvoko pachirimo, Rave zhizha vofura shangwa, Vakadzidzisa vanhu kutunge timbwa. Vokutora mapadza avanhu, Vachindoise mugomo, Vachibata wanike yangova mihwa yoga, Nungu yangu yiyi, Mushayachirashwa, Minungu ndeyengara,
Nyama usavi hwavamwe, dehwe richiseveswazve. Maita vari Govere, Masvingo angu, Zimwaya, Zimuto wangu yuyu.
Your mutupo and its detembo as an image for WhatsApp, your status or a post, carrying the Kwaunobva mark.
The detembo opens on Wamambo and calls the clan Chipiri, son-in-law of Mambo (mukuwasha waMambo). It greets the clan as Maposa, Chirashamihwa, Chikandamina, Manjekechera, Chizuza, Hananda and Zimbovora, hails it at Chirungurira, Gokomere and Govere's stone walls (Masvingo aGovere), and names Rusvingo and Mazambara.
It tells of forebears who shot an arrow into a rock and drew blood from it (vakafura dombo nomuseve rikabuda ropa), and of those who carry people's hoes off to the hill. It calls the clan Mushayachirashwa, the one with nothing to throw away: the porcupine's meat is relish for others and its skin is eaten with sadza too. It closes on Zimwaya and Zimuto.
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.
Zimuto Nungu mutupo weNungu. Varume vanokudzwa seWamambo naChirasha, vakadzi seMaphosa. Detembo ravo rinovadaidza kuti Chipiri mukuwasha waMambo, Maposa, Hananda naZimbovora. Rinovakwazisa vari Chirungurira, Gokomere neMasvingo aGovere. Rinoti nyama yenungu usavi hwavamwe, dehwe richiseveswazve.
The Mitupo collection prints this clan's poem as Ngara Wamambo in its section on Zimuto and Nungu, the porcupine, and the poem uses both words (nungu yangu yiyi, minungu ndeyengara). A study note on totems lists ngara among the Shona totems.
The detembo opens on Wamambo and calls the clan Chipiri, son-in-law of Mambo (mukuwasha waMambo); mambo is the word for a king. The poem does not say who that Mambo was.
That nothing of it goes to waste: its meat is relish for others and its skin is eaten with sadza too. The poem calls the clan Mushayachirashwa, the one with nothing to throw away.
In Masvingo, 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 Zimuto 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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