Zimuto · porcupine
Zimuto is a praise name within the Ngara totem, the porcupine: the Ngara Wamambo poem ends by thanking its clan as Zimwaya and Zimuto, and a Shona dictionary gives Maposa as the name of women who keep Ngara Zimuto. It is kept by the Zimuto Nungu clan, greeted as Wamambo and Chirasha.
The Ngara Wamambo poem tells a story. It thanks the clan as Chipiri, son-in-law of Mambo, and as those who shot an arrow into a rock until blood came out of it, and a Shona dictionary explains WaMambo the same way: the clan's pride in winning a contest of shooting at a rock to split it, and with it the king's daughter as a wife. The same dictionary reads Mupumbuvoko, which the poem also uses, as the Ngara who rest in the dry season while others work.
Like the Hlatywayo Nungu poem printed beside it, it praises Maposa, and it is proudest of the porcupine itself: nothing of it is thrown away, the quills are the Ngara's own, the meat is relish for others and the hide is used too. It greets the clan at Chirungurira, Gokomere and Govere's Masvingo.
Zimuto chidao chevaera Ngara, vanoera nungu. Detembo reNgara Wamambo rinoti vakapfura dombo nomuseve rikabuda ropa, vakava vakuwasha vaMambo. Rinoti panungu hapana chinoraswa: minzwa, nyama nedehwe. Vakadzi vavo vanokudzwa seMaposa.
The Ngara Wamambo poem calls the clan Chipiri, son-in-law of Mambo, who shot an arrow into a rock until it bled, and a Shona dictionary explains WaMambo as the Ngara's pride in winning a contest of splitting a rock by shooting, and with it the king's daughter as a wife.
Maposa. A Shona dictionary gives it as the praise name of women who keep Ngara Zimuto, and the Ngara poems use it too.
Yes. Zimuto is a praise name and the animal is the nungu, the porcupine: the poem thanks 'Nungu yangu yiyi' and ends on 'Zimuto wangu yuyu', and a Shona dictionary gives Ngara as the totem of those who keep away from the nungu.
Zimuto Nungu.
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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