The Shona Tribe
Originally from southern Africa, particularly Zimbabwe, the Shona tribe are now dispersed throughout the continent (where they form the vast majority). There are five main clans among them, and they live near other communities that have a language and culture quite similar to their own.
Seventy-six percent of the population belongs to the Shona ethnic group, which includes the Manyika, Zezuru, Karanga, Korekore, Rozwi, and Ndau. The Ndebele, which include the Ndebele and Kalanga peoples, are the country’s second-largest ethnic group, making up around 18% of the population.
Only around 30% of the population resides in metropolitan regions like Harare and Bulawayo, with the vast majority of those people residing in the capital city. The Shona live in Mashonaland, which is the eastern two-thirds of the country. The Ndebele live in Matabeleland, which is the western one-third.
The Batonga live in the Zambezi Valley, the Shangaan or Hlengwe live in the low veld, and the Venda live on the South African border; these three ethnic groups account for 1 percent of the total population. There is a small but significant non-African population (2%) that primarily consists of Europeans and Asians.
Three big shifts in population and settlement patterns occurred in the twentieth century. Before and during World War II, white settlers acquired great swaths of land for commercial agriculture, resulting in a scenario in which less than one percent of the population had access to property in rural areas. Second, during the colonial era, males seeking employment were forced to go to metropolitan places like Harare and Bulawayo, while women and children remained in the countryside.
There is less of a gender gap in today’s cities, and more people are moving between rural and urban regions, but in rural communities, women are still frequently the de facto heads of home. Most occupations are still concentrated in cities, so for smallholder families, money earned outside the farm has a much greater impact on their standard of living than does money earned from farming.
Thirdly, there has been a shift in the average age of the population. Since the 1960s, death rates have dropped drastically and life expectancy has increased, allowing over 63% of the population to be between the ages of 16 and 34 by the year 1992.
Shona Tribe Language and identity
When the word “Shona” was developed during the early 19th century under Mfecane (perhaps by the Ndebele monarch Mzilikazi), it was used as a slur for non-Nguni people; there was no understanding of a shared identity among the tribes and peoples that make up the present-day Shona. The Shona people of the Zimbabwe highlands, however, preserved a deep memory of the old kingdom generally associated with the Kingdom of Mutapa. Before the Mfecane, it appears that the Shona were referred to collectively by the names “Karanga,” “Kalanga,” and “Kalaka,” which are now the names of distinct groupings.
The language of the Bakalanga is classified as a Bantu language, however, Ethnologue states that it is mutually intelligible with the primary varieties of Karanga and other Bantu languages spoken in central and eastern Africa. The Kalanga and Karanga are considered to be one clan that created the Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, and Khami, and were assimilated by the Zezuru. Although many Karanga and Kalanga terms are similar, Kalanga is distinct from Zezuru.
Dialect groupings share several commonalities. While “standard” Shona is understood and spoken by most people in Zimbabwe, the many dialects serve to distinguish between towns and villages as well as ethnic groups. Only members of one particular ethnic group speak all of the Shona dialects.
- The Korekore (or Northern Shona), including TaÏ…ara, Shangwe, Korekore, GoÏ…a, Budya, the Korekore of Urungwe, the Korekore of Sipolilo, Tande, Nyongwe of “Darwin”, and Pfungwe of Mrewa
- The Zezuru group, including Shawasha, HaraÏ…a, another GoÏ…a, Nohwe, Hera, Njanja, Mbire, Nobvu, Vakwachikwakwa, Vakwazvimba, Tsunga
- The Karanga group, including Duma, Jena, Mari, GoÏ…era, NogoÏ…a, and Nyubi
- The Manyika group, including Hungwe, Manyika themselves, TeÏ…e, Unyama, Karombe, Nyamuka, Bunji, Domba, Nyatwe, Guta, Bvumba, Here, Jindwi, and Boca
- The Ndau group (mostly in Mozambique), including Ndau, Garwe, Danda, and Shanga
Dialects developed during the dispersion of tribes across Zimbabwe over a long period, and the influx of immigrants into the country from bordering countries has contributed to the variety.
History Of The Shona Tribe
Around the 11th century, the Kalanga people established kingdoms on the Zimbabwe plateau. Great Zimbabwe, the capital city of the Zimbabwean empire, underwent construction. The Rozvi Empire (which lasted into the 19th century) came before the Mutapaan kingdom, which was under the rule of the Torwa dynasty in the Butuan kingdom.
Because of the dynastic succession pattern of brothers succeeding brothers, civil conflicts broke out, which the Portuguese took advantage of in the 16th century. Many chiefs, sub-chiefs, and headmen reported to the kings.
New tribes displaced the kings and settled the plateau. After supplying valuable commodities (especially gold) to Swahili, Arab, and East Asian traders in the 1830s, the Ndebele wiped out the Rozvi Empire, and the Portuguese gradually undermined the kingdom of Mutapa, which extended to the Mozambique coast.
As early as 1890, the British overthrew traditional authority and colonized the Rhodesian plateau, while the Portuguese colonial administration in Mozambique fought the last remnants of the Mutapa kingdom until 1902.
Types of Art Of The Shona Tribe
The Shona tribe are famous for the intricate carvings on their wooden headrests. The majority of Shona-related artwork is either highly personal or highly functional. They have a strong history of metal and wood carving but produce little figurative art. In the countryside, everyone pitches in to help out on the farm, as there are no dedicated agricultural professionals.
While there was formerly widespread smelting of iron and gold, today all of the surface gold has been mined, and high-quality iron is produced in state-of-the-art facilities. However, blacksmiths may still be found in many towns and cities. Basket weaving and pottery-making are two common traditional arts practiced by many.
Nowadays, many once undeveloped regions have at least some towns populated by carpenters, builders, tailors, and other semiskilled experts. The traditionally solitary activities of sewing and knitting are now frequently performed by women in collaborative groups.
Religious Belief Of The Shona Tribe
The Shona’s native religion is predicated on a trinitarian understanding of the universe. T. Shoko notes that first and foremost, there is a belief in a ‘world above,’ which is the home of the Supreme Being or a Creator god called various names, including Mwari (“The Great One” or “He who is”), Musikavanhu (“the One who created people”), Nyadenga (“the Great Spirit that lives above in heaven” or Owner of the Heavens”), Dzivaguru (“the Great Pool”), and quite a few others. The Shona do not think of God as having a physical body like a human being, but rather as a spirit who lives in the sky and may also be felt on the ground.
As a second category, we have the “human world,” or our actual planet. Everything in our world—from people to animals to rocks to rivers to woods and beyond—is a part of the natural whole. All things were created by God, and He is thought to play a role in people’s daily activities.
He is responsible for both the good and the terrible in the universe, and his power to bestow joy or deliver instantaneous disaster on a person is absolute. People of the Mwari religion reject the idea of a personal relationship with God, as taught in Christianity and Judaism, since they think that humans cannot rationally debate or reason with Mwari.
Finally, there is a strong belief in a ‘underworld.’ In popular culture, the dead and dark forces are typically linked to this kind of netherworld.
Ancestral Spirits
The vadzimu (ancestral spirits) play a significant role in Shona tribe religion since God is seen as essentially unreachable to the individual. Upon death, people’s souls are said to roam aimlessly until they receive a summons to come home and watch after their heirs. In the kurova guva rite, family members pour beer over the grave and beg the ghost to “return home” and watch over the living.
A mudzimu, however, is only a mudzimu if he is an adult and has children of his own (plural). The vadzimu are said to form a parallel community to that of the living, allowing them to keep a watchful eye on their surviving loved ones and know exactly what’s going on in their daily lives.
A distinction may be made between the mhondoro, who are seen to be the spirits of the clan’s or tribe’s founders, and the vadzimu, who are thought to be the souls of the individual’s deceased patrilineal and matrilineal ancestors. Since the mhonddoro, or tribal spirits, care most about the clan or tribe as a whole, they were historically consulted on issues like drought, war, the succession of leaders, and so forth.
The family vadzimu not only has significant influence over their offspring, but also acts as their go-between with God on all mundane problems. While the vadzimu is there to support and protect the living, they are also highly offended when the living break their traditions and rituals. They used illness or other hardships inflicted on the criminals as a kind of punishment.
Mbira Dzavadzimu
The Shona tribe of Zimbabwe have been playing the mbira dzavadzimu (literally “voice of the ancestors”), the national instrument of Zimbabwe, for thousands of years. The mbira dzavadzimu is a popular instrument played at mabira, a type of religious and social gathering (sing. “bira”).
Between 22 and 28 keys made of hot or cold-forged metal are attached to the hardwood soundboard (gwariva) of a standard mbira dzavadzimu. These keys are divided into three registers: two on the left and one on the right.
The player’s right hand is used to stabilize the instrument by inserting their little finger through a hole in the lower right corner of the soundboard, while their thumb and index finger are free to strike the notes in the correct register from above and below. Most of the left hand’s fingers should extend behind the instrument to support its left side. The thumb and occasionally the forefinger on the left hand play both left-hand registers.
When played, the buzzing sound of bottle caps, shells, and other things (“machachara”) attached to the soundboard may be heard. In traditional settings, this sound is very important because it is said to call the spirits of the dead. An mbira dzavadzimu will often have its sound amplified during a public performance by being put in a deze (calabash resonator).
The mbira dza vadzimu is revered as a holy instrument in traditional Shona religion and culture. Typically, it is used to open lines of communication with ancestor spirits. The mbira is often played in pairs within the Shona tribe tradition, with the kushaura (the caller) taking the lead while the kutsinhira (the responder) “interlocks” the next portion.
Bira is the name given to the ceremony. The shona tribe believe that the changes in notes played on a Mbira piece help the participants enter a trance in which the spirits can take over their bodies and answer the questions being posed during the all-night festivities.
Death and Afterlife
Although the ancestral cult is highly valued, traditional Shona rarely discuss the possibility of an afterlife. Instead, it is assumed, however tenuously, that a person’s fate in the hereafter will be determined by whether or not his or her descendants continue to practice rituals in honor of the deceased. The Shona tribe believe that when a person dies, their soul and body are split apart; although the soul is immortal and continues to exist as a spiritual entity after their physical body has decomposed.
The Shona tribe have more than one ritual they carry out in honor of their ancestors and for the sake of their community. They can add up to seven in total. The kupeta (folding) ceremony, the ritual of burial, the ritual of cleansing, the ritual of bringing back the spirit, the ritual of inheritance, the ritual of honor, and the rituals of appeasement are all examples.
The purpose of funerals is to remove the body of the deceased from public view and ensure that it remains hidden. A subsequent ritual held a year or more later for an adult with descendants welcomes the departed into the company of beneficent ancestors and back into the homestead.
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