Shona people

The Shona (/on/) are a group of Bantu people in

Zimbabwe and some neighbouring countries. The main
part of them is divided into ve major clans and adjacent to some people of very similar culture and languages.
Therefore, there are various interpretations whom to subsume to the Shona proper and whom only to the Shona
family.

narrow Shona (1.3 million people)

Toko
Hwesa

Shona regional classication

Members or close relatives:

Manyika[7] in Zimbabwe (861,000) and
Mozambique (173,000).
In Desmond
Dales basic Shona dictionary, also special
vocabulary of Manyika dialect is included.[8]

The Shona people are divided into Western Shonas

(makalanga) and Eastern Shonas. Origins of the Shona
come from the Rozvi State (Moyo Ndizvo). Ethnologue
notes that the language of the Western Shona is mutually
intelligible with the main dialects of the Eastern Shona,
but counts them separately.

Kalanga (Western Shona),[9] in South-Western

Zimbabwe, rather integrated in the Nguni
culture, therefore little identication with
the other Shona (700,000) and Botswana
(150,000):

Sure members (10.7 million):[1]

Karanga or Southern Shona

Dhalaunda/Batalaote (they lived in

Madzilogwe, Mazhoubgwe, up to
Zhozhobgwe)
Lilima (BaWombe; Bayela - are in the
central district with Baperi)
Baperi (live together with BaLilima as
mentioned above)

Duma
Jena
Mhari (Mari)
Ngova
Nyubi
Govera

Banyai, speaking Nambya[10] in Zimbabwe

(90,000) and Botswana (15,000), sometimes
subsumed to the Western Shona

Rozvi, sharing the Karanga dialect (about 4.5

million speakers)
Zezuru or Central Shona (3.2 million people,
11,000 of them in Botswana)

Nohwe
Njanja
Nobvu
Kwazwimba (Zimba)

Ndau[11] in Mozambique (1,580,000) and

Zimbabwe (800,000). Their language is only
partly intellegible with the main Shona dialects
and comprises some click sounds that do not
occur in standard ChiShona.

Budya
Gova
Tande
Tavara
Nyongwe
Pfunde
Shan Gwe

2 Language and identity

Korekore or Northern Shona (1.7 million peo- When the term Shona was invented during the Mfecane
ple)
in late 19th century, possibly by the Ndebele king
Mzilikazi, it was a pejorative for non-Nguni people. On
Shawasha
one hand, it is claimed that there was no conscious Gova
ness of a common identity among the tribes and peoples
Mbire
now forming the Shona of today. On the other hand,
Tsunga
the Shona people of Zimbabwe highland always had in
Kachikwakwa
common a vivid memory of the ancient kingdoms, of Harava
ten identied with the Monomotapa state. The terms
1

4 HISTORY

Karanga"/"Kalanga"/"Kalaka, now the names of spe- There are more than ten million people, who speak a
cial groups, seem to have been used for all Shona before range of related dialects whose standardized form is also
the Mfecane.[12]
known as Shona (bantu). Most researchers point to the
ancestors
of the Shona as the creators of Great ZimDialect groups are important in Shona although there are
babwe,
the
largest pre-European stone structure in Africa
huge similarities among the dialects. Although 'standard'
south
of
the
Equator. The origin of the ruins was once
Shona is spoken throughout Zimbabwe, the dialects not
highly
debated
but has largely been resolved.
only help to identify which town or village a person is
from (e.g. a person who is Manyika would be from Eastern Zimbabwe, i.e. towns like Mutare) but also the ethnic
group which the person belongs to. Each Shona dialect
is specic to a certain ethnic group, i.e. if one speaks the
Manyika dialect, they are from the Manyika group/tribe
and observe certain customs and norms specic to their
group. As such, if one is Zezuru, they speak the Zezuru
dialect and observe those customs and beliefs that are specic to them.
In 1931, during the process of trying to reconcile the dialects into the single standard Shona, Professor Clement
Doke[13] identied six groups, each with subdivisions:
1. The Korekore or Northern Shona, including Taara,
Shangwe, Korekore proper, Goa, Budya, the Korekore
of Urungwe, the Korekore of Sipolilo, Tande, Nyongwe
of Darwin, Pfungwe of Mrewa; 2. The Zezuru group,
including Shawasha, Haraa, another Goa, Nohwe,
Hera, Njanja, Mbire, Nobvu, Vakwachikwakwa, Vakwazvimba, Tsunga; 3. The Karanga group, including
Duma, Jena, Mari, Goera, Nogoa, Nyubi; 4. The
Manyika group, including Hungwe, Manyika themselves,
Tee, Unyama, Karombe, Nyamuka, Bunji, Domba, Nyatwe, Guta, Bvumba, Here, Jindwi, Boca; 5. The Ndau
group (mostly Mozambique), including Ndau themselves,
Tonga, Garwe, Danda, Shanga; 6. The Kalanga group,
including Nyai, Nambzya, Rozvi, Kalanga proper, Talahundra, Lilima or Humbe, and Peri.

3.1 Subsistence
The Shona are traditionally agricultural. Their crops were
sorghum (in modern age replaced by maize), yam, beans,
bananas (since middle of the rst millennium), African
groundnuts, and, not before the 16th century, pumpkins.
Sorghum and maize are used to prepare the main dish, a
thickened porridge called sadza, and the traditional beer,
called hwahwa.[14] The Shona also keep cattle and goats,
in history partly as transhumant herders. The lifestock
had a special importance as a food reserve in times of
drought.[15]
Already the precolonial Shona states received a great deal
of their revenues form the export of mining products, especially gold and copper.[15]

3.2 Housing
In their traditional homes, called musha, they had (and
have) separate round huts for the special functions, such
as kitchen and lounging around a yard cleared from
ground vegetation.[16]

The above dierences in dialects developed during the

dispersion of tribes across the country over a long time. 3.3 Arts and crafts
The inux of immigrants, into the country from bordering countries, has obviously contributed to the variety.
The Shona are known for the high quality of their stone
sculptures.

Shona culture

Also traditional pottery is of a high level.

The traditional textile production was of expensive and of
high quality. People preferred to wear skins or imported
tissues.[15]
Shona traditional music, in contrast to European tradition but embedded in other African traditions, tends to
constant melodies and variable rhythms. The most important instrument besides drums is the mbira. Singing
is also important and families would group together and
sing traditional songs.

4 History
Shona farms near Murewa, Zimbabwe

The term Shona is as recent as the 1920s.

4.2

Decay

4.2 Decay

Great Zimbabwe

The kingdoms were destroyed by new groups moving onto the plateau. The Ndebele destroyed the
Chaangamires Rozvi state in the 1830s, and the Portuguese slowly eroded the Mutapa State, which had extended to the coast of Mozambique after the states success in providing valued exports for the Swahili, Arab
and East Asian traders, especially in the mining of
gold, known by the pre-colonisation miners as kuchera
dyutswa. The British destroyed traditional power in 1890
and colonized the plateau of Rhodesia. In Mozambique,
the Portuguese colonial government fought the remnants
of the Mutapa state until 1902.[15]

5 Beliefs
Nowadays, between 60% and 80% of the Shona are
Christians. Besides that, traditional beliefs are very vivid
among them. Therefore, some people consider the Christian model split as low as 25%.[17] The most important
features are ancestor-worship (the term is called inappropriate by some authors) and totemism.

5.1 Ancestors
Khami near Bulawayo

4.1

Kingdoms

According to Shona tradition, after life does not happen

in another world like Christian heaven and hell, but as
another form of existence in the world here and now. The
Shona attitude towards dead ancestors is very similar to
that towards living parents and grandparents.[18]

Nevertheless, there is a famous ritual to contact the dead

ancestors. It is called Bira ceremony and often lasts all a
The Kalanga and/or Karanga had, from the 11th cen- night.
tury, created empires and states on the Zimbabwe plateau.
These states include the Great Zimbabwe state (12-16th
century), the Torwa State, and the Munhumutapa states, 5.2 Totems
which succeeded the Great Zimbabwe state as well as the
Rozvi state, which succeeded the Torwa State, and with In Zimbabwe, totems (mitupo) have been in use among
the Mutapa state existed into the 19th century. The states the Shona people since the initial development of their
were based on kingship with certain dynasties being roy- culture. Totems identify the dierent clans among the
als.
Shona that historically made up the dynasties of their anThe major dynasties were the Rozvi of the Moyo (Heart) cient civilization. Today, up to 25 dierent totems can
Totem, the Elephant (of the Mutapa state), and the be identied among the Shona, and similar totems exist
groups, such as the Zulu, the
Hungwe (Fish Eagle) dynasties that ruled from Great among other South African
[19]
Ndebele,
and
the
Herero.
Zimbabwe. The Kalanga who speak Tjikalanga are related to the Karanga possible through common ancestry.
Some Shona groups are not very familiar with the existence of the Kalanaga hence they are frequently not recognised as Shona today. These groups had an adelphic succession system (brother succeeds brother) and this after a
long time caused a number of civil wars which, after the
16th century, were taken advantage of by the Portuguese.
Underneath the king were a number of chiefs who had
sub-chiefs and headmen under them.[15]

People of the same clan use a common set of totems.

Totems are usually animals and body parts. Examples of animals totems include Shiri/Hungwe
(Fish Eagle), Mhofu/Mhofu Yemukono/Musiyamwa
(Eland), Mbizi/Tembo (Zebra), Shumba (Lion),
Mbeva/Hwesa/Katerere (Mouse), Soko (Monkey), Nzou
(Elephant), Ngwena (crocodile), and Dziva (Hippo).
Examples of body part totems include Gumbo (leg),
Moyo (heart), and Bepe (lung). These were further

broken down into gender related names. For example,

Zebra group would break into Madhuve for the females
and Dhuve or Mazvimbakupa for the males. People
of the same totem are the descendants of one common
ancestor (the founder of that totem) and thus are not
allowed to marry or have an intimate relationship. The
totems cross regional groupings and therefore provide
a wall for development of ethnicism among the Shona
groups.
Shona chiefs are required to be able to recite the history
of their totem group right from the initial founder before
they can be sworn in as chiefs.

EXTERNAL LINKS

[6] Joshua project: South Africa

[7] Ethnologue: Manyika
[8]

D. Dale:
Basic English Shona dictionary, Afro Asiatic
Languages Edition, Sept 5, 2000, ISBN 9780869220146
Duramazwi: A Shona - English Dictionary,
Afro Asiatic Languages Edition, Sept 5, 2000,
ISBN 978-0869220146

[9] Ethnologue: Kalanga

[10] Ethnologue: Nambya

5.2.1

Orphans

[11] Ethnologue: Ndau

[12] Zimbabwes rich totem strong families a euphemistic view

The totem system is a severe problem for many orphans,

on the totem system
especially for dumped babies.[20] People are afraid of being punished by ghosts, if they violate rules connected [13] Doke, Clement M.,A Comparative Study in Shona Phonetics. 1931. University of Witwatersrand Press, Johanneswith the unknown totem of a foundling. Therefore, it is
burg.
very dicult to nd adoptive parents for such children.
And if the foundlings have grown up, they have problems [14] Correct spelling according to D. Dale, A basic English
getting married. [21]
Shona Dictionary, mambo Press, Gwelo (Gweru) 1981;
5.2.2

Burials

some sources write whawha, misled by conventions of

English words like what.
[15] David N. Beach: The Shona and Zimbabwe 9001850.

The identication by totem has very important ramicaHeinemann, London 1980 und Mambo Press, Gwelo
1980, ISBN 0-435-94505-X.
tions at traditional ceremonies such as the burial ceremony. A person with a dierent totem cannot initiate
[16] Friedrich Du Toit, Musha: the Shona concept of home,
burial of the deceased. A person of the same totem, even
Zimbabwe Pub. House, 1982
when coming from a dierent tribe, can initiate burial
of the deceased. For example, a Ndebele of the Mpofu [17] http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/
Shona-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html
totem can initiate burial of a Shona of the Mhofu totem
and that is perfectly acceptable in Shona tradition. But
[18] Michael Gelfand, The spiritual beliefs of the Shona,
a Shona of a dierent totem cannot perform the ritual
Mambo Press 1982, ISBN 0-86922-077-2, with a preffunctions required to initiate burial of the deceased.
ace by Referent Father M. Hannan.
If a person initiates the burial of a person of a dierent
[19] Totem Author: Magelah Peter - Published: May 21, 2007,
totem, he runs the risk of being asked to pay a ne to the
4:56 am
family of the deceased. Such nes traditionally were paid
with cattle or goats but nowadays substantial amounts of [20] Baby dumping in Zimbabwe
money can be asked for. If they bury their dead family
members, they would come back at some point to cleanse [21] Orphan for Life
the stone of the burial.

8 External links
6

See also

References

[1] Ehnologue: Shona

[2] Ehnologue: Languages of Zimbabwe
[3] Ethnologue: Languages of Mozambique
[4] Ethnologue: Languages of Botswana
[5] Ethnologue: Languages of Zambia

Shona Translator.
Shona Dictionary.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/
541512/Shona

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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