Shona (people)

Shona shaman in traditional clothing, near Great Zimbabwe

The Shona , in German Schona (own name in the plural MaShona ), are a people of nine to eleven million people in southern Africa . Their language is also called Shona, which is called ChiShona .

In the 19th century, "Shona" was originally a derogatory term for anyone who did not belong to the Ndebele people, who at the time ruled a state whose area largely coincided with that of present-day Zimbabwe ( Matabele Kingdom ).

Settlement area and structure

Shona homesteads in Zimbabwe

Most of the Shona live in the state of Zimbabwe , where they make up around 70% of the population. There they live mainly in the north and east of this country. A sizeable group also live as immigrants in South Africa . The Shona are divided into the five main groups that speak four main dialects. Besides the Karanga, the Karanga dialect is spoken by the Rozvi , both together 4.5 million people. The other groups are the 3.2 million Zezuru , the 1.7 million Korekore and the 1.3 million Shona in the narrower sense. These main groups are divided into numerous sub-tribes.

It is unclear whether the West Shona or Kalanga , 700,000 in southwest Zimbabwe and 150,000 in Botswana , belong to the Shona or not. Ethnologue counts them separately, but notes that their language with the major Shona dialects is mutually understandable.

Close relatives

The languages ​​of the more than 1 million Manyika along the Zimbabwean-Mozambican border and of the more than two million Ndau , who are predominantly based in Mozambique and apparently also define themselves as independent nations, are closely related to the Shona, but only partially understandable . The same is true of the nambya of the hundred thousand or so banyai , most of which live in Zimbabwe.

religion

About 60% to 80% of the Shona are Christians today.

In addition, ideas from the earlier Shona religion play a significant role, especially ancestral cult and totemism .

The ancestors' continued life after death does not take place in a hereafter, but they stay in a different state in the here and now. In order to get in contact with them, the Bira ritual is performed, which often lasts a whole night.

Some basic acts of the Shona religion are to communicate with spirits that are hosted by a medium that can transmit their voice. There are numerous spirits who are assigned certain tasks. Some bring rain; the ancestral spirits Vadzimu offer protection for the individual and the clan and demand that traditional values ​​are strictly observed. Another category are those derived from long-dead strangers Mashawe - spirits that restlessly wander until they settle in a person who falls ill then. On the other hand, the person concerned must occasionally perform an obsession ritual also called Mashawe with the help of a healer (Nganga) .

The Shona religion also includes a vague idea of ​​a raptured sky god, Mwari . While one tries to gain protection and help from the ancestors through sacrifice and obedience, the Mwari can even be scolded in the event of severe misfortune. The belief in the Mwari was promoted by Christian missionaries in order to be able to tie in with the Christian conception of God.

Arts and Culture

Since the middle of the 20th century, the Shona sculptures have been famous for their sculptural quality and belong to an important part of contemporary African art .

The most important instrument in Shona music is the mbira , a plucked idiophone , which consists of a set of tuned metal lamellas and a calabash as a sound body .

The Mbende Jerusarema Dance of the Zezuru Shona People, a polyrhythmic music with acrobatic dance, was inscribed on the UNESCO List of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005 and has been on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2008 of humanity .

The Shona use a traditional sword, the Bakatwa .

Web links

Commons : Shona  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Michael Gelfand: The Shona Religion. Zambezia 1, 1969, pp. 37–45 (English, PDF, 1.2 MiB)
• Michael Gelfand: UNHU — The Personality of the Shona. Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1970
• Longwich Lexicon: Shona

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ethnologue.com: Shona
2. ↑ ethnologue.com: Languages ​​of Zimbabwe ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ Ethnologue.com: Kalanga
4. ^ Ethnologue.com: Manyika
5. ^ Ethnologue.com: Ndau
6. ^ Ethnologue.com: Nambya
7. ↑ Tinotenda: Shona music and Shona spirituality
8. ↑ See Paul F. Berliner The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe . The University of Chicago Press, 1978
9. ↑ Michael Gelfand The spiritual beliefs of the Shona , Mambo Press 1982, ISBN 0-86922-077-2 , foreword by speaker Father M. Hannan:
   The difference between his feelings towards his mudzimu and his feelings towards his God is much the same as the difference between his feelings towards his father and his feelings towards his grandfather. He fears his father, but while he respects his grandfather he can also be familiar with him. This attitude to God finds expression on thos occasions, for example at a bereavement (Engl. Literal "Beraubung", loss of a particularly close fellow man), when a Shona might scold (scold) the Almighty with words he would never dare to address to his mudzimu.
10. ↑ http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Shona-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html
11. ↑ Christopher Spring : African arms and armor , British Museum Press , 1993, pp. 134-135, ISBN 978-0-7141-2508-4