The Moyo Chirandu and the first Migration

 

The Moyo Chirandu and the first migration

All people of the Moyo Chirandu totem are one and the same people and originate from the same ancestors. The major variants of Moyo Chirandu which comprise the Moyo Chirandu Varozvi, Moyo Chirandu VaDuma, Moyo Chirandu Dhewa etc  are mere descriptions that came about because of the various experiences of these various groupings of the same Moyo Chirandu.

In the beginning

The first three Bantu groups of people to come into Zimbabwe were as follows:

a) The very first Bantu group to cross the Zambezi river coming from the North East i.e. from Nubia and the Kingdom of Kemet which comprises areas around present day Ethiopia/Sudan and Egypt were the Tonga whose totem(mutupo) is the lion (Tau or Dau). This lion mutupo of the Tonga must not be confused with the lion mutupo of the people of Chirimuhanzu near Masvingo ( referred to through their praise poem of Mhazi) or the lion mutupo of most people in Chivi again near Masvingo whose chidawo is Murambwi and other various lion mutupo’s zvidawo’s like Sipambi.

The Tonga lion is completely different from the Mhazi lion of Chirimuhanzu and or Murambwi lion of Chivi and or Sipambi lion also of Chivi as the lions of Chirimuhanzu, Chivi and other lions as they depict totems have their own completely different historical origins which are completely divorced from the origins of the Tonga lion mutupo.

In fact all these other different lion zvidawo’s like Mhazi, Murambwi, Sipambi etc are somehow related but are all of them not related to the Tonga lion.

The Tonga crossed the Zambezi into Zimbabwe around 300 and 400 A.D.

b) The next Bantu group to cross the Zambezi was the Dziva/Hungwe/Kalanga. They arrived around 800 A.D. also coming from the same North East where the Tonga originated.

This group’s mutupo comprised fish and the fish eagle bird, the Hungwe which is today’s national Zimbabwe bird found on various statutory documents and emblems in Zimbabwe. They are also associated with water (dziva) and the east where the sun comes from (Kalanga).

c) The third and last Bantu group to cross the Zambezi into Zimbabwe also from the same North East was the Shoko Mbire group. Their Paramount chief was called Mwene Mbire or simply Nembire.

This group arrived around 1000 A.D. Their totem was Shoko Matarira Chirongo or Mukanya which simply means baboon/monkey essentially meaning their totem/mutupo is the baboon/monkey.

This Shoko Mbire group and all its offshoots is the group responsible for the construction of the vast Great Zimbabwe Empire including the Great Zimbabwe City which became the capital city of Zimbabwe and is in fact the de facto capital city of Zimbabwe even today albeit the de jure capital city of Zimbabwe is Harare.

It is from this third group, The Shoko Mbire group that the Moyo Chirandu people originate from, all of them be it Moyo Chirandu, Duma or Moyo Chirandu Rozvi. The terms Duma, Rozvi, Dhewa etc are mere descriptions of events which resulted in the same Moyo Chirandu people being described as Rozvi and or Duma or Dhewa and or any other variants of the Moyo Chirandu..

So from the onset, it has to be clearly understood that all Moyos are Moyo Chirandu. The question of the variants such as Moyo Chirandu Duma, Moyo Chirandu Rozvi/Dhewa etc are really unimportant and inconsequential although it will be important to show how these variants came about.

In other words, as shall be clearly illustrated, it is correct for any Moyo Chirandu to refer to himself or herself as Murozvi or Muduma or Dhewa as these descriptions are exactly that, mere descriptions that came about because of certain experiences that happened to the Moyo Chirandu people as a whole and are therefore inconsequential to the oneness of the Moyo Chirandu thus making any Moyo Chirandu a Muduma or a Murozvi or a Dhewa or any of the variants of Moyo Chirandu as every Moyo is a Moyo Chirandu no matter what variant they have been erroneously taught to adhere to as that variant is a mere description which is incapable of tearing itself away from the tap root and the origins; i.e. Moyo Chirandu.

The other very important thing to remember is that the Moyo Chirandu must never forget to add the term Vapamoyo when they refer to their female relatives (sisters, daughters, aunts) as they are indeed our VapaMoyo, our very loved ones who are very close to our hearts and it has been like that ab initio and will be like that ad infinitum.

It is imperative for every Moyo Chirandu person to remember that at any event, function or gathering, no protocol is complete until honour and recognition is accorded to the Moyo Chirandu female relatives i.e. the aunts, sisters and daughters; i.e. VapaMoyo. Whether these female relatives are present or not, this honour and recognition must still be given even in abstentia in the event that no female relative is present. Any function that does not honor and recognize Vapa Moyo is considered to be incomplete.

Source: blog.zimtribes.com