Totems: The Artistic Expression of an African (Part 1)

A totem is one of the most intriguing and exciting things about being African. It’s a sense of identity, accompanied by a spirit of native pride and glory. Being African like me, a Shona girl from the deepest parts of Mhondoro, I pride myself in being a Mapara or Mashayamombe, and this distinguishes me amongst others, and makes me special in a Mapara way. In addition to identity the totem is used as thanksgiving or praise. This can be really confusing to someone who does not know anything about the Shona Culture, but once you get to understand it, it can be fascinating.

The word totem has its roots from describing kinship, or lineages. It is an identification or emblem of a particular family lineage, through the use of Animals mostly, or other items or objects of value. It is believed that the animal or object representing you or your totem, is aligned to your behaviour, your attitude and your way of thinking. I don’t know about that, but that could be true.

With the change in the social fabric, one would expect the use of totems to also erode with modernisation, but that has not been the case particularly in Zimbabwe. Totems are at the centre of identifying a person, even more than a surname. So, people with the same surname are considered relatives, meaning they cannot marry. This is the interesting bit in my Shona culture.

Me being Mapara, means the Impala (Antelope) is the animal or emblem that represents me. Us the women are Mapara and the men are Chikonamombe or rather Chikonaz to be cool kkkkkk. So back to the interesting bit. A few years ago, I was in a relationship and I thought that it was time to introduce him to my Aunts and Uncles. The moment I made my intensions known, the very first question was “anoera chii?” meaning “what is his totem?”. It was never what his name is, or do you really love him, no! The only relevant thing was his totem. So this got me thinking, so when is the right time to ask a potential suitor his totem, just when he says hie? Hahaaha, what if you fall in love and forget to ask? So do I say no to a Knight in Shining Armour Mr Right guy just because we have the same totem? Well unfortunately, me priding myself in my totem, dating someone with the same totem as mine would be a no-no.

Anyway, that’s why we all love our culture and traditions, they always have this fascinating bit. In Part two of this series I will get deeper into my totem, the poetic praise aspect, the meaning of the various praise statements and who knows, maybe I might produce a short video of me shouting the praises of the Great Impala Chikonamombe!!