ILLNESS
4.4 ILLNESS AND TRADITIONAL SHONA BELIEFS
99 4.3.7 Totems
The use of totems (mutupo) among the Shona is a prehistoric tradition that goes back for centuries. According to Hodza (1979) in Pfukwa (2014), the totem is an animal that a clan takes up and expresses certain values and virtues. Each totem is buttressed by a string of myths and folklore. The mutupo serves as a social bond and is an expression of collective identity for a clan or family that carries that totem (Pfukwa, 2014). It is believed by the Shona people that if a person can eat his/her totem animal, misfortunes such as illness will haunt him or his family. Totems are critical in Shona relationships.
The assumption is that people who share the same totem are related and they may help one another in times of need. Each totem has a totemic poem (madetembo) which is used for praising and respecting the ancestors. Totems are thus used when communicating with one‘s ancestors during rituals and libations.
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and AIDS pandemic, for example, the Shona people are keen to know why a given member of their family got infected. According to Masaka and Chingombe (2009), scientific explanation is not enough for the Shona people as it fails to explain why the individual has exposed himself/herself to a disease that he knew was fatal. It is even assumed that the Shona people believe that death is not normal and no one should die (Gelfand, 1962). However, Chirongoma (2013) argues that some Shona people identify natural causes of illness. These are called zvirwere zvepasi (diseases from the earth).
These are diseases with no identifiable cause. Shoko (2007b), however, argues that these are mild and short illnesses which usually disappear without medication. It is, therefore, rare for the Shona people to attribute chronic illnesses to natural causes.
Shona practices, in respect to illness, cannot be viewed separately from religious beliefs and spirituality. Illness is seen as communicating something that is proceeding from the spiritual world. For example, ancestors are believed to punish someone by blocking chances in life, bringing bad luck or simply causing ill-health (Matalino, 2011).
Illness caused by ancestral spirits and alien spirits is not meant to kill the victim but to alert the people on what is supposed to be done. To date, disease or sickness remains a religious problem in Zimbabwe and this means that religion continues to play a significant role in health delivery system. This can be evidenced by multitudes of people who throng Christian churches owned by people believed to have healing powers.
4.4.1 Spiritual Involvement in Illness
According to Gelfand (1964), it is a common belief among the Shona people that spirits have the capacity to cause and end illness. Some illnesses are also attributed to witchcraft, displeased ancestors or mashave (wandering spirits). Classification of
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illnesses seems to be common among most people of the world and the Shona people are no exception. An anthropologist, Bourdillon (1987), who researched among the Shona people, has distinguished between natural and serious illnesses. Natural illnesses have known causes, for example, flu or fever and some venereal diseases. Of great concern to the Shona people are prolonged serious illnesses. These are assumed to have an invisible cause and a n’anga (diviner) should be consulted. In the Shona people‘s mind set, serious illness is thus caused by spirits, witchcraft or sorcery (Bourdillon, 1987, Chavunduka, 1978, Gelfand, 1964). Bourdillon (1987) notes that Shona people are not only interested in being healed but they further seek the cause of the illness. According to Shona traditional beliefs, every illness has a specific purpose and cause. Mental illness and physical illness may be caused by conflict with other individuals, ancestors, God or witches (Ross, 2010). Aschwanden (1987) writing in the context of Karanga which is one of the Shona ethnic group, argues that Shona people identify three kinds of diseases; diseases sent by God (zvirwere zvaMwari), diseases caused by spirits (zvirwere zvemweya) and diseases caused by witchcraft (zvirwere zvevaroyi). The African theory of illness distinguishes between natural illness and social illness (Gunda, 2007). Natural illness is caused by natural agents such as germs, bacteria and viruses while social illness is caused by social agents such as witches and spirits of various kinds.
Kazembe (2009) notes that the general theory of illness in African traditional systems encompass many things such as illness, disease and life in general in terms of the relations between God, the universe and human beings. Kazembe (2009) also established that people who have been turned away from hospitals as helpless and
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dying consult maGombwe. One of his respondents highlighted that what a Gombwe cannot heal, no one can heal.
Ancestral reverence perpetuates generational relationships that provide protection, health and balancing of individual, family and cultural dynamics (Edwards, Makunga, Thwela & Mbele, 2009). Many societies and communities believe illness and disease stem from spiritual disharmonies. The belief in the ancestral spirits‘ power to heal or afflict has a powerful placebo effect that the diviner uses to heal. The spirits of the ancestors are thought to bring illness because sometimes the living may err. These spirits either protect or discipline the living. For a genuine traditionalist Shona, no diagnosis of disease is complete without spiritual diagnosis and treatment.