Exploring the Significance of Chikuva/Huva in Indigenous Religion

By Brian Maregedze

Chikuva is generally translated from Zezuru (Shona dialect) to mean pot shelf or clay pot shelf in English. However, the term chikuva is variously explained as it goes beyond just a clay pot shelf. It is also interpreted as a sanctuary or sacred place found behind almost every hut in the Shona speaking world. Tracing from Ordinary level Family and Religious Studies, it has to be noted that chikuva or bhimbili is explained in the context of the sacredness of the hut-kitchen. The grave (guva), a cognate of chikuva, is the name given to the side chamber of the grave.

The sanctity of chikuva or bhimbili emanates from the belief that it's an abode of the ancestors implying the dialogue with the ancestors which takes place in the kitchen. As such, it is a ritual space-place.

There are also other rituals associated with death carried out in the hut-kitchen, namely; burial ceremony and bringing back ceremony. Besides that, marriage ceremony can also be held in this space. Family-level ancestors (vadzimu) are propitiated at clan/household level where prayers are said over the pot-shelf (chikuva) (kupira vadzimu, see also Shoko 2007: 58) prior to mukwerera.

Chikuva meaning a small grave is made of clay and takes the shape of a grave and commonly accepted to be to the east whilst the hut faces to the west where the sunsets. In modern Shona practice, the east of a village or house is sacred. Thus, the living sleep facing the east whilst the dead are buried facing the west. J. Mbiti argues that the head of the dead should be placed towards the chikuva so that the spirits of the ancestors recognise the shadow of the deceased in their bloodline.

In an interesting question that has to be answered is on who is suitable to pass through chikuva on burial? What age, condition or gender is placed at chikuva? Based on a study by Kamwendo and Manyeruke, not all corpses are placed on chikuva. It is basically for husband and wife of the house whilst children and others are only housed there.

Drinking water is placed on the chikuva to symbolise the everlasting flow of protection and life of the ancestors for the family. When rituals and ceremonies are performed beer calabashes are placed at the same chikuva and any communication with the ancestors is done facing the chikuva. These patterns are not uniform and it’s critical to observe since just like any house, designs may differ but with common structures.

Although indigenous people in Zimbabwe had colonial encounters particularly with Christianity, the tradition of chikuva seems to have survived. In a study among the Budya people in Manicaland province of Zimbabwe, they associate the centrality of chikuva to communication with ancestors. An academic historian, Aldrin Magaya in an interview with Peter Gamunorwa in 2017 noted the following reflections from the informant;

“remember in the 1950s when I decided to go and look for work my father called me to his house. He told me it was the tradition of our family to inform the ancestors and ask them for help with anything that we wanted. So, he kneeled down in front of the chikuwa [clay pot shelf] and started clapping bubububu [the sound of clapping]. He said ‘look after your child as he goes into the forests [unknown territory]. Make sure he will be able to kill animals during his hunt so that he can feed his family [meaning – help him secure employment so that he can take care of his family]. I then left for Mutare. After receiving my first salary, I bought a blanket for my father. It was customary at that time to buy a blanket for your father with your first salary. So I went back home. My father took the blanket and knelt in front of the chikuva and thanked the ancestors for looking after me. Although it was his blanket, it also belonged to the ancestors who had helped me. It was the custom. It is a custom that I also taught my children to adhere to, and I hope they will even pass it down to their children.”

Also interesting on narratives surrounding chikuva is the clay pots which are used. The Saunyama dynasty in North east Zimbabwe is known to pass through chikuva when petitioning for the rains under a ritual ceremony called mukwerera carried out in October. The Saunyama are indigenous people who live among the Manyika and the Maungwe under what archaeologists call the Nyanga archaeological complex. Their name ‘Saunyama’ is derived from the word ‘Vanyama’ which means meat hunters, and they are referred to as the mheta-chifambanedumbu (python) by totem. Their territory is centrally located within the complex bordered by the Nyangombe River and the town of Nyanga. For further reading on this aspect of symbolism and spirituality among the indigenous people in Zimbabwe, l encourage readers to use the readings l have listed under references. However, to lower six students Evelyn Usaiwevhu from St. Francis Chegutu and colleagues who posted questions on this section, am sure l have assisted with a better guide.

For feedback email bmaregedze@gmail.com.

References

Beach N.1998. Cognitive archaeology and imaginary history at Great Zimbabwe. Current Anthropology 39:47–72.

Bourdillon. M. F. C. 1987 “Guns and rain taking structuralism too far” in Africa 57 (2),

263-274.

Huffman, T.N. & Murimbika, M. 2003. Shona ethnography and Iron Age burials. Journal of African Archaeology 1: 237–46

Mararike, C. G. 2009 “Attachment Theory and Kurova Guva” in Zambezia36 nos 1/11, 36-47.

______ 2011. Survival Strategies in Rural Zimbabwe, 2nd Edition. Harare: Best Practices Books.

Magaya A. Christianity, Culture, and the African experiences in Bocha, Zimbabwe, C.1905 – 1960s. PhD Dissertation, The University of Iowa.

Manyanga M and Chirikure S. 2017. Archives, Objects, Places and Landscapes: Multidisciplinary approaches to Decolonised Zimbabwean pasts, African Books Collective.

Masunga J. and Kunatsa G. 2019. Family and Religious Studies book 3, Edulight Publishers, Harare.

Murimbika, McEdward T. 2006. Sacred powers and rituals of transformation: An ethnoarchaeological study of rainmaking rituals and agricultural productivity during the evolution of the Mapungubwe state, AD 1000 to AD 1300. PhD Dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.