Research ReportA Description of the Ceremony of Kurova GuvaESCORTING THE SPIRIT FROM THEGRAVE TO THE HOMEINTRODUCTIONWhen a Shona married man dies, all his kin areconcerned with two important duties. First hisspirit (mudzimu; pi. vadzimu) must be properly-settled and secondly they must take part in theritual distribution of his possessions (nhaka)which include his wife or wives, sons anddaughters, cattle, other domestic stock and hispersonal belongings.To settle the spirit various procedures musttake place. First is the burial of the corpse dose- to its former home. A number of customs haveto be observed when the burial takes place. Forinstance, the corpse must never be wrapped in ared doth. The arms and legs must foe flexed andthe head face the village. After the burial it isessential for the deceased's surviving brothers, hisfather (if he is alive), his older sons and hisnephew (muzukuru; pi. vazukuru) to carry outwhat is called gata: a visit to a distant diviner ofhigh repute, who will tell them the cause of thedeath, so that the family may perform the neces-sary rites to propitiate the spirit that was upsetand responsible for the death, lest further illnessor tragedy befall other members of the family.When all this has been done it is necessaryto hold the ceremony of kurova guva, as it iscalled amongst the Zezuru or chenura amongstthe Manyika. This is usually held about a yearafter the burial, but it may take place earlier oreven later as was the case with the ceremonyabout to be described. The purpose of kurovaguva is to bring back the spirit of the deceasedfrom the grave to his hut to be in the midst ofhis descendants. At the end of the ceremonywhen the spirit is back in his home the nhakaritual takes place.There are several published references to thisceremony but no adequate or complete descrip-tion. Speares (1928) describes the ceremony butit is not a first-hand account. That given ingreater detail by Wane (1931) refers to thesweeping of the grave, the presence of the ritualfriend (sawhira) and the daughters-in-law (sing.rnuroora; pi. varoora) kneeling before the graveand the dancing and singing; but says little of thereturn of the family to the home of the deceased.Gelfand (1956) gives the main details of thisritual among the Zezuru and later (1960) amongthe Karanga.By far the most detailed account comes fromHolleman (1953) who describes the bona ritualwhereby the spirit is accommodated or broughthome to the village of his next of kin. It is inter-esting in that in the same district he met with twoalmost different ritual ceremonies. In the onearea pots of beer were taken to a spot in thewoods not far from the village to the foot ofa matuwa tree and some of the beer poured intotwo holes dose to it. After this the libation was71shared. A branch of the tree was then cut andthe family returned singing to the village wherethe twig was attached to the wail of the latefather's hut. What is surprising in this accountwas that there was no apparent visit to the grave.In another ward but in the same district thefamily approached the grave and a goat was sacri-ficed nearby by drowning it in a small hole filledwith the ritual beer. A portion of its meat wasroasted and offered to the spirit. After this theparty returned to the village of the deceased, butthere is little mention of the ritual ceremony inthe hut itself when the mourners return from thegrave to the village.KUROVA GUVAThis present account of the kurova guva cere-mony for the spirit of Kaseke is one of the fewto be recorded. Kaseke, a Zezuru nganga wholived in the Chitowa Native Purchase Area,passed away just over three years ago. He was anganga of some standing in the Muhrewa district.He had had four wives, who bore him eighteenchildren, nine sons and nine daughters. His eldestson Aaron settled in Bulawayo and his secondson is a member of the Police Force; the eldestchild is a woman, aged about fifty years and shewas present at the ceremony. Kaseke was disap-pointed in his elder sons and so left his land andproperty to the second youngest son, a boy ofsixteen years who was brought up on the farm.He must have decided that he was the only sonlikely to remain on the land and care for it. Theland had been purchased by Kaseke in the Pur-chase Area and thus belonged to him personally,unlike land in tribal areas. This singling out ofone of the youngest sons in his will must havedispleased some of the members of the family.There was a great deal of argument and the legali-ties took many months to settle. At last theywere over and the time had come for the cere-mony of kurova guva to be held. This wasarranged to commence on Saturday. 5 Septemberat the village where Kaseke died and was buried;his grave is situated on the side of an anthillabout 20 yards from the main hut (imba) inwhich he lived and well within the confines of thevillage.By about half-past five that evening quite anumber of people had already gathered anddrumming and singing could be heard from insidethe imba. As time passed more relatives andfriends arrived, including Mr. D. Madzimbamuto,who was a nganga and one of Kaseke's vazukuru(a son of Kaseke's eldest sister). He used toattend regularly the ritual ceremonies whichKaseke held in his village when he was alive;and Madzimbamuto's eider brother, Samuel, wasthe first muzukuru, the one who used to officiate <as master of ceremonies as is customary in Shonaritual practice. Drumming and dancing continued*throughout the night, until about 5.30 a.m. whenthe family prepared to go to the grave to bring *Kaseke's spirit back to his home and relatives.Although the sun had not yet risen, the pro-cession started from the imba moving slowly tothe grave. It was led by the eldest of Kaseke'ssurviving brothers, a blind man who had to be* *Jguided by his wife. Behind him came Kaseke'swife, daughters, sons and grandchildren, his *sawhira (ritual friend) and muzukuru. As he Awalked at the head of the group of relations theold man played on the mbira, the musical instru- «ment beloved by Kaseke, the songs of war usually-sung on the way to a grave. The people sang* "Łas they gradually coyered the twenty-five yardsor so to the grave. The song they liked best was"'Yave nyama yekugocha yowerere yowe mhandamapfumo' (Jt is now roasted meat, lucky arethose who are good with the spear). Anothersong went, 'Kuenda mbire, kuenda mbire, ndi-chamutevera, iyewo chete, kuenda mbire' (Ad-vance, advance, I will follow him also, advance).When the procession came near to the grave,"they sat down and the men clapped hands. Theeldest brother prayed aloud. 'Oh, all of you, hisrelatives, who are already dead we have assem- >-bled here today so that we may take your childinto his home again. From today he will not Tstay alone in the forest. He is now staying withothers in the home. Let him look after his family*and all those dear to him and protect them fromdangers and troubles.' Dancing and singing thencommenced and almost immediately the sawhira xand muzukuru held down a he-goat (mbocho)just to the side of the mourners. Its throat was *cut; the goat was opened and its stomach (sum)removed. Then the muzukuru was handed a gourd *(dhende) filled with masese (the strainings ofbeer in preparation); and the two men walked *up to the end of the grave facing the village.There the muzukuru poured the masese from thecalabash onto the grave and the sawhira smearedthe contents of the stomach on it. When thiswas done the sawhira smashed the gourd with Aan axe and buried the little pieces in a hole hedug next to the grave. lIn the meantime beer was brought out by thevaroora and the mbira was being played by72Fig. 3ŠThe nmz.uk(he gnurn pouring masese on the front ofFig. 5ŠTwo varoora sweeping the precincts of the eragrave.11J '^ IX-ll piMs HT.nK lln i.nhlli.wM^i1 ;:#'"":i?"''"S^'*Fig. 8ŠWith the spirit back the ceremony continuedinside the main hut iimba). Note the eldestsunning brother with his wife, and ihe two potsof beer placed before them.Kaseke's blind brother. Everyone was standingin a little group about three yards from the grave.Daniel Madzimbamuto, the younger brother ofthe first muzukuru, sat down on the groundimmediately behind the pot of beer and started toshare it out, giving a mukombe full to each ofthe varoora until all had had some. Anotherpot was brought out and given to the men. Whilesome of the varoora were receiving their beer,relays of about five at a time, moved up to thegrave and began to sweep away (kutsvaira guva)with axes and brooms all the loose stones, leavesand litter from its precincts. After working fora minute or two, a few of the women would singand dance round the grave, whilst their placeswere taken by other women. After about tenminutes all the ground for about two yards roundthe grave was cleared and a group of five women,who had taken part in the sweeping, gatheredin front of it. They knelt on the ground withtheir heads almost touching it (kupfugama), for-ming a straight line and waited there silently andmotionless until the muzukuru had placed somemoney on the head of the leading muroora asan offering of thanks for sweeping the grave.This money was to be shared amongst all thewomen who had cleared the grave.About 40 minutes had now elapsed, the sunwas shining brightly and the ceremony wasHearing the end. The blind man with his mbira,led by his wife and followed by a few membersof the family, moved away from the grave to-wards Kaseke's imba. On the way back theysang, 'He is now meat for roasting, yo-we-re-re.He is now meat for roasting, Kill-kill. We aregoing to take him. Ha! ha! He! ye! He wasasleep, Haye! haye! yowerere, yowerere.' 'Nowcomes the fight, Kill-kill.' As they neared thethreshold of the hut the blind man said, 'Tapinzamudzimu mumba (We have put the spirit in thehut).' This was the moment that the spirit ofthe dead man returned to the household.Little happened for the next thirty minutesuntil the next part of the ceremony started, whenthe beer in honour of the dead man would beproduced. On the left of the entrance to theimba was a grass shelter called kuti or rushanga,about eight feet high with an opening about twofeet wide. In it, on the ground had been placedseveral pots of beer. Two of them were verylarge; one was filled with beer for the spirit(mumvuri) of Kaseke. The second, called nyoro,was for the sawhira as a token of gratitude forhis services at the ceremony. These pots of beerwere to be brought into the imba and given to thespirit and to the sawhira. Most of the peoplemoved into the imba where the two drummersand an mbira player took up their positions,immediately opposite the doorway. The two bigpots of beer were brought in by one of Kaseke'ssons and placed in the centre of the hut. Themusicians began to play and dancing started.The words of some of the songs went asfollows:'We are tired, we are tired.We are going to kill each other. Eha.We are going to kill each other, Eha.''He has left drums beating, O Loyo!He has left the drums beating.''Our method of ploughing has improved,Ha! iye! ha! iye! wo! (AH is fine).We are going to strat ploughing, ploughing.Plough, plough.We have grown up.When are you going to plough.''The leg was too heavy for the father ofthe child.it is a man. it is a man, Haye.The leg was too heavy for the child.Hukuwe! Hukuwe! Have!After a while there was a lull and the sawhiracame up to Kaseke's pot of beer (tsotsonono).He filled a mukombe (calabash) of beer andpassed it to his father's eldest surviving brother(the blind man). Then he passed one to eachof the sons according to his seniority, then totheir wives and finally to the rest of the people.This was followed by music and dancing. Whenthe music stopped the sawhira was given his potof beer. He filled the mukombe and passed hisbeer round to anyone he wished. Then anotherpot was brought in and the author was given thehonour of receiving it; it was then passed roundto members of Kaseke's and the muzukuru'afamilies. The final pot of beer for Kaseke, thedead man, completed the ceremony of kurovaguva. After an interval of about an hour theritual distribution of Kaseke's possessions(nhaka) was due to begin in the yard about fiveyards from the imba.CONCLUSIONThis ceremony illustrates the close bond whichexists between the living and dead in Shonafamily life. The proximity of the grave to theliving quarters and the bringing back of the73spirit to the home continually reminds the familyof the dead man. They felt his presenceamongst them and since the spirit is endowedwith supernatural powers of protection, it isevident how strong a hold he and the otherancestral spirits must have in the daily activitiesand actions of the family. Nothing is moreserious than to forget the vadzimu for this willprovoke them to anger and retribution mustsurely follow. As the vadzimu keep a watchfuleye on their descendants, the latter must be verycareful to carry out all that is prescribed.The reason for the singing of ngondo (battle)songs, with words which are strange for a pro-cession to a grave is difficult of explanation.Gelfand (1959) recorded a number in the burialceremonies of the Zezuru. What is so strikingis that they bear no relation to the sadness ofthe occasion tending to appear ridiculous orlaughable by the nature of their contents:'Hit him in the back and bite him in thebuttock''The animal is smelling, we want it to smell'A plausible explanation is that these ngondosongs remind man that all in life amounts toUnversity of Rhodesianought and that man has but a fleeting sojournon this earth. The grave is but the end of man.Perhaps another reason is that When one partswith life there is no need any longer to be shyand one can say whatever comes to mind.This ritual of kurova guva, with the eldestsurviving brother of the deceased leading the pro-cession to the grave and afterwards escorting thespirit back to the hut, also illustrates the conceptof brotherhood (kuzv>>anana; ukama) so dear tothe Shona. The fact that the eldest survivingbrother was blind is of no significance; whatmatters is the age of the surviving brother andso long as he is alive, whatever his health, heremains the spiritual head of the family unit.Only the head male of the family may approachthe vadzimu of that agaatic line. Thus when ayounger brother needs to contact his vadzimu,he cannot do so on his own, but has to ask hiseldest brother to pray for him. On the appointedday, he and his close relations come to the hutof his eldest brother who, surrounded by thefamily circle, addresses the spirit. One can appre-ciate how this brings home to the agnates theidea that they are a single unit.M. GELFANDACKNOWLEDGMENTThe Rev. M. Hannon S.J. kindly read the text of this article and made several valuable suggestions.REFERENCESGELFAND, M. 1959 Shona Ritual. Cape Town, Juta, p. 194.GELFAND, M. 1960 Shona Religion. Cape Town, Juta, p. 63.HOLLEMAN, J. F. 1953 Accommodating the Spirit amongst some North-Eastern Shona Tribes. London, Oxford Uni-versity Press for Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, Paper No. 22, pp. 140.SPEARES, J. 1928 The Burial and Succession Rites of a Mushona Chief. NAD A, 6, 89.WANE, F. J. 1931 The Ceremony of Kuroba Guba or Kudibura Guba. NADA, 9, 100.74