What is kurova?
The purpose of kurova guva is to bring back the spirit of the deceased from the grave to his hut to be in the midst of his descendants. At the end of the ceremony when the spirit is back in his home the nhaka ritual takes place.
What is kurova guva in English?
Key words Rufu (death), kurova guva (appeasement of the dead), inculturation. 1 Introduction The African Traditional Religion (ATR) holds a belief that death is a passage from one form to another. Hence, death itself of a grown person does not confer ancestor hood.
What is kurova Gata?
THE RITUAL INTEGRATION of the deceased’s spirit as an ancestor to the family (kurova guva) is viewed as one of the biggest doctrinal problems that the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe ever faced.
How is kurova guva conducted?
The beer is shared by the living and what is left is poured over the grave. One gourd of beer is saved solely for the deceased. After pouring the beer on the grave, the gourds and smashed and the shards are left on the grave and the spirit is home.
What is the Shona religion?
Religion: The Shona religion is a blend of monotheism and veneration of ancestors. The creator god, Mwari, is omnipotent but also remote; ancestors and other spirits serve as intermediaries between Mwari and the people.
What is Bira in Zimbabwe?
Bira is an all-night ritual, celebrated by Shona people from Zimbabwe in which members of an extended family call on ancestral spirits for guidance and intercession. Shona people believe that the only ones who can communicate with both the living and God are the ancestral spirits, or dzavadzimu.
What is Mukwerera in Shona?
Thus, the rain-making ceremony, mukwerera in Shona, umtolo in Ndebele, has been practised before or at the onset of every rain season so that communities have abundant rains and harvests.
What happens on the Kurova guva ceremony?
The Kurova Guva ritual-myth ceremony reasserts the continued spiritual existence of the dead person by seeking to bring that person back into the community of ancestral spirits that are recognised by the dead person’s surviving family members.
What is Vadzimu?
Family spirits (vadzimu) are spirits of parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and other family members, and clan spirits may also be referred to as vadzimu although clan spirits are more appropriately referred to as mhondoro.
What is God in Ndebele?
UNkulunkulu: the Ndebele name for God which means “the Great Great One.”
What is a mhondoro?
The word mhondoro means both lion and guardian spirit of the tribe (Hannan 1974 s.v. mhondoro), which indicates the attitude of the people to this class of spirits. They are generally referred to as “lion spirits” and are associated with the fearlessness and strength of the lion.
Why is the Kurova GUVA ceremony important?