The Sunday Mail
When individual members of a family used traditional medicine to perform miracles and identified their unique prowess with characteristics of a particular animal, they came up with totems.
Sekuru Friday Chisanyu – Tracing African Roots
Totems come in different languages used by African people and are defined by our mother languages and places of origins.
People who regarded that animal as mightier, holier, famous and sacred were therefore not supposed to eat it.
As a sacred creature, if anyone killed and ate that particular animal, they would lose their teeth.
This created respect among the people. As a result, there were few cases of people killing each other. But in the unfortunate event that it happened, that person’s avenging soul or spirit known as ‘ngozi’ would have to be appeased. If not appeased, the avenging spirit would move from one generation to the other, causing havoc.
In order to stop this, traditional medical practitioners were consulted and spiritual ceremonies involving the use of traditional medicine were done to safeguard the families.
The Shona, Ndebele, Kalanga, Chikorekore, Ndau, Chewa and Swahili people name medicinal plants according to their respective languages.
Even the way they prescribe them is different. Traditional medicine practice is applied differently by people from different totems, even when treating the same disease.
A person is usually called with his or her totem when they do great things for the family or community. Marrying many wives, getting high yields and breeding a lot of livestock determines the respect of that certain traditional medical practitioner or individual. People of different totems also have different types of behaviours which identify with only them. For example, people of a certain totem can be known for being polygamous marriages while others can have a strong belief in traditional medicine.
Totems can also be used when appreciating someone who has been victorious or has achieved something in life. A wife can demonstrate respect to her husband by calling him with his totem and the reverse is also true.
During meal times, family members can use totems to appreciate the person who cooked or brought food on the table. Customs are the source of good manners and behaviour. This is also the same when people appreciate what a traditional health practitioner has done for them.
Because totems were used to appreciate those who would have done good things, they were heroes in a way. This in turn inspired other people to adopt the totems as their names or surnames. Nowadays, totems are at great risk because of social changes. Some African totems may not survive the challenges created by global changes.
Christians are discouraged from believing in African totems and clans, yet they are African people. Zimbabweans are told that participating in any traditional ritual involving totems, clans and traditional medicine practice is a sin. Belief in witchcraft is meant to destroy the African Traditional Religion, medicines, crops and culture.
However, the African Traditional Religion cannot be destroyed so easily, it has actually been granted recognition through the African Traditional Medicine Day awarded by the World Health Organisation.
Mr Friday Chisanyu is the founding president of the Zimbabwe National Practitioners Association (ZINPA).
