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[ObserverStatus]

many cyclopean masonry

                                                                            very Africa

                        wow

                                                                 much wall

                                  so ruins

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

many cyclopean masonry

                                                                            very Africa

                        wow

                                                                 much wall

                                  so ruins

 

 

must have been involved in making these ruins.

[ObserverStatus]

 

must have been involved in making these ruins.

              wow

[Star Reborn]

Mbira

[Star Reborn]

 

The Muuyu tree, or the Grand Boabab. Shona legend says during creation, God planted this tree upside down.

[Star Reborn]

Mwari, the supreme being, is the god of fertility, the sower, the rain-giver. One of his praise names is Dziva Guru, Great Pool, because he supplies the people with rain. Mwari is both male and female. As a female, Mwari is merged in the pool with its darkness and mystery; this is the god of below. As a male, Mwari is owner of the skies, the god of light, the father of creation who manifests himself in lightning or the shooting star; this is the god of above. He is an ambivalent god, both immanent and transcendent. He is ever present in his own creation.

 

To westerners, this African myth contains eerily familiar elements. Mwari put his creation, Musikavanhu, into a deep sleep and then let him drop from the sky. While he fell, Musikavanhu awoke and, in the distance, saw a white stone which was also dropping from the sky at great speed.

 

God ordered Musikavanhu to point a finger at this stone. Musikavanhu obeyed, and the stone stopped. Musikavanhu began to fly towards the stone, and the closer he got to it the bigger the stone became, and finally he could no longer see where it finished on either side.

 

Musikavanhu fell softly onto the stone, and the first spot his feet touched softened and emitted water. Touching the stone, Musikavanhu heard God's voice coming from it.

 

 This place became the Stone of the Pool, today called Matopos, a place that is venerated. Musikavanhu, bored, began to wander about. When night fell, he sat down near the stone from which God had spoken, and slept.

 

 

In a dream, he saw the birds in the air, and many animals on the earth that were jumping from stone to stone.

 

When Musikavanhu awoke, he was surprised to see that all he had just dreamt had become reality. God told Musikavanhu what he was allowed to eat, and what food was forbidden. He was free to eat vegetables, and fruit from the trees, but not to kill and eat animals. Nor were the animals allowed to eat each other.

 

 One day, while Musikavanhu slept, a snake crept over his loins and left its marks. When he woke up, he was overcome by a strange feeling; he had trouble breathing and his ..junk... moved like a snake. A voice told him to go to the Pool, and the pain would pass.

 

On his way there, he saw a beautiful young woman sitting on a stone near the pool. She looked like him, but she could neither speak nor move.

 

 

Again, Musikavanhu heard the voice; it told him to touch her with his hand. He did, and the young woman came to life, and a snake moved across her loins, too. She was overcome by the same emotions as Musikavanhu.

 

The voice spoke and told Musikavanhu to be kind to his wife, and to all the animals too. He was also to set aside one day a month for the honor of God.

 

When Musikavanhu had completed the tasks set by God he had to return to heaven. Before he went, he told his children to observe God's laws, or God would punish them.

 

People lived in peace for a long, long time. One day Musikavanhu's children got drunk and became proud. They told the animals and the other people that God was dead and that one of them would be God.

 

God's voice warned them, but because of their pride they could no longer hear it. God then became angry; he cursed the earth, and the sea's water became salty, the land dried up and thorns grew. During the rainy season, the rivers swept away many people, and crocodiles appeared in the waters. The sun became hot, and the animals began to eat one another and attack men. And men started killing each other.

 

 

http://www.studiesin...e_g.aspx?ID=123

[Star Reborn]

 The spirit messenger.

 

 

The Hungwe, Shiri or Chipungu (Africa fish eagle) is the creature believed to be a messenger/link to Mwari (god). It's very nature represents the spirit.

 

Shona sculpture and the spirit world

 

The majority of Zimbabwean sculptors are members of the Shona tribe. They have a dual belief system, where their devout Christianity exists side by side with another, older set of religious beliefs that concern the spirit world.

 

Shona spirit beliefs

 

The spirit world works on several levels. All living things, and some inanimate things, are believed to have a spirit, but human spirits play a more direct role for the living.

 

When a person dies, their spirit continues and it can have an influence on events in the community. Just after death, the spirit is feared as unpredictable and dangerous, but the passage of time settles the spirit and it becomes a guardian over the surviving family. Such mudzimu (family or ancestor spirits) are central to Shona spirit beliefs, and their presence and influence is so strong and real to their descendants that they remain part of the community. The most important spirit elder is the deceased head of an extended family, and the surviving generations come together on ritual occasions to honour them. Indeed, every home will have a shrine to their ancestors where descendants honour them and can come to them for help.

 

Spirits inhabit a separate but parallel world, and communicate with the living via a medium or n'anga. These people are susceptible to possession by the spirits during a trance, when the spirit takes complete control of their body. N'anga can divine and heal by the power of the spirit that possesses them. Such spirit possession appears at all levels of Shona religion. Some n'anga are believed to be able to change shape and become animals.

 

Spirits and sculpture

 

From the start, much of Shona sculpture was inspired by the artists' spiritual beliefs. Instigator of the movement and curator of the National Gallery in Harare, Frank McEwen propounded a creative atmosphere of individual 'drawing out' rather than didactic art school process. In response, the artists' instinct was to draw on their belief system and represent the spirit world through their art. Some of the artists believe they are possessed by a shave, a wandering spirit who confers artistic ability, or by ancestor spirits with traditional talents such as carving.

 

Today's younger generation of urban sculptors live in a very different world to the rural villages where these beliefs developed. However, they are all in close contact with family members in their 'rural area', visiting home on important days and for family rituals. Traditional beliefs in spirits and witchcraft etc. are modern beliefs for both urban and rural Shona.

 

Whilst they may be bombarded with new influences, young artists retain and express the belief system of their elders. Young artists' work continues to be 'culturally authentic', in that they represent the same set of beliefs, although the sculpture has evolved over the last fifty years.

 

Stylised imagery of the imperceptible forms of the spirits of the deceased, of nature etc. are common. The spirit world is often represented by a hole ('negative space') in the sculpture, forming a portal into another dimension. Spirits are usually conceived of as full of swirling motion, like a gentle whirlwind.

[TheBunz]

Awesome stuff. Thanks for posting.

[Farangbaa]

These pics/this topic are/is about the pretty girl, right?

[Farangbaa]

History is only cool when people are dying and other people are killing people.

 

Sounds like the news

[the_last_krogan]

 

The Muuyu tree, or the Grand Boabab. Shona legend says during creation, God planted this tree upside down.

you could sleep up in that tree

awesome

[Star Reborn]

African history doesn't get squat from anybody in Europe.

 

Which is a shame.

Well, they conquered the Africans, then humiliated and degraded them for generations. Plus adding the fact that the Africans look the opposite of the Europeans (who aren't known to be racist), seems to spark a deep hatred and fear. When the Europeans arrived in Africa, they came at a very inconvenient time for the Africans, otherwise the tides would have been turned.

[Star Reborn]

Oh, but the same goes for Islamic history too. Really, Europe is just as bad as America when it comes to compulsory history. But then again, it's my job, not the school's to look it up.

 

So I shouldn't be complaining.

 

Damn it! Contradicting myself all the time.

 

I BLAME THE EDUCATION SYSTEM!

 

And here we go again... xD

Exactly. Deceiving, misinforming, deforming, and contorting is history and reality over African Islam. The greatest tragedy is that most of the descendants of African slavery, the black people in the Americas, around the world, as well as the African blacks, are totally ignorant of the actual facts. The worst, inhuman, and diabolical institution of the black African slave was initiated, refined, perpetrated, and implemented by the Mohamed and Arabs and later aided, and ebbed-ed by the black converts to Mohamed and Islam. The two subcultures, those off denial of facts, and of political correctness, will attack me without once disproving a single statement, and, or conclusion that I make. The way the Arab Muslims lie, and mistreat fellow black Muslims in their society is evil

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

Read this book to understand Islam:

 

 

Though Shia is kinda reformed and isn't that bad.

[Farangbaa]

Well, they conquered the Africans, then humiliated and degraded them for generations. Plus adding the fact that the Africans look the opposite of the Europeans (who aren't known to be racist), seems to spark a deep hatred and fear. When the Europeans arrived in Africa, they came at a very inconvenient time for the Africans, otherwise the tides would have been turned.

 

Except the Ethiopians!

 

Ethiopia is in my list of cool countries together with Thailand, Bhutan, Iran and Japan.

 

Read this book to understand Islam:

 

 

Though Shia is kinda reformed and isn't that bad.

 

Christianity teaches genocide.

 

Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.)

Exodus, Chapter 34, verses 11-14

 

6 peoples killed, because the People of God need land.

 

You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you. You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.

Leviticus, Chapter 26, verses 7-9

 

You will not only win, but you will chase your enemies. Gotta love God, so peaceful and kind!

 

But we don't go around saying Christiniaty teaches people to go to war and kill all of it's inhabitants. No, when someone does, someone like Milosevic, we call him deranged and a mad man. When a Muslim invokes scripture to do the same thing, it's Islam.

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

Except the Ethiopians!

 

Ethiopia is in my list of cool countries together with Thailand, Bhutan, Iran and Japan.

 

 

Christianity teaches genocide.

 

Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.)

Exodus, Chapter 34, verses 11-14

 

6 peoples killed, because the People of God need land.

 

You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you. You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.

Leviticus, Chapter 26, verses 7-9

 

You will not only win, but you will chase your enemies. Gotta love God, so peaceful and kind!

 

But we don't go around saying Christiniaty teaches people to go to war and kill all of it's inhabitants. No, when someone does, someone like Milosevic, we call him deranged and a mad man. When a Muslim invokes scripture to do the same thing, it's Islam.

 

There is huge difference between ethics of old testament and new testament. And be thankful that Judaism didn't spread too much in Kingdom of Israel era!

 

Trust me, I know Islam better than you. This book is pretty accurate ( I've only read half of the book).

[Farangbaa]

There is huge difference between ethics of old testament and new testament. And be thankful that Judaism didn't spread too much in Kingdom of Israel era!

 

Trust me, I know Islam better than you. This book is pretty accurate ( I've only read half of the book).

 

'Trust me, I'm an engineer' 

 

Too lazy to write it out myself, so here ya go:

 

http://spencerwatch....ament”-cop-out/

[Star Reborn]

The Shona use oral tradition, their tradition centers around the "The Voice", and the Stones. Each family has a totem (identity animal), there is no incest. There was no beating of the child. No marriage without the payment of bridewealth (roora) which includes the mombe yo-u amai. No person to be killed. All services, especially that of labor, to be paid for. A son may not leave his homeland or interfere with the material equality of his kinsmen.

[Star Reborn]

People of the same clan use a common set of totems. Totems are usually animals and body parts. Examples include Shiri/Hungwe (Fish Eagle), Mhofu Yemukono/Musiyamwa  (Eland), Mbizi/Tembo (Zebra) Shumba (Lion) Soko (Monkey) Nzou/Zhou (Elephant), or Gumbo (leg), Moyo (heart) Bepe (lung), dziva (Hippo), crocodile, etc. These were further broken down into gender related names. For example Zebra group would break into Madhuve for the females and Dhuve or Mazvimbakupa for the males. People of the same totem are the descendants of one common ancestor (the founder of that totem)and thus are not allowed to marry or have an intimate relationship. The totems cross regional groupings and therefore provide a wall for development of ethnicism among the Shona groups.

 

This identification by totem has very important ramifications at traditional ceremonies such as the burial ceremony. A person with a different totem cannot initiate burial of the deceased. A person of the same totem, even when coming from a different tribe, can initiate burial of the deceased. For example a Ndebele of the Mpofu totem can initiate burial of a Shona of the Mhofu totem and that is perfectly acceptable in Shona tradition. But a Shona of a different totem cannot perform the ritual functions required to initiate burial of the deceased.

 

If a person initiates the burial of a person of a different totem, he runs the risk of being asked to pay a fine to the family of the deceased. Such fines traditionally were paid with cattle or goats but nowadays substantial amounts of money can be asked for.

 

Similarly Shona chiefs are required to be able to recite the history of their totem group right from the initial founder before they can be sworn in as chiefs.

[Star Reborn]

Since the Shona were an empire, specifically of a family model with various tribes of similar language living together in peace, they had no name for their Tribe. They call/ed themselves "Vanhu" (people), and it was much later after the fall of Monomutapa that one of the invading Zulu off shot tribe, the Ndebele, started calling them Shona, and thus the white men who first had contact with the Ndebele named the People (Vanhu) he conquered "Shona", and that name is stuck in history...sucks for the Shon-, Vanhu.