15/06/2024
Birds…..birds….birds. Today I want us to reflect on the subject of birds from a rural boy’s perspective. I grew up in a society where birds were treated as a source of meat, hated as prey animals, venerated as some people’s totems, feared as associated with witchcraft, regarded as conveyors of messages, and so forth.
Totems are an important identifier among the Shona societies. Some peoples regard birds as their totems. The vaera nyoni (/Hungwe/Shiri). They do not eat wild birds as they venerate them. More specifically they venerate hungwe (the fish eagle).
In my area, I grew up knowing doves (njiva). My small uncle (babamunini) used to catch them live with traps he called zvisekete. We would cook them, and the taste would surprise our taste buds which would have grown accustomed to vegetables. Apart from being delicacies, doves were regarded as good birds, heralding joy and peace should they alight at your homestead or should you spot them. Many birds like zazo (quelea birds) though small were also meat delicacies
(Z**i harina nyanga).
Another nocturnal bird is dabga (dahwa). It moves and feeds at night. During the day, it is mostly asleep. Out on the mountainside, herding cattle, we would awaken them. They would dart for another cover. On landing to the ground, it will quickly go to sleep. This bird symbolizes one who often sleeps in public during the day.
Husvu is a shiny, silky, dark-greenish bird with reddish eyes. When using catapult (rekeni) out in the bush no boy would hit its kind. I happened to find one who caught it using vurimbo (urimbo) or bird glue; and that was not an everyday occurrence. Husvu is very alert and clean. If one is described as husvu, the same characteristics refer.
Eagles/hawks were many in our home area. I grew up spotting robins (ruvangu), njerere and gwamuramakwande. All were known to sn**ch our chickens away. Thus they were prey birds. An eagle would swoop down on a hen with its brood of chicks. An alert mother hen would make noise and scamper here and there scaring away the predator while urging the chicks to hide for cover. In the confusion, the daring eagle will scoop whatever its claws laid hold of. At times it will find that it has missed the targeted chicks but got rubbish or straw. The saying “gondo harishayi (the eagle does not go empty-handed)” was coined following incidents like these. This saying is often uttered in reference to thieves who will take anything even if they fail to get their targeted goods.
Eagles are known to be producing one offspring at a time. They make a nest where hunter animals and people will find it difficult to reach. They are always on the lookout for their enemies from a vantage point. Snakes which escape live to tell the wrath of such eagles. They bring food to the young ones. They train them to fly. In short, these birds have strong parenting skills. In Shona societies, “zai rimwe zai regondo (the only egg of the eagle’s)” describes the one and only child of a couple or single.
Gunguvo (crow) is known for forgetfulness (hangamwa). After stealing a string of meat from the line where it is left to dry up, it feeds and hides the leftovers. But soon, it forgets the location of the cache after a few rounds in the veld. “Ane hangamwa sedzegunguvo (he/she has forgetfulness like that of a raven)” refers to a person who is forgetful.
A negative quality like being stiff-necked or stubbornness is exemplified by the actions of a wood pe**er (chigogodza). A wood pe**er is so strong as to make holes on dry wood like Mushavhi or Muvonde (fig tree). It has very strong muscles to do this. A person who does not easily follow instructions, but is stubborn in bad ways is compared to a chigogodza.
Dimba/timba is a small bird but wise. In real life and folk tales, it lines its nest with the soft feathers of others. It is regarded as wise and cunning. In Shona similes it refers to someone who exploits others but with a degree of cunningness. It also symbolizes poverty as it does not offer a lot of flesh to the bird hunters.
Nzembe is a small bird of the dove family. It is known to change places for nesting often. Changing of places of settlement by people is known in Shona as kutama. A person who changes places often is describes as nzembe.
Vultures are among the plumage of the wildlife of Africa. In Shona they are known as magora ( gora-singular). These animals lead a private life except where a co**se of a wild animal lies. It is believed that they have a way of guessing or dreaming about where they can find dead animals from which to scavenge meat. So in some Shona beliefs, they are regarded as magic pieces for luck or getting bets right. However, in my reading in the RIFA Camp library, the vultures have a keen sight which cause them to spot dead animals from afar. This is a scientific view, European view.
Nhengure is regarded as one of the wise birds. If one is described as nhengure, it means she/he is wise.
The sounds of birds like gwenhure were associated with time gauging. As young boys on a chilly rainy summer day, their chirps signified sundown. With no watches for time, we would know that that was the day’s end and we were going to rest from the toiling with cows. Most birds show the coming of dawn.
Talking of the sounds, our elders would trick us telling us that a particular bird was saying a certain message to us. So our minds would sort of follow the rhymes of the bird’s songs and it was as if the birds would be saying those words exactly like we had been told by the elders. So instead of reading meaning out of the sounds, we were reading meaning into the sounds and work our minds to believe what the birds were saying. At one time in the war (hondo) (Rhodesian war) era, my uncle dismissed our family which was working in the fields saying the sounds of certain birds were actually giving a warning to vacate the place.
I have just but touched on a few of the birds I grew seeing and knowing. There are many like vhukutiwa, mukuwe, gonji, mahindi, dhadha, chikwari, hanga, kondo and so forth. You may identify with many of these birds. Good for memories. You may have a few beliefs. These may be embodiments of many human characteristics. Observing them in the field shaped, and still do, concepts and ideas in Shona societies. How are these and other birds viewed or regarded in your societies?
