It has been a long time since I had an acquaintance with you, my readership. It has been because of my commitments elsewhere.
This is May, a global culture commemoration month, and this year’s edition for Mwenezi district was hosted by folks down in Maranda.
The Masvingo Culture Month celebrations will be held at Chief Negari Homestead in Mwenezi North Constituency. Relating to culture, I bemoan the abuse of Christianity by the white settlers, who tried in every way to desecrate the sacredness of African shrines.
The whites knew very well that the strength of the blacks was founded on spiritualities, and it was these spiritualities that they made every attempt to fight. Take, for example, the erection of the Cecil John Rhodes grave at Matopos, a center of African religion.
Matopos, which was a central hub of rain-making ceremonies, since it is at Matopos that we find the Njelele shrine. It was not solely a rain-making shrine but also a center of African religion.
Spirit mediums were maimed and tortured with the knowledge that these were the intermediators of the Africans with their creator, Musikavanhu.
Through Christianity, African traditional religion was tainted as diabolical and backward. Gradually, people were converted to the Christian faith, and this faith, in its inception, involved bribery and hoodwinking to win souls.
Verses in the holy book were manipulated to pursue the colonization agenda. People without a religion are dead, so this also relates to atheists.
How can one doubt the existence of a supreme being when even Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory just explained evolution but could not account for what created the evolving species?
The whites taught the blacks about an imminent parousia and that they should not concentrate on earthly things, preventing them from even caring about their wealth in the form of livestock and minerals. Why bother to think about wealth?
The preachers would say all is vanity, but I feel it is insane to make the inference that we should only focus on heaven and not earthly wealth—a heaven we are not so sure even exists. All this was used by white colonialists to brainwash Africans into ditching their religion.
The coming of African Apostolic churches made a huge turnaround in Christian faith because these churches fought the polluted gospel of the colonialists.
Remember, it was during the war of liberation? Johanne Masowe eChishanu was introduced in the 1930s; Paul Mwazha around the same time; and Zion Christian Church around the same time.
These are snippets of the fight against colonial rule by black Christian churches. However, what these churches copied from the white colonialist gospel is the desecration of the centers of African traditional religion. The congregates go into mountains—not every mountain, but those mountains that African Traditional Religion attaches importance to—to pray.
So, my question is, why do Christians go to the sacred shrines to pray? Why do they want to share prayer sites with the heathen? It gobbles my mind even now why Christians use sacred African traditional religion sites as a measure of moral uprightness.
You hear them saying, ‘Kana usina kururama gomo iri haurikwiri.’ They will be referring to a once-central ATR shrine. Mapungubwe in Mwenezi comes to mind, Buchwa Mountain in Mberengwa, Guruguru in the Chachacha area, and the numerous mountains and places of spirituality dotted around the country.
There is something amiss about the Christian faith. Africans should go back to their roots and follow the religion of their fathers; that way, this motherland will go back to its glory days.
Some have blamed the coming of Prophets or Profits, the money-milking clergy, who have been accused of using vulture heads, Musoro wegora.
This implies the fusion of ATR practices and Christianity; I wonder what the befitting name could be for such a thing. It’s culture month; let’s celebrate it.
Can we revive it? I feel ATR is now being practiced by bible-wielding folks who visit shrines hiding behind the cross. Why? If you have a totem, you are aligning yourself with the spiritualities of ATR.
Then the culture of winning accolades continues at Etihad, with Pep Guardiola clinching his fourth English Premiership title in a row.
The gaffer painted smiles on the fans, who at some point thought Arsenal would steal the limelight. Even Munatsi, Odzo, and some other die-hard supporters like Theo Mufurati down in Neshuro made an acknowledgement in the run-up to the close of the league, kuti ‘ummm pakaipa.’
Arsenal made a repeat of last season, with the championship being grabbed away from them on the last stretch. Many anti-Manchester City supporters like Yours Truly and the likes of Mudhara Max Muzvidziwa and Memory Zivhu (sister to Killer, of course) were behind Arsenal, but with all their guns and bullets, their armory did not have enough artillery to remove the Etihad boys from first position.
They are real vultures. They feed on the dead. As they say in street lingo, shiri inozongofa, all the weak were devoured to the last bone, just like how a vulture feeds on the dead.
The Msasa Project has been doing its best to fight child marriages and sexual abuse of minors. Some offenders have been caged, while others have skipped the borders to elude prosecution.
The message they are sending is clear: ‘Regai dzive shiri mazai haana muto.’ The campaign is yielding results and has shaken every branch. It is my hope that no one will disturb the young.
On the political turf, there has been no drama but just a pacific situation. All is rosy except that there have been some uncertainties with regards to the zig currency, but it seems there has been gradual acceptance that it is legal tender and here to stay. Let’s pray for the best in a peaceful way. It’s just a view and nothing else.
Chana CheMasvingo, the Wordsmith
0775125488
johannesmikemupisa11@gmail.com
