Female Lion Royal Ancestor-Spirit
Shona · demigod · founding ancestral era; mediums active into the 19th century · Recorded classification
Classed as demigod (mhondoro royal ancestor-spirit), the female counterpart to Chaminuka; in some traditions a child of Mwari (parentIds). vitalStatus='spirit'. The mortal medium is recorded separately as shona_charwe.
Parentage
- parent: Supreme Creator God
Domains
- national guardianship
- fertility and land
Powers
- descends into and speaks through a chosen female medium
- incites and blesses armed resistance against invaders
- promise that her bones will rise again
Epithets
- Mbuya Nehanda 'Grandmother Nehanda' — venerative title of the senior female mhondoro spirit, the royal ancestress-medium associated with the land and the 1896–97 ChimurengaLan, David. Guns and Rain, 1985 (secondary scholarship); Ranger, Terence. Revolt in Southern Rhodesia 1896–97, Heinemann, 1967 (secondary scholarship)
- Nehanda Nyakasikana ancestral byname borne by the mhondoro and its mediumsD. N. Beach, History in Africa 25 (1998) (secondary)
Relations
- companion: Spirit-Medium of NehandaReciprocal of shona_charwe.companion — Historical svikiro (medium) possessed by the Nehanda mhondoro; led the 1896-7 Chimurenga in Mazoe and was hanged in 1898.T. O. Ranger, Revolt in Southern Rhodesia 1896-97 (1967) (secondary)
- sibling: Lion Royal Ancestor-SpiritPaired supratribal mhondoro; in the traditions that make each a child of Mwari they are sister and brother spirits.D. P. Abraham, 'The Roles of Chaminuka and the Mhondoro Cults in Shona Political History', in The Zambesian Past (1966) (secondary)
Sources
- Nehanda is a powerful female Shona mhondoro spirit, often regarded as the sister or counterpart of Chaminuka, and a guardian-ancestor of the land.: Britannica, 'Nehanda' (secondary); Encyclopedia of African Religion (SAGE), 'Nehanda' (secondary)
- The Nehanda spirit is distinct from its human mediums; the medium Charwe was executed in 1898 while the spirit itself is held never to have died.: Beach, D.N., 'An Innocent Woman, Unjustly Accused?', History in Africa 25 (1998) (secondary)