A Critical Reflection on the Eroded Burial Rites Among the Zezuru People of Chiota Area in Zimbabwe

Abstract

In African societies, death is never viewed as the end of life but as a transition to another life. Among the Zezuru People of Zimbabwe, words such as watisiya, “he has left us”, and waenda, “he has gone”, present death as not the end but a rite of passage to the spiritual life. The same language of hope describes burial. Tamuviga: we have buried him, meaning something hidden will be sought later; tamuradzika: “we have slept him”; lit., we will bring back the spirit of the deceased during the kurova guva ceremony. Because of this hope for the future life, the traditional burial among Zezuru people is characterised by collective rituals such as kugeza mufi, “washing the deceased”, kupeta mufi, “folding the deceased”, kutenderera musha, “going round the home, zvioneko, “farewells”, kutema rukawo, “marking the grave”, and kuviga, ”burial”. Among the Zezuru people, death was a rite of passage in which ancestors were present. Communities conducted death, mourning, and burial rituals to mediate between the world of the dead and the world of the living; however, the church, funeral homes, and urban burials have eroded these burial traditions. This paper reflects on the erosion of burial rites among the Zezuru People of the Chihota area in Zimbabwe. This qualitative study asks: “How are the Zezuru people resacralising burial rites that had been eroded while also maintaining their identity?” Using postcolonial theory, the study collected data through observation of Zezuru burial traditions and interviews with 10 purposively selected participants. This paper concludes that, although Zezuru culture has been and is being eroded, they employ Homi Bhabha’s hybridity theory to maintain a balance between tradition and modernity. Structurally, this paper will present the introduction, the literature review, methods, theory, results, conclusion, and recommendations.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Genealogy, 2026 · DOI ↗