Masuvhe - THE MAMBA

- THE PYTHON

Mandiwana or Khovhe-ya-vhimbi - THE SEA SERPENT (? AN EEL ? A DRAGON ?

THE RAINBOW SERPENT)

Tshifunga - THE PUFF ADDER

Vuluvulu - THE PUFF ADDER

186	Masuvhe tsho fhedza vhalanda. Masuvhe killed off the commoners.
187	Tsho fhedza vhalanda Nzhelele. It killed off the commoners at Nzhelele.

Masuvhe may refer also to a person of that name who appears in Venda history (van Warmelo 1940:76-77 and 186-87).

188	Ndi ya mabidigame: It is the python writhing:
189	Lu a songo lowa . The river-reed did not bewitch her.
190	Lu a songolowa . The river-reed unfolds.
191	Lu a tseka-tseka . The river-reed is swaying.

and refer in this context to the penis. Old men say to boys, "A ni athu u luma " (your reed is not yet biting, i.e. you are not yet grown up), and "no luma " (you are grown up, lit. you have bitten with respect to the river-reed). The words refer both to the chain of dancers moving round the khoro, and to an erection. In particular, line 189 refers to the taboo on intercourse during menstruation and means that a girl's periods are proceeding satisfactorily. These words are often used as a signal to the dancers to move (see also lines 69 and 69a), and to begin singing khulo (see lines 62-64 and bars 10-14 of the musical transcription of domba).

192	Mandiwana ndi khovhe-ya-vhimbi: Mandiwana is the rainbow serpent (?an eel?) (lit. the fish of rain clouds):
192a	Mutshekwa (Muofhe) ndi khovhe-ya-vhimbi: Mutshekwa (Muofhe) is the rainbow serpent:
193	I no enda i tshi tshewa na shango. It travels and can be eaten (lit. cut) all over the countryside.
194	Mutshekwa i tshi ya na shango. Mutshekwa goes all over the countryside.
194a	I tshekwa i tshi ya Nzhelele. It is eaten when it goes to Nzhelele.
195	A lili khuhu Nzhelele: The cock does not crow at Nzhelele:
196	Nzhelele lila . At Nzhelele you can hear the lowing of calves (= children of the chief).

The clay model of khovhe-ya-vhimbi is always shown together with that of masuvhe or . It is longer and it is wavy rather than straight. Nobody could identify it with a real reptile, but several associated it with the guardianship of water, with the rainbow and the control of rain. Thus it may be compared with the mythical rainbow snake found in other parts of Africa (see Hambly 1931:51, 55 and 75 ff).

The references to Mandiwana and to Nzhelele could be literally historical: Mandiwana was one of the sons of Thoho-ya-Ndou, the chief at Nzhelele, and when his brother was summoned to the capital to be killed (in order to avoid rivalry), a man called Musekwa arranged for him to be warned by an old woman not to go to Nzhelele (van Warmelo 1932: 12-15, and 1940: 30-31 and 130-131). It is also possible that the shape of the mountain of Mandiwana is associated with the mythical serpent.

Mutshekwa and Muofhe are women's names, however, and lines 193-194a refer to a woman who is a flirt. One master said that the idea of flirtation refers to the fact that khovhe-ya-vhimbi is the supernatural being responsible for making women pregnant.

197	tsha Nyandalumwa, Tshitungulu, The hill of I-was-bitten,
198	Nda lumwa nga mulenzhe: I was bitten on my leg by a snake:
199	Vuluvilu luma . And a puff adder bit my hand.
199a	Vuluvulu luma . A puff adder bit my head.
200	Tshilavulu tshibva-vhatete: Tshilavulu is a place where good-looking people come from:
201	Vhadenya vha tshi bva Tswingoni. The rain-bringers (lit. thick ones) come out from Tswingoni.

Tshitungulu is a hill to the south-west of Tshakhuma. Tshilavulu and Tswingoni are old sites of the rain-making Mbedzi clan, which have recently been investigated by Dr Richard Gray of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

202	Vha dzi no lima madavha, The people of the snake (are those) who work together to hoe the fields,
203	lu tshi zwala mbeu. And the grass snake is sowing the seeds.

One master explained that there was a time when snakes, and not simply 'the people of the snake', were summoned to work parties: this is why the concord dzi, and not vha, is used. When a snake called Luvhidi sowed seeds, this was the beginning of the milayo and shows of domba. This story supports the theory that domba began as a work party.

Another master from Mbilwi, headquarters of chief Mphaphuli, gave a different story. Long ago, the people of Mphaphuli were herdsmen for chief Tshivhase. One day, a noble was told to look after the cattle of chief Tshivhase, which were grazing on some land between Sibasa and Phiphidi called Thomboni-dza-tshi-wa-misevhe (the large-flat-rocks-on-which-barbed-arrows-are-broken). Then the people of Mbilwi went off to Tshitomboni, which is south of the river Luvuvhu and west of Mavhambe, taking all Tshivase's cattle. The people of Tshivhase believed that the cattle had been taken by a lad who called himself -dzi-no-lima-davha: -lu-tshi-zwala-mbeu (see lines 202-203).

When the people of Mphaphuli returned to Mbilwi from Tshitomboni, they found that the Ngona had occupied the site of the present chief's headquarters. After driving out the Ngona, Mphaphuli praised himself: "Ndi Gole; gumani nga ni hume! ndi tshigidi thi posiwi" (it is I, Gole; leave me alone and go home! I am a gun and I cannot be played with).

Masuvhe and Tshifunga are alternative models for and vuluvulu respectively. All these snake models are made of clay, and they are usually painted with red, white, black, and sometimes yellow, stripes, representing women, men, old women and old men. The sequence of colours was not regular. The milayo of Muhololi (Nos. 327-330) may be given for , and in addition there are the following:

331

(a) Linpenyo
lightning.
(b)
a python (in this case, Masuvhe is a name and not a mamba).

Vuluvulu (tshifunga)
The puff adder (N.B. tshifunga also=the girdle of beads to which the mulayo refers):

(a) Vhulungu vhu ambarwaho khunduni na thahu
beads that are worn round the waist with the thahu.
(b) Tshifunga khunduni tsha u thusa ndi u kandeledza: arali a sa thuswa u ya penga
the girdle of beads round the waist for helping a baby not to fall about (in the womb): if a baby is not helped in this way, it will go mad.