Greeting In Shona Culture

Greeting
In the Shona culture, greeting varies considerably with regard to seniority, which in turn is determined by age of the person being addressed. An important gesture while greeting in this culture is that of clapping hands; it’s important to clap hands while greeting someone. The members of the Shona community often show respect by doing a series of slow, rhythmic claps; the rhythm depends on the seniority of the person. Similar to Western societies, it’s essential to remove their hats while greeting each other, which is mark of respect.
In the Cabinda culture, handshakes are the most common form of greeting, a testimony of the effects of Colonization. It is customary to bow slightly while greeting someone senior in status or age, as

Members of the family are addressed as “achon”, “amei”, “ava” and “ava” for the sister, brother, father and mother, respectively; hugging is common while greeting cousins, whereas the elders are addressed as “ani” for aunts and “awo” for uncles.
Language
Zimbabwe is diverse with respect to languages, with the main one among them being the Shona language. The Shona language is also spoken along the borders of South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique, apart from Zimbabwe. An interesting aspect of the language is that it’s diglossic in nature – the language of consists, of a lower variety used for daily speech and a higher variety, which comprises of vocabulary and a rich set of proverbs of its own, reserved for the spiritual use while praying to ancestors.
The members of the Cabinda community speak Ibinda, a Western Kongo Bantu language. Ibinda itself is a combination of several Kongo language (Kikongo) dialects of small ethnic groups that populate Cabinda. A few among the principal dialects are Iwóyo, Ikuákongo (Kakongo), and Ikóchi, although some are occasionally regarded as separate from

A unique feature of the Shona people is that the family is extended through the totem (mutupo), which identifies a clan with a certain symbol, usually an animal. Each clan within the Shona community have a unique totem, which serves the clan from being defiled through incestuous acts, and hence, marriage is prohibited between individuals sharing the same totem. The importance of family is shown in the Shona motto “one for all, and all for one”.
Hierarchy is an important part of the Cabinda culture, and titles and surnames are commonly used as a sign of respect. As a result of the Civil War, people in extended families may have relatives fighting in different camps, and hence, are commonly estranged from one another. In most Angolan communities, inheritance is patrilineal, i.e. children inherit from the father, however, in quite a few communities like the Umbundu, Ganguela and Ambo, property is traditionally passed to the children of the deceased’s wife’s