AK-47s for the ancestors

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	AK-47s for the ancestors
Author:	Dewey, William J.
Year:	1994
Periodical:	Journal of Religion in Africa
Volume:	24
Issue:	4
Pages:	358-374
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zimbabwe
Subjects:	Shona ritual objects religious art
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1581342.pdf
Abstract:	The utilitarian purposes of African iron tools are often complemented by ritual or ceremonial roles. This paper examines the roles played over the centuries by the ceremonial knives and axes of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The ritual axes ('gano' or 'humbwa') and the knives ('bakatwa') have both been potent symbols of Shona beliefs and values. The role they have played in Shona society over the centuries has changed, just as society has. Previously both implements had several functions, from utilitarian (war, hunting and protection) to symbolic and religious. In the modern era these roles have been transformed. Occasionally the axe has again been used as a political symbol, but the predominant and most important use of both the knives and axes is in the religious sphere, as a symbol of the ancestors. Since the liberation war, a new style of ceremonial knife has evolved, fashioned to resemble the Russian AK-47s rifles the guerrillas used during the war. Bibliogr., notes, ref.