The Shona possess an interesting variety of mannerisms. First and foremost, it is considered extremely impolite to look another person directly in the eyes. In addition, one should never stand looking down at and hovering over another. It is polite to squat or sit when talking to other people, or to one's elders. When receiving a gift, it is custom to first clap your hands together in a gesture of thanks, and then proceed to take the gift with both hands to show that it is too large for one hand only. Also,

Bride-price is the payment to a woman's family by the husband that wishes to marry her; it involves two payments. The first, the rutsambo, used to be a utility object like a hoe, but nowadays is usually a large cash payment. The second payment, the roora, involves a second large cash payment or, sometimes, the more traditional payment of cattle. The groom may take many years to finish paying the roora, partly because it might take him that long to raise it, and partly because he is often disinclined to hand over all the cash until he is fully satisfied that his wife will fulfill all of her obligations. Although many people believe nowadays that payment of the bride-price is demeaning to women and a form of slavery, it was never perceived as such by the Shona themselves. The husband's family has rights and obligations towards the woman's family and may not pass her on to a third party (p.208).

In Zimbabwe, music is almost always accompanied by dancing as a means of self-expression. Dancing is a vital part of all social gatherings, including parties, weddings, political meetings, and receptions for visiting officials. Even religious occasions, such as funerals, include dancing as part of the rituals.

The mhondoro or lion spirits, the spirits of clan founders, are more important than the midzimu, and generally concern themselves with matters that affect communities rather than individuals. They are consulted when locusts plague their fields, when lions are preying on the community, when people are threatened by an epidemic, or when they are about to become involved in a war. Through a possessed medium, an mhondoro may announce it has caused the problem because the people are forgetting their ancestors, or perhaps it will accuse members of the community of a specific crime like incest or quarreling at the spirit's shrine (p.186).

O'Toole, Thomas. (1989). Zimbabwe. Minneapolis: Learner Publications Company

Another aspect of culture that gives identity to the people of Zimbabwe is the arts. Crafts, sculptures, music, and dance are all very important to the history as well as the everyday life of the Shona people. The rural population of Zimbabwe crafts a wide variety of articles for daily use. Carved wooden headrests, ornamented knives and gourds, baskets containing panels of carved wood, musical instruments, and a wide variety of earthenware pots are made throughout the countryside. Roof thatching, perhaps the most practical art form is still very common in the countryside and is completed in a very traditional manner. Once grass is carefully chosen for its length, women bundle and comb the selected grasses, and men are the thatchers. They arrange the bundles on a roof, beginning at the edges and building towards the center. The thatchers attach the grass to the roof by repeatedly winding a coarse string around the bundle onto the frame of the dwelling until the bundle is securely tied. Layer is placed upon layer until only a small opening remains at the top, over which a cap of thatch is fastened (O'Toole, 1989, p.137).

Native instruments often accompany this music, the most important being the drum. Drums are mad

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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)