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Abstract
Kutanda botso (ritual cleansing to appease the aggrieved deceased biological mother/paternal aunt's spirit) among the Shona people of Zimbabwe was examined to understand how gender preference of motherhood is reflected than fatherhood. It starts with a local social norm (do not scold, beat up or kill your biological mother asyou will suffer the consequences of an avenging spirit). While this social norm reflects the valued services of the mother to her children and the need to avoid perpetuating violence against one's biological mother on one hand, on the other, when a grown up son/daughter violates this social norm, recourse is sought through a ritual ceremony which extol and venerate the female gender. As such, besides being a violence deterrent against one 's biological mother by grown up sons and daughters, kutanda botso is meant to help the female gender to emancipate themselves out of their self-perceived and socially constructed identities that they are weaker and inferior to their male counterparts.
Keywords: gender; kutanda botso; mother's day, violence; Shona people; Zimbabwe
Introduction
The article is written at a time when more than 40 countries across the globe are celebrating mother's day, though at different dates and months in a year. In Zimbabwe, it is celebrated and observed annually on the second Sunday of every May. There are many versions regarding the origins and evolution of mother's day. Typically, among the Greeks the notion of celebrating motherhood goes back to 250 BC whereas among the Americans it is associated with Anna Jarvis, a social activist who lobbied the government of the day to officialize mother's day in 1914 (Daly, 2019). It may be logical to assume that other countries of the world may have adopted and modified mother's day from any of these or other traditions.
The institutionalization of mother's day in the contemporary world is bent on honoring motherhood, maternal bonds and the critical roles that motherhood play in the survival of societies. As such, on that specific day, each household demonstrates love, appreciation and gratitude to its beloved mother (Nicole & Deutsch, 2008; Engle, 2014; Daly, 2019). When we celebrate and honor our mother, gender identities are reflected, sustained and re-created in our contemporary societies. This is so primarily because the roles of...