MWARI

In MWARI, pronounced Mai ndiMwari, Mwari as both mother and creator is honoured in this piece. Nurturing divinity fuses with strength and gentleness. Maternal imagery intertwines with spiritual reverence, embodying the divinity of care and sustenance.

 “To express the all-embracing concept of the mother in its fullest significance, the Karanga have taken the m from Mwari, the a from hari, and i from zai, to form the word mai.” Herbert Aschwanden in Symbols of Life – An analysis of the consciousness of the Karanga, 1982, p297. The same book also explains:

Mai is the same as zai, which means egg.

Mai is also the same as hari, the uterus, something that comes from the creator, Mwari.

God is called muhari, contracted into Mwari.