The Shona people are mainly concentrated in the southern African country of Zimbabwe, but pockets of them are known in Mozambique, as well as other parts of South Africa, especially the northern part of South Africa.

Before understanding the mentality associated with the Shona people, one has to understand their customs, their superstitions and everything related to their way of life. Although their life in the towns/cities may have changed drastically from the days when Great Zimbabwe was a prosperous city and in most cases certain puberty ceremonies are no longer performed, their belief in the spirit medium it is as strong as ever and in tribal lore. areas and especially among the elders, the tribal customs of the tribesman have changed very little. In today’s Zimbabwe, the payment of lobola, and the payment of what is known as damages {defilement of a girl} is now in the form of cash payment, whereas formally it used to be in the form of cattle, goats or hoes, but in general the actual payment customs have not changed much on .

Since the beginning of the formation of the Shona tribe, agriculture has been the main mode of subsistence. Maize and millet have always been staple crops, but a fair amount of sorghum, monkey nuts, beans, rice, and some indigenous vegetables are also grown. There are a number of methods used to till the land. Traditional cultivation methods basically consisted of breaking up and scraping the soil, and then spreading the seed over a large surface. The Shona farming lifestyle involved keeping a considerable number of livestock, as well as smaller livestock.

The Shona culture is strongly intertwined with the way the village was structured. In terms of village establishment, a Shona village (or musha, as the Shona call it) is controlled by a hereditary chief, who is the head of the main family unit that originally founded the village. The Shona people are a generally patriarchal society. To become a member of the village, one can only have done so through kinship. A member who has been absent from the village for a considerable time does not lose membership of the village by default unless there is indubitable evidence that he will not return. Understanding these concepts creates a framework that helps understand Shona culture.