Kuripa mhosva means to make amends for an offense that was committed against the beliefs and traditions of Chivanhu (customary law).

For example, if two people a man and a woman cohabitate together (kuchaya mapoto or kubika mapoto) or have a child(ren) outside of wedlock without initially getting married.

The man is often expected to settle a requested sum of money (called dhameji, matyorwa or pwanyaruzhohwa) as a way of kuripa mhosva i.e. breaking a woman's virginity without first paying roora (lobola, bride wealth or bride price).


Kuripa ngozi means to make restitution to a victim's family who lost their loved one when the deceased person was killed e.g. in the form of premeditated murder or voluntary manslaughter.

For example, if Person-X kills Person-Y, the spirit of Person-Y will become an avenging spirit (ngozi) that will torment the family members of Person-X in supernatural ways. To deal with the issue at hand, some members of Family-X often proceed to settle this matter with members of Family-Y usually by offering a bride to Family-Y's deceased person.

When this is done one of the members of Family-X (especially single women) may find themselves having a hard time getting married. This is because the avenging spirit will now be a spiritual husband to one of them. Of course, there are other numerous ways and examples of dealing with an avenging spirit. At the end of the day, the solution is always done via the traditional method known as kuripa (i.e. to pay back the price for the fatal wrong deeds which were carried out).
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