Language is the most important conveyor of meaning and culture, elements which are often lost in translation, especially when such translation is across languages from distant cultural zones. For example, translations of indigenous African languages into English and French, particularly during the colonial period, frequently distorted the meaning of local words and cultural practices. Such a generalisation directly applies to an aspect of Shona religion known as mukwerera/kukumbira mvura (asking for rain), which was - and is still - being carried out by intermediaries through ancestor supplication. Interestingly, the first translations of this category of practice from Shona into English erroneously labelled the ceremony 'rainmaking', presided over by rain-doctors. Amongst the Shona, however, nobody except the Mwari (God), or Musikavanhu (the Creator), has the power to give or withhold rain. As intermediaries, officials who presided over rain-imploring ceremonies never controlled rain, but petitioned God, via the ancestors on behalf of the community. Rain control was a very dangerous act, only practised by witches and magicians (varoyi) to manipulate lightning (mheni) to harm others. This contribution melds strands of evidence from Shona linguistics with ethnographic, religious, historical, and archaeological observations to argue that the term 'rainmaking' is a misnomer which ascribes undue agency and power to masvikiro who presided over rain imploring. The misnomer derives from the original attempts by English-speaking Europeans to translate directly from the superficial meaning without understanding or appreciating the deeper meaning of the symbolism and role playing involved during the ceremony. Consequently, archaeological interpretations that feed off the misnomer of 'rainmaking' are incongruous with Shona practices and require major revision that equates to concept cleansing.
