Showera (pronounced show-wearer) is a pimple located exactly in line with the its bearer's eye lashes on the top or bottom eye lid on the left or right eye but not both. It makes the eye lid to swell and is visible to onlookers.
In the Shona culture (Zimbabwe) One of the beliefs in the Shona culture of Zimbabwe is the idea that if you look at a naked member of the opposite sex accidentally or deliberately, if you are unauthorised to look at that person's nakedness by virtue of marriage, you will develop a SHOWERA overnight. This will be vivible for all to see by morning. It lasts about three to four days from the day the showera bearer looked at an unauthorised naked person. If a pimple is present on someone's face, but is not exactly in line with the eye lashes, then it is not a showera, and does not generate much interest.
Both married and single people can have a showera. Children within the age of innocence cannot have it because they are not aware that they have looked at a naked person of the complementary gender. People whose eyesight is poor so that they are not able to register the detail of the nakedness, cannot have a showera. Also, looking at an innocent child below puberty, would not generate a showera. All these conditions make the whole thing a fair way of assessing who has done what.
Uses A showera is viewed as a clear indicator of a person's naughtiness and can be used as an undisputed sign of guilt. For example in the case of a rape where a victim was attacked and overpowered, but cannot describe the attacker. The man who gets up the following day with a showera would be the obvious suspect. Also if women washing clothes in the river decide to have a wash in the river, the men who may be hunting in the area should never look or they will get up with a showera.
Origin of the belief in Showeras The origin of such a belief is not clear. It is not possible to find anyone old enough to explain the origins of such beliefs which date back centuries.