The Setting Sun and the Rolling World

In almost every story featured in the book, witchcraft or other traditional, non-Christian belief systems play a central role, whether in the supernatural journey Nharo and Chemai take in “The Mountain” or the horrifying filicide ritual proposed in “The Mount of Moriah.” It may therefore come as a surprise that around 85% of Zimbabweans are Christian. (“Inter-Censal Demographic Survey 2017.” Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.) Yet there is a fluidity to religious practices in Zimbabwe, as Christian and non-Christian rituals and icons intermingle and play significant roles in the everyday lives of Zimbabweans. In The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism, scholar Allan Anderson writes that in Christian churches in countries like Zimbabwe, “the emphasis is on the power and gifts of the Spirit, particularly healing, exorcism, and prophecy, which have been interpreted within an older African context dealing with daily witchcraft and rampant disease.” (McGrath, Alister E., and Darren C. Marks, editors. The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism. Wiley Blackwell, 2006.)

This helps explain the persistence of old African traditions in Mungoshi’s stories and in Zimbabwe’s past and present more generally. Traditional healers like the medicine men who emerge in “The Mount of Moriah” and “The Flood” still find plenty of patrons in the 21st century, though few encourage filicide or mutilation.