Paulo Granjo

The Homecomer Postwar Cleansing Rituals in Mozambique

Unlike in most wars involving Western countries, when veterans from Mozambican civil war began to return home, the first concern of communities was to make them confront their traumatic experiences and guilt. This was done through cleansing rituals, which were and are based on the local exegesis about misfortune. They allow, simultaneously, the confinement of past war actions as an exceptional situation and expurgate the individual veteran from being in danger and being considered a danger to the community. It allows him to be proclaimed a new man, entitled to a fresh start inside the community. In addition to its importance for the individual reintegration of veterans, the generalized performance of such rituals also played and plays an important role in allowing the community members to accept previous enemies/veterans as “people like the others”.