ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the people of the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in Western Zimbabwe have dealt with the legacies of the state massacre called Gukurahundi, a Shona word for 'the rains that wash away the chaff'. It addresses the role of rituals associated with the dead among the Ndebele as pathways towards healing and consolation, although it makes occasional references to the Shona culture, which is also found in Zimbabwe and which has cultural commonalities with the Ndebele culture. The chapter illuminates how traditional methods are deployed to deal with dying, death, mourning and remembrance in pursuit of healing and consolation. Consolation and healing are engendered by woundedness, which can take various dimensions. Consolation facilitates the general health and well-being of an individual, but the individual is connected to the community; their health and well-being cannot be maintained alone or in a vacuum.
