Religion
Most people in and around Gorongosa National Park practice some combination of traditional and Christian religions.
The Catholic Church has many local worshippers, as do the more than 70 Protestant sects active in the area.
Traditional religion in Mozambique is based on a belief in a supreme being who is all knowing, all-powerful, and present everywhere. At the same time, that god and creator is distant, so it uses the spirits of ancestors as intermediaries.
Because of Mozambique's violent past, many of the spirits are war-dead. Others inhabit streams, waterfalls, forests and other places in nature. Some forests are especially sacred--it's forbidden to enter or use them in any way without a local leader's permission. The forests on Mount Gorongosa have long been conserved by a traditional system that gives different family lineages responsibility for managing specific sections. While various economic and social pressures have undermined that management in recent years and endangered the forests, all visitors still have to participate in a ceremony that makes their presence known to the mountain's spirits to help them avoid misfortune on their journey, such as getting lost or injured.
Other than such ceremonies and various daily rituals and taboos, traditional religion is most evident when someone falls ill. Sick individuals often take Western medicine when it is available, or they use healing roots or herbs, but it's generally understood that most illnesses are caused by broader social problems disturbing the spirits. A healer ("curandeiro") summons the community. After hours of singing, dancing, and drumming focused on the ill member of an afflicted group, the healer and patient reach altered states that allow them to converse with the spirits, solve the problem, and help the patient heal.
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