Creation Mythology: South & West Africa

Today we are going to explore the creation myths of the people of Southern and Western Africa.  As with East and Central Africa, the mythology of the south and west is varied, differing from tribe to tribe.  Here I will give you five myths from the south and five myths from the west.

The Creation Myths of South Africa

South Africa

South Africa is the mother of various Bantu speaking tribes.  These include the Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Pedi, Ndebele and Tsonga, amongst others.  Let’s take a look at some of the creation myths of South Africa’s tribal people.

The Ndebele tribe of South Africa are one of the smallest groups of people living in South Africa and belong to the larger group Nguni peoples, which include the Zulu, Swazi, and Xhosa tribes.  It is believed that they migrated from Natal in around the 15^th or 16^th century.  The Ndebele tribe tell the following myth about the origin of death and of how the chameleon got his skin.

Chameleon by RuslanKadiev

Chameleon and First Man

In the beginning, when the Creator was completing his plans for the world, he wished to give the gift of immortality to First Man.

The Creator sent Chameleon to First Man with the message that First Man must drink from a stream that he had blessed with heavenly knowledge.  After doing so, humankind would live forever.
It was many, many days before Chameleon, or ‘Slow Walker’ as he is also known, completed his task.  Chameleon would place one foot in front of the other, then pull it back to ponder on whether he should go forward or backward.  Chameleon would do this two, three, or even four times before eventually taking a step forward.
Travelling in such a manner, it took Chameleon a very, very long time to reach the house of First Man.  When he told him of the Creator’s gift, First Man rushed down to the stream.  But he saw no sign of water, only a dry river bed.
First Man found a damp patch of sand and pressed his lips to it, but no water came.  Next he pressed the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet to the damp sand, but no water would come.  First Man even sucked on damp pebbles, but there was no way he could get enough moisture.  He had lost the gift of immortality.
First Man was angry with Chameleon.  His slowness meant the loss of everlasting life.  In his rage, he killed Chameleon.
To this day, many people still kill chameleons on sight, remembering their loss.  But the Creator took pity on Chameleon and gave him the gift of a skin that could change colour, as if by magic.  This now helps the ‘Slow Walker’ to hide from the people’s wrath.

According to traditional elders in South Africa, the Creator made four Spirits which then completed the task of creation.

Wind Spirit by shaggy6963

The Four Spirits of Creation

In the beginning there was only the Creator.  The Creator looked upon itself and said, ‘This is not enough.  It is not good for me to be all alone in existence.’  And so the Creator cast off a piece of itself and from this piece began to create.  The Creator made four Spirits and with its breath gave them life.  As each Spirit came to life, the Creator named them.  ‘You are Wind,’ it said to the first of the creations.  The second Spirit was named Sun, as the life-giving breath filled its being.  The third Spirit was called Water, and the fourth of the creations was Earth.
When this was done, the Creator said to the four Spirits, ‘Go out and create as you see fit.  Give life as I have given you life, make a home for yourselves and create Keepers who will look after it.’  And so each of the four Spirits went out into the darkness and began to create.  The Spirit of the Earth created the land as its home.  It created

The Sun by satiiiva

mountains, rocks, flat plains, and caves.  In each of these places a Keeper was placed.  ‘You will be the Keeper of this place, my home,’ commanded Earth as the Spirit Keeper came to life.  ‘All who come here must abide by the laws that you will be given by me.’
While the Spirit of the Earth was busy creating, the other three Spirits were also busy with their own creations.  The Spirit of Water created the ocean, the lakes, and the rivers.  In each of these places, Water placed a Spirit Keeper and commanded them to keep the place in good order.  The Spirit of the Wind in its turn created a mighty ocean of air with which it encircled the land that the Earth had created as its home.  The Wind also created Keepers of the sky to do its bidding and to maintain the law of the sky.  The Spirit of the Sun looked upon the creations of the other three Spirits and said, ‘I will create a great cooking fire and place it in the sky.  With this great fire I will bring light and warmth to the land, the sky, and the ocean.’

Water Spirit by Aster-phire

When the Spirits of the Earth, the Water, the Sun, and the Wind were finished, the Keepers set to work to create helpers who would maintain the creations of the four great ones.  The Keepers of the land created all the animals and reptiles who would roam the land and help to keep it in good order.  They also created all the trees and the grass that grows on the plains.  The Keepers of Water created the fish and all the creatures who lie in the rivers, the lakes, and the sea.  The Keepers of the Wind created the birds and even the tiny flying insects for whom the sky would be home.  The Keepers of Fire brought warmth and life to the world, and brought rain to the land with the fiery power of lightning.

Earth Spirit by beyondwonderwall

The Great Creator of All Things looked upon the creations and was happy.  Its only sadness was that none of its creations ever returned to visit.  Then, one day, to the Creator’s surprise and joy, the Spirit of Earth came.  ‘You have remembered me!’ the Creator cried joyfully.  ‘For this I will reward you with a gift.’  The Creator gave the Spirit of Earth a small bundle and said, ‘Place this deep within your womb; hide it there so that the others cannot see that I have given you a gift, for if they see it they too will want gifts and I have none to give them.’  And so Earth took the bundle and hid it deep within her womb.
The bundle contained the first ancestors of the human being.  The ancestors lived within the womb of the Earth and gave birth to children and grandchildren, who in turn gave birth to great-grandchildren, until there were villages of people living deep within the Earth.

The Kalahari Bushmen, also known as the San, Saan, or Bazarwa are hunter-gatherers who have territory in Botswana, Nambia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.  They are believed to be the oldest inhabitants of South Africa, where they have lived for at least 20,000 years.  Here we find a creation story which tells of how people and animals once lived beneath the surface of the Earth with the Lord of Life, known as Kaang or Kang.

We Could Live in Caves by ArtofTrent

Kaang Creates the World Above

It was the golden age, an age of happiness, when there was no quarrelling or warfare and everything was bathed in a light which did not come from the sun.  Then Kaang decided to make a more wonderful world above ground.

He created a great tree whose branches stretched out across the whole world.  Under its roots he made a passageway down to the place where people and animals were living comfortably together.  Then he led the first man up to the surface, followed by the first woman, and then all the people.  After that he brought up the animals, who rushed out eagerly, and some of them swarmed up into the branches of the tree.
Kaang gave them all instructions.  They were to continue to live together peacefully, people and animals.  He gave especially firm instructions to the people not to build fires.  If they built fires evil would come.  They promised and he left them to their lives, moving away but continuing to watch over them.

Fire in the Night

In their underground world it had always been mysteriously light, but above ground the sun set and it grew dark.  The people were frightened because they could not see what was happening and, lacking the fur the animals wore, the humans felt cold.  Someone suggested building a fire to give light and heat, forgetting Kaang’s warning.  But the fire frightened the animals, who ran away to live in mountains and caves, and people and animals lost the ability to talk to one another.  People and animals now lead lives of mutual suspicion and antagonism and there is no more peace.

The Zulu are the largest ethnic group in South Africa, with an estimated 10-11 million people living in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and smaller numbers living in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique.  They are believed to descend from a chief from the Congo area and are said to have migrated south in the 16^th century.  The Zulu people tell the following creation myth of the sky-god Umvelinqangi and the ancestor Unkulunkulu.  Some versions have it that the supreme god is Unkulunkulu rather than Umvelinqangi.

Unkulunkulu by FrancisWarhol*

People of the Reeds

In the beginning there was a large swamp in the lands to the North, called Uhlanga.  In this swamp there grew many types of reeds and rushes, each with its own colour.

One morning the sky-god Umvelinqangi descended from heaven and married Uhlanga.  Out of this vast valley he ‘broke off’ many reeds of different colours and made them into people.  He made them in pairs, a man and a woman he made from every type of reed.  These original people were all called Unkulunkulu ‘ancestor’.  Each pair became the parents of a tribe of human beings, each tribe having its own colour, just as one finds stems and stalks in different shades of brown.  So, the people of this Earth were created from waterplants, which grew up from the valley with which Umvelinqangi lived in creative union.  Each nation was born from the wet earth, and every Unkulunkulu brought his own medicine, i.e. his won secret charm of life.

The Shona tribe are Zimbabwe’s largest indigenous group, numbering around 9 million.  They can be found in Zimbabwe, Botswana and southern Mozambique in South Africa.  According to the Shona, the Supreme Being is Mwari.  Mwari is both male and female.  The female aspect of their creator ‘is merged in the pool with its darkness and mystery; this is the god of below.  The male aspect of Mwari manifests himself in lightning or in a shooting star and is ‘owner of the skies, the god of light, the father of creation… this is the god above.’  Mwari is the god of fertility and is also known as Dzivaguru, meaning great pool, as he is the bringer of rain.

Mwari and his Creation, Musikavanhu

Mwari put his creation, Musikavanhu, into a deep sleep and the let him drop from the sky.  While he fell, Musikavanhu awoke and, in the distance, saw a white stone which was also dropping from the sky at great speed.  Musikavanhu fell softly onto the stone, and the first spot his feet touched softened and emitted water.  Musikavanhu, bored, began to wander about.  When night fell, he sat

Musikavanhu, Artist Unknown

down near the stone from which God had spoken, and slept.  In a dream, he saw the birds in the air, and many animals on the earth that were jumping from stone to stone.  When Musikavanhu awoke, he was surprised to see that all he had just dreamt had become reality.  God told Musikavanhu what he was allowed to eat, and what food was forbidden.  He was free to eat vegetables and fruit from trees, but not to kill and eat animals.  Nor were the animals allowed to eat each other.  One day, while Musikavanhu slept, a snake crept over his loins and left its marks.  When he woke up, he was overcome by a strange feeling; he had trouble breathing and his penis moved like a snake.  A voice told him to go to the pool and the pain would pass.  On his way there, he saw a beautiful young woman sitting on a stone near the pool.  She looked like him, but she could neither speak nor move.  Again Musikavanhu heard a voice.  It told him to touch the woman with his hand.  He did, and the young woman came to life.  A snake moved across her loins too and she was overcome by the same emotions as Musikavanhu.  The voice spoke and told Musikavanhu to be kind to his wife and to all the animals too.  He was also told to set aside one day a month for the honor of God.  When Musikavanhu had completed the tasks set by God, he had to return to heaven.  Before he left, Musikavanhu told his children to observe the laws of God or that same God would punish them.

The Creation Myths of Western Africa

West Africa

West Africa is home to many tribes, some of which date back thousands of years.  These include the Ashanti, Fulani, Dogon, Yoruba, Mande, and Fon tribes.  Let’s take a look at some of their creation myths.

 The Yoruba are one of the three largest ethnic groups of Nigeria, with smaller groups being found in Benin and northern Togo.  Their supreme being is Olorun and he is assisted by a number of beings called orishas.

Olorun by Kriizi

Obatala and the Golden Chain 

In the beginning there was only the sky above, and water and marshland below.  The all-powerful, supreme god Olorun ruled the sky, and the goddess Olokun ruled what was below.  It was another god, Obatala, who thought that something more should be done.  After reflecting on the situation, Obatale went to Olorun and asked for permission to create dry land so all manner of creatures might live upon it.  Olorun gave him permission and he sought the advice of Orunmila, who was the eldest son of Olorun and the god of prophecy.  Obatala was told that he would need a golden chain which was long enough to reach below; a snail shell filled with baobab powder and sand; palm nuts; maize; and the egg, which contained the personalities of all orishas (spirits which reflect one of the manifestations of God in the Yoruba religion), all of which he was to carry in a bag.  All of the gods gave what gold they had, while Orunmila supplied the items for the bag.  When all was ready, Obatala hung the chain from a corner of the sky, placed the bag over his shoulder, and

Obatala Artist Unkmown

started to climb down.  When he reached the end of the chain he saw that he still have further to go.  From high above he heard Orunmila instruct him to pour the sand from the snail’s shell and to break the egg to free Sankofa (in this case, a bird).  Obatala did as he was told to, pouring out the sand and shattering the egg.  Upon landing, the bird began to scratch and scatter the sand and, wherever the sand landed, it formed dry land, with the larger piles becoming hills and the smaller piles becoming valleys.  Obatala jumped to a hill and named it Ife.  Then he began to plant palm nuts and watched them grow to maturity in only seconds.  Months passed and Obatala grew bored with the routine.  He decided to create other beings like himself to keep him company.  Digging into the sand, Obatala soon reached clay which he began to mold into figures.  Time passed and Obatale grew tired.  He took a break, making wine from a nearby palm tree.  He drank a bowl, then another, then another.  Then, not realizing how intoxicated the wine had made him, Obatala returned to his task but the figures he created were misshapen and imperfect.  But Obatala was unaware of their imperfection and called for Olorun to breathe life into the clay figures.  It wasn’t until the following day that Obatala realized his mistake.  He swore to never drink again and promised to care for those who were deformed, becoming Protector of the Deformed.  Obatala’s creations built huts, much as their creator had, and thrived.  The other gods were pleased with what Obatala had done and visited the new land often, all but Olokun, who ruled all below the sky.

The Fulani of Mali, also known as the Fula or Fulbe, can be found throughout Africa, although they predominantly inhabit West Africa.  They tell the following poem of creation which involves their supreme god Doondari.

A Drop of Milk by MarcGC

How the World Was Created From A Drop of Milk

At the beginning there was a huge drop of milk.

Then Doondari came and he created the stone.
Then the stone created iron;
And iron created fire;
And fire created water;
And water created air.
Then Doondari descended the second time.  And he took the five elements
And he shaped them into man.
But man was proud.
Then Doondari created blindness and blindness defeated man.
But when blindness became too proud,
Doondari created sleep, and sleep defeated blindness;
But when sleep became too proud,
Doondari created worry, and worry defeated sleep;
But when worry became too proud,
Doondari created death, and death defeated worry.
But when death became too proud,
Doodari descended for the third time,
And he came as Gueno, the eternal one,
And Gueno defeated death.

According to the Fon people of Dahomey, Benin, the creator is Mawu-Lisa, a god with two faces.  The first face is Mawu, a woman, whose eyes are the moon; the second face is Lisa, a man, whose eyes are the sun.  Mawu is the ruler of the night, where Lisa is the ruler of the day.  To aid the god in its creation of the world is Aido-Hwedo, the serpent, who is a twinned male-female form, with one half living in the sky and the other half living in the sea.

Mawu, African Goddess Of The Moon by Shella Goh|

Mawu and the Rainbow Serpent 

When Mawu was making the world, Aido-Hwedo, the rainbow serpent, was her servant.  It is said that he came into existence with the first man and woman, Adanhu and Yewa.  Aido-Hwedo carried Mawu in his mouth wherever she wanted to go, which is why the Earth curves and winds: it was carved from the sinuous movements of the serpent.  Wherever they rested there are now mountains, which are the excrement of Aido-Hwedo.  It is for this reason that great riches (metals) can now be found within the mountain today.

When Mawu finished her work of creation, she saw that she had made too many things: too many trees, too many mountains, too much of everything.  The Earth could not bear the weight.  So she told Aido-Hwedo to coil himself into a circle beneath the Earth, to support it.  Aido-Hwedo does not like heat, so Mawu made the cold sea as a home for him.  When the Earth chafes him, Aido-Hwedo shifts, and causes earthquakes.  He eats iron bars, forged for him by red monkeys that live beneath the sea, and when the iron runs out, Aido-Hwedo will begin to starve.  In desperation he will gnaw through his own tail.  He will convulse, and the Earth and all its burdens will tip into the sea.

The Dogon can be found in Mali and are believed to be of Egyptian descent. They tell the following creation myth about their one true god, Amma, and spirits called Nummo, who are referred to as serpents and, sometimes, water spirits.

Side-Striped Jackal as Totem by Ravenari.

Amma and the Nummo 

The Dogon say that the stars were created from pellets of earth flung out into space by the one true god, Amma.  The sun and moon were created by a process much like that of making pottery, which was the first known invention of god.  The sun is like a pot that has been fired until it is white-hot, then surrounded by a spiral of copper with eight turns.  To create the Earth, Amma squeezed a lump of clay in his hand and threw it away from himself in the same manner as he did the stars.  The clay spread to the north and to the south (the top and the bottom) in a movement that was horizontal.  By nature, the Earth is female.  Looking at it flat and considering the cardinal points of the compass as her appendages, it is like a woman lying on her back with her arms and legs spread.  The anthill is her female organ.  In the course of time, Amma tried to fertilize her, but this flawed union between god and Earth created only one being, the jackal, which became the symbol of disorder and the difficulties of god.  Later, having overcome the difficulty, god had intercourse with the Earth again, this time successfully.  Water, which is the divine seed, entered the womb of the Earth and resulted in the birth of twins.  Two beings were formed, which god created like water.  They were green in colour and were half human, half serpent.  Their bodies were green and sleek all over and shiny like

Nommo of Sirius (Dogon Creation Myth) © Corbin Kosak 2014

the surface of the water.  These spirits were called Nummo, and they were born perfect.  They had eight members, and their member was eight, which is also the symbol of speech.  They were of divine essence, which is the life force of the world, and is water.  The name Nummo is synonymous in the Dogon language with the word for water.  To the Dogon, Nummo is water, and the Nummon pair is present in all water – whether it is drinking water, water of the river, or water of the storm.

The Mande people can be found throughout West Africa, although they are primarily located on the savannah plateau of western Sudan.  Their creation myth tells of Mangala and the trickster Pemba.  The myth can be considered an example of a world egg, creation from chaos myth which begins as an ex nihilo myth.

The Cosmic Egg by armawolf

Mangala and Pemba 

Before the Earth was created there was Mangala, and he was alone.  Inside Mangala there were four divisions and each one represented the four days of the week, the four elements, and the four directions.  He also carried two sets of twins inside him.  But Mangala soon grew tired of holding all of these things inside him, so he put it all inside a seed.  The seed was his creation of the world, but the seed wasn’t strong enough and split apart.  Mangala was dissatisfied with this world he had created and he quickly destroyed it.

Mangala decided to try again, this time with two sets of twin seeds.  He planted these inside an egg-shaped womb where they gestated.  Mangala continued to add twin seeds to the egg-shaped womb until there were eight sets of seeds.  Inside the womb, the seeds transformed into fish and the words Mangala had made was successful.
But while Mangala tried to keep his creation perfect, it was not to be.  One of the male twins tried to escape to egg.  He was Pemba and he was the chaos.  Pemba as a trickster, and his first trick was to steal a piece of the womb’s placenta, which he threw down, creating the earth.  Then Pemba tried to refertilize the remainder of the womb, committing incest against his mother, who was the womb.
Something had to be done to save Mangala’s creation, so he took Farro, who was Pemba’s brother, castrated him and then killed him, before bringing him back to life.  Then, Mangala took the placental and transformed it into the sun.  Since that time Pemba has been associated with darkness and the night.  Farro became a human and Mangala taught him the language of creation so he might defeat Pemba.  Farro and his twins came to the Earth and married one another, becoming the horonw.
It was then that Sourakate came from the sky, carrying the sacred drum, hammer, and the sacrificed skull of Farro.  Sourakate played the drum and sang for the first rains to come.  This being was able to control nature and he taught these skills to Farro and his followers.  Sourakate is the origin of the nyamakalaw.

 That's all for today.  Next time

 
Useful Resources

When Lion Could Fly: And Other Tales from Africa by Nick Greaves

Resurgence & Ecologist (Creation Story by Collin Campbell)
First Light: A History of Creation Myths from Gilgamesh to the God Particleby G. R. Evans
Bantu Myths and Other Tales edited by Jan Knappert
Creation Stories: Africana Library – Cornell University by J. KirbyJr 
The Origin of Life and Death: African Creation Myths by Ulli Beier
DK: Eyewitness Companions – Mythology by Philip Wilkinson & NeilPhilip
The Science of the Dogon: Decoding the African Mystery Tradition byLaird Scranton
West Africa Cosmogony: Origin Myths of Mande & Yoruba by Neil Lewis

 

Creation Mythology: East & Central Africa

Today we are going to explore the creation mythology from the tribes of East and Central Africa.  Central Africa includes Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Angola.  East Africa includes Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.  Every tribe has its own distinct language, culture, and religion and, as such, their views and stories of creation are many and varied.

The Efe people found in what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are known as Bambuti or, more commonly, Pygmies.  They have lived in the area since around 2250BC.  To the Egyptian Pharaoh Nefrikare they were known as either ‘dancing dwarves’ or ‘people of the trees’.

Canoeing the Congo River by Phil Harwood

The Creation of Humans

The creator, Khvum, lived alone in his village.  He passed his time smoking, but he got bored.  There was no one to prepare his food, or to share it.  He decided to create people to keep him company.  He went into the forest and collected many, many ‘nkula’ nuts, so that they filled his game-bag.  Then he returned to his village and went to the waterfront, where he had left his canoe.  He got into the canoe and called his crocodile; the crocodile came, and he fastened a harness on it and told it to pull the canoe far out into the waters.

The crocodile swam far, far out, until there was nothing but water all around them.  There Khvum told it to stop.  He removed a nut from his bag and rubbed it in his hands for some time, then blew on it and threw it back towards the land, saying, ‘You shall be the first man.’  The next nut, he called a woman, and so on until all the nuts from his bag had been sent back towards the land.
When he reached the shore, all the people were waiting for him in the village.  He gave them their places, and for a time he lived with them there.  It was a wonderful time.

Another Pygmy origin story is much like that found in Genesis, revolving around a monotheistic God who resides in heaven.  However, while similar, it is clearly not derived from the Biblical account, and reflects Pygmy culture and surroundings.  It has been suggested that this ‘Garden of Eden’ creation myth is much earlier that the Biblical account and, possibly, the earliest.

Garden of Eden by George Mnyalaza Milwa Pemba

The Pygmy Garden of Eden 

One fine day in heaven, God told his chief helper to make the first man.  The angel of the moon descended.  He modelled the first man from earth, wrapped a skin around the earth, poured blood into the skin, and punched holes for the nostrils, eyes, ears, and mouth.  He made another hole in the first man’s bottom, and put all the organs in his insides.  Then he breathed his own vital force into the little earthen statue.  He entered into the body.  It moved…  It sat up…  It stood up…  It walked.  It was Efe, the first man and father of all who came after.

God said to Efe, ‘Beget children to people my forest.  I shall give them everything they need to be happy.  They will live forever.  There is only one thing I forbid them.  Now listen well.  Give my words to your children, and tell them to transmit this commandment to every generation.  The tahu tree is absolutely forbidden to man.  You must never, for any reason, violate this law.’
Efe obeyed these instructions.  He and his children never went near the tree.  Many years passed.  Then God called to Efe.  ‘Come up to heaven.  I need your help.’  So Efe went up to the sky.  After he left, the ancestors lived in accordance with his laws and teachings for a long, long time.  Then, one terrible day. A pregnant woman said to her husband, ‘I want to eat the fruit of the tahu tree.’  The husband told her, ‘You know that is wrong.’  His wife asked why and he told her it was against the law.  ‘That is a silly law,’ she said.  ‘Do you care more for me or for some silly law?’
They fought and fought, but the husband eventually gave in and sneaked into the forest, heart pounding with fear, to the forbidden tree.  He picked the tahu fruit and peeled it, hiding the peel beneath a pile of leaves, and then he returned to camp to give his wife the fruit.  She tasted it, then urged her husband to taste it.  And he did, then all other Pygmies followed their example and tasted the forbidden fruit.  They believed that God would never find out.
But the angel of the moon saw them and went to God, telling him, ‘’The people have eaten the fruit of the tahu tree!’  God was furious and he told the ancestors, ‘You have disobeyed my orders.  For this you will die!’

Another version of this myth can be found among the Mbuti or Bambuti, who are also an indigenous pygmy group found in the Congo region of Africa.



Garden of Eden

The Mbuti Garden of Eden

God made the first man and woman and put them in a forest.  They had everything, including an abundance of food, at their fingertips.  God told them that they should have children and that all humanity would live forever.  He warned them not to eat the fruit of the tahu tree.  Both the man and woman agreed that they would leave the fruit untouched.  The man was uninterested in the tahu fruit.  However, during her pregnancy, the woman found that she had a terrible craving for it.  So the man stole the fruit for her, and together they peeled and ate it.  They hid the peels beneath a pile of leaves.  But God created a wind and uncovered the peels.  He was very angry that the y would break their promise and, turning to the woman, God said that woman would suffer pain in childbirth.  God then told the couple that from that moment on they would both have to work hard, suffer illness, and would eventually die.

The Kuba people of the Congo tell the story of Mbombo, their supreme god, who created the world with vomit. 



Mbombo by dreamsnotover

Mbombo Creates the World

In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness and water.  All were ruled by the god Mbombo.  One day, he had a terrible pain in his stomach and vomited up the sun, the moon, and the stars.  There was light everywhere.  The rays of the sun made some of the water turn to steam and rise up to make clouds.  Dry hills emerged as the level of the water dropped.  Mbombo vomited once again, and trees, then animals and people emerged.  Among everything there was one trouble-maker and that was lightning.  It caused so much trouble that it was eventually chased into the sky.

A similar myth comes from the Boshongo people of Central Africa.  In this creation story it is Bumba, not Mbombo, who creates the world.  Their version has Bumba create Koy Bumba, the leopard; Ganda Bumba, the crocodile; and the Kono Bumba, the tortoise.  Men were created last, including Yoko Yima, who was white like Bumba.  The animals that were created by Bumba created other animals.  For example, the crocodile created snakes and the heron created birds.  This myth also includes the trouble maker, lightning, known here as Tsete, who was confined to the sky.  She is said to occasionally strike her old home in anger.

The Efik people of present day Nigeria and parts of Cameroon tell of Abassi who created the world and Atai, his wife, who created death.  The following myth is about the creation of man and the origin of death.

Atai: Goddess of Creation & Death

The Creators of Life and Death

Abassi created the world and the first man and woman.  Because Abassi did not want anyone to compete with him, he decided that the people he had created could not be allowed to live on Earth.  His wife, Atai, disagreed with him.  She insisted that Abassi allow the couple to settle on Earth.  Abassi finally permitted them to do so but with two conditions.  They could neither grow their own food nor have children.  To make it unnecessary for the couple to grow crops or hunt, Abassi rang a bell to summon them to the sky, where they ate all their meals with him.  The woman, however, began to till the soil and produce food.  Her husband agreed that the food she grew was better than the food Abassi gave them, so he joined her in the fields.  The couple stopped having meals with Abassi.  In time, they also began to have children.  Atai reassured him that humans would never be his equal.  To keep people in their place, she sent Death into the world.  Death slew the human couple and caused disagreements among their children.

The Fang or Fan tribe who inhabit areas of what is now Gabon, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea have the following ex nihilo myth which tells of creation and the fall of humanity. 

Nzame: God of Three Parts

In the beginning there was only Nzame, who was God.  He was made up of three parts: Nzame, Mebere, and Nkwa.  Nzame created the universe and the earth, which he breathed life into.  Then Nzame called upon Mebere and Nkwa to view his creation.  ‘What do you think?’ he asked them.  ‘Is there anything else I need to make?’  Mebere and Nkwa both agreed that Nzame needed to create a chief for the earth.  So Nzame created the elephant, the leopard, and the monkey who he made joint chiefs of the earth.  But he found himself unsatisfied.  So Nzame, Mebere, and Nkwa created a creature which resembled them.  The creature took his strength from Nzame, his leadership from
Mebere, and his beauty from Nkwa.  The three-parted God named this created Fam, meaning Power, and ordered him to take charge of the earth.  God then returned to the place above the world.

Nzame creates the first rulers by FireGlass

For a time there was peace.  The first three chiefs – the elephant, the leopard, and the monkey – obeyed the orders of Fam.  But Fam soon grew to become arrogant and proud and cruel to the animals.  He stopped worshipping Nzame.  ‘Let Nzame be where he is; I rule here,’ Fam sang and, when Nzame heard the son, he became angry and demanded to know who was singing the song.  ‘Look for him,’ Fam responded rudely, enraging Nzame, who brought down thunder and lightning.  He destroyed everything on earth except Fam, who had been promised life without death.  And Fam still remains, unseen, and creates trouble whenever he wishes.
Looking down at the now barren earth, Nzame decided that something needed to be done.  So the three-parted God applied a new layer of soil to the ground and when a tree sprouted from it he made it drop seeds to make new trees.  When the leaves fell into water, they transformed into fish and when they fell upon the earth, the leaves transformed into animals.  Soon the earth was as we now know it and, if you dig down far enough you willo find the old burned earth, which we know to be coal.
After this, Nzame decided to make a new Fam, only this one would one day experience death.  We know this creature as the ancestor Sekume.  Sekume created Mbongwe, the first woman, from a tree.  These first ancestors were made with Body and Soul, with Soul giving life to Body as well as its shadow.  When Body dies, Soul doesn’t die with it.  Soul is the tiny spot in the middle of the eye; a spot like a star in the heavens or the fire in the hearth.
Sekume and Mbongwe had many children.  They were always wary of Fam, who was always tunnelling up from the place beneath the earth where Nzame had put him to do evil things to them.  This is why the people tell their children to think before they speak in case Fam is listening, at the ready to bring them trouble.

The Buganda people of Uganda tell the following creation myth of Kintu, the first man, and Ggulu, the creator.

Kintu and Nambi by Gloria Ssali

Kintu, the First Man

In a distant past, Kintu was the only person on the earth, living alone with his cow.  Ggulu, the creator of all things, lived up in heaven with his many children, who occasionally came down to earth to play.  On one of these occasions, Ggulu’s daughter Nambi and some of her brothers encountered Kintu and his cow.  Nambi instantly liked Kintu and made the decision to stay and to marry him.  Her brothers, however, pleaded with her to return to heaven so she could ask her father for his blessing.  Nambi eventually agreed and, with Kintu, went to heaven to ask for Ggulu’s permission to marry.  Ggulu was not pleased, but he gave the couple his blessing and advised them to leave heaven secretly to prevent Walumbe, who was ‘that which causes sickness and death’, from insisting that he go with them.  It was feared that he would bring them misery.  So Kintu and Nambi set off for earth the next morning, taking Nambi’s chicken with them.  But, during their journey, Nambi realized that she’d forgotten the millet which he chicken liked to eat and while Kintu tried to stop her, Nambi returned to get it.  On the way back Nambi met Walumbe.  She refused to tell him where she was going but Walumbe was filled with curiosity and followed her.  And so Walumbe is the origin of all sickness, death, and suffering on earth.

Another creation myth of Uganda comes from the Lugbara tribe, who can also be found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

African Spirit Series II by Ricardo Chávez-Méndez

Gborogboro and Meme

The people are all of one blood.  The creator, Adronga ‘ba o’bapiri, made this blood ex nihilo for the first two creatures he placed here.  These were Gborogboro, meaning Sky Person, and Meme, meaning Big Body.  Together they were a form of Heaven and Earth, and the two were married.  Meme was full of wild animals and these sprang out from her womb.  After this, the creator filled her womb with children.  Other versions have Gborogboro and Meme couple, with Meme conceiving a boy and a girl.  And the boy and girl coupled and brought forth another boy and girl, who did the same.  It is sometimes said that some of these brother-sister pairs never coupled, with the women becoming pregnant when goat’s blood was poured over their legs.  People also tell of how humans and their creator were eventually separated and that the people, who all carry the same blood, were separated into black and white.

The Maasai can be found in Kenya and Tanzania and number around 400,000.  Here the creator is known as Enkai.

Enkai the Creator

When time began, there was Enkai, who created the earth.  From a tree, which he split into three parts, Enkai created humans.  From one part he made the father of the Maasai, who he gave a stick with which animals could be herded.  From the other two parts Enkai created the Kikuyu and Kamba fathers, giving the Kikuyu a hoe with which to farm the land and giving the Kamba a bow and arrow with which to hunt.

Another Maasai account of creation tells of Ngai, meaning sky, who the creator of everything , who is neither male nor female, but has two main manifestations who are Ngai Narok and Ngai Na-nyokie: Ngai Narok is black, good, and benevolent where Ngai Na-nyokie is red and angry.  It is due

Ngai by SirRegynald

to the following story that the cattle and fig trees are sacred to the Maasai.  Small ceremonies take place whenever they pass a fig tree – handfuls of grass are placed between the roots in the belief that it will attract more cattle from the heavens.  The soil is also considered sacred as it produces the grass on which the cattle feed and, as such, the Maasai are unwilling to break the ground, even to bury their dead.

Ngai Sends the Sacred Cattle

In the beginning, Ngai was one with the earth, and owned all the cattle that lived upon it.  One day the earth separated from the sky, also separating Ngai and the cattle from man.  But the cattle needed grass from the earth to survive, so Ngai sent to cattle to earth and to the Maasai, who he asked to look after the cattle, using the roots of the sacred wild fig tree.

The Hadza of Tanzania, who number just under 1,000, have a creation myth to explain how the Hadza people came to be. 

Giraffe and Giant Baobab by deskridge*

How the Hadza Came To Be

Humans descended to the earth on the neck of a giraffe.  Other versions say that humans climbed down from a baobab tree.  A giant ancestor, known as Hohole, and his wife, Tsikaio, lived at Dungiko in a cave beneath the rocks where the sun god Haine was unable to follow them.  Hohole would hunt elephants, giving them one blow with his stick and putting them in his belt, much like the Hadza carry home the hyrax they have killed.  Sometimes Hohole walked hundreds of miles and returned home with six elephants beneath his belt.  One day when Hohole was hunting, a cobra bit him on his little toe and Hohole died.  Tsikaio found him and fed on his leg for five days until she felt strong enough to carry his body to Masako.  Here she left him to be devoured by the birds.  Then Tsikaio left to live in a giant baobab tree.  After spending six days in the baobab tree, Tsikaio gave birth to Konzere.  The Hadza are the children of Konzere and his mother Tsikaio.

The final myth I want to share with you today comes from the Wapangwa of Tanzania who tell a story of the creation of the Earth by the excrement of tree ants.  Here the catalyst of creation is ‘the Word’, who is the ultimate creator.

Leaf Cutter Ants by mszafran

The Word – Origin of the Earth

The sky was large, white, and very clear.  It was empty; there were no stars and no moon; only a tree stood in the air and there was no wind.  This tree fed on the atmosphere and ants lived on it.  Wind, tree ants, and atmosphere were controlled by the power of the Word.  But the Word was not something that could be seen.  It was a forces that enabled on thing to create another.

One day the wind was annoyed about the tree, as it stood in tis way.  It blew with all its force until it carried away a branch carrying white ants.  This branch was carried through the air for a while, then it left the air current, and fell down.  Now the ants were left with little food, because they fed on the leaves of the tree.  They decided to eat all the leaves at once and so, leaving a large leaf to excrete on, they ate all the other leaves.  Their excrement became a large heap.
When they found themselves without food, they began to eat their own excrement.  They chewed it until it was twice as big as before; and they continued to re-chew and digest their excrement until it became an enormous mountain, that grew and grew and finally approached the tree of origin.  Soon the mountain rested on the tree and the ants had leaves enough to eat.  But they had become so used to the new form of life that they could not abandon it now.  They continued to chew their excrement until they had created an enormous object – the Earth.
Still the wind blew and it was so strong that parts of the excrement began to harden into stone.  Soon the Word sent snow and, after this, a warmer wind.  This melted the snow and brought an immense flood which killed the ants and flooded the Earth.

Tree of Life by FerdinandLadera*

Time passed and the earth joined with the world tree.  Other trees and plants began to grow; rivers and oceans began to form; and the air birthed new beings which flew above the land singing.  These creatures soon descended to the Earth where they transformed into animals, birds, and humans.
These new beings found that they were hungry.  The animals wished to eat the Tree of Life, but the humans fiercely defended it.  The difference in opinion brought war between humans and animals, and it is this that led to humans eating animals and vice versa.  The war was so brutal that pieces of the earth broke away and flew off into space, gaining heat and transforming into the sun, moon, and stars.
When the war came to an end new gods came into being, along with rain, thunder, and lightning.  Another creature was also created: a long-tailed sheep with a single horn.  This creature was so happy that the war had ended that it leapt into the air and catching fire.  She became the source of thunder and lightning.
The new gods were very harsh on humans.  They told the people that the sheep of thunder and lightning had killed the Word.  As punishment, the people would be shrunk and would ultimately be consumed by fire.

That's all for today.  Next time we will continue in our exploration of the creation mythology of Africa.

 

Useful Resources

African Myths of Origin by Stephen Belcher

African Mythology by Sandra Giddens & Owen Giddens
African Mythology A to Z by Patricia Ann Lynch
The Hadza: Hunter-gatherers of Tanzania by Frank Marlowe
Creation Myths of the World by David Adams Leeming
Freethought Nation

Glance at Africa

The Maasai Tribe by Katie Panichella
Maasai – Religion and Beliefs 

Foundations of Modern Cosmology