Myths carry over from instances in the past, having coalesced through time into something quite different from what they used to be. They represent the traditions of any particular culture or religion and are fables to amuse or beware people. Africa is home to a versatile and eclectic group of people, spread out through the continent, each with their own beliefs and customs, their own languages and way of life. With the Southern Africa cut off from the world throughout an extended period in history, their beliefs are more deep rooted and the myths are an active part of their life, even today. Influenced by a wide variety of religions, such as Christianity and Islam, as well as people.
Many African tribes hold true to the idea that Amma, a supreme god mated with the Earth to produce an egg, a cosmic one at that, from which the twin Nummo gods hatched and created the universe. Another belief is that Amma created the cosmic egg, which gave rise to the entire world. Then there are those who believe that a snake is responsible for the advent of the Earth, one that forms the rainbow as it spans across the sky. Another myth revolves around Bumba, the supreme God, who in the grips of great pain, retched and vomited up the entire universe and the human race.
One folklore surrounding the creation of the humans is that Juok, the creator, meandered around the world and fashioned mankind out of clay, using material of different color from the various areas he visited. By calling out the different attributes he wished to see, he moulded the men into perfect beings. The Shilluks believe that the colors of the races are attributed to the types of sand and clay he used to mould man. Another folklore cites that the son of the sun (Lisa) and the moon (Mawu) sent their son, Gu, down to Earth in preparation for the people and he taught them the essentials of growing their own food and building shelter.
The African myth is that the gods meant for humans to be immortal and that death was introduced when the wrath of the gods was incurred either by the animals or the people by some unlucky mistake. A hyena is blamed by the Nuer people to have severed the rope that linked heaven and Earth while the Dinkas tell of a women who in her greed hit the god with her hoe, who in a fit of anger cut this rope. The people of Luyia relate that when a chameleon placed the curse of death on the people when a man refused to give it food. Another tale of the chameleon is that it was to deliver the news of eternal life to the people but a lizard arrived first and told the people of death instead.
The Africans do have faith in life after death and maintain that human spirits persist even in death. Griots tell that these spirits inhabit an underworld where the order of events is alternate to the real world. Folklore also has it that the dead spirits remain with the relatives and offer protection. They are worshipped and kept alive in the parables and legends. In respect, the people of Zulu also hold ceremonies to transfer the soul of the dead into a newborn baby. Snakes are respected by the Africans because they believe the dead to come back to life in other forms such as snakes. Some also believe the dead to become stars that illuminate the night sky.
Many fables of the trickster have also been featured in the African parables. He is known to take on different forms, either human, god or animal, and has been told to wreak havoc by starting quarrels and through his pranks. For the people of Yoruba, Eshu the trickster is an unscrupulous and sly prankster who at times serves as a messenger between the people and the supreme gods. A lore has it that Eshu was relegated to playing the messenger when he played a prank on the High God of the sky suggesting that he was a thief. As punishment, the god had the trickster relay details about the happenings on Earth every night. Known to cause disputes, many stories tell of the trickster causing confusion and arguments among family and friends and in one such tale, he changes the places of the sun and the moon, disturbing the cosmic order and balance in the process. As an animal, the trickster is referred to being seemingly innocuous and yet cunning enough to outwit others. Tortoises, Hares and many other animals are implicated to be the tricksters. Anansi the spider is said to be the most mischievous form of the trickster, known to be unpredictable and cruel to fulfill his own purposes. Many of the tales were brought by the African slaves to Africa, who were kept under the termagant rule of the Americans. However, some of the folk stories portray the trickster as a helping creature. The Bushmen of the Saan people tell of a praying mantis who gifted them with fire and words. And the people of Mali tell of an antelope that skilled them in agriculture.
Legends hold rulers and heroes in a divine light and as can be garnered from the myths, Africans twins are considered to be sacred. They appear in many of their tales and represent balance and dualism. The sun and the moon twins, Mawu and Lisa, as mentioned before are highly exalted spirits who are the parents of all other gods. The Africans, particularly in the Ibo area, also hold to the faith that certain signs are given by the gods as a guiding light. Ala, a goddess, is said to signal where the priest should establish a Mbari, a place of worship for the Africans.
Articles related to African Mythology and Gods.
Apap
Concept of lightening
Darkness
Edeke
Eji Ogbe
Fa
Fe
Gawa
Heitsi-Eibib
Ifa
Itonde
Kaang
Khonvum
Juok, the Creator
Male and Female Rainbows
Mamlambo
Mayon
Mbomba
Mbumba
Luangu
Mbombe
Mbongo
Mbotumbo
Mukuru
Ngai
Ndyambi-Karunga
Olodumare and the Orisha (gods)
Osanobwe and Oloku
Panhouin creation myth
Praying Mantis Rainbows
Shango
The Rainbow Monster
Tilo
Tsetse Bumba
Tsui-Goab
Unkulunkulu
Waga, the creator
Wamara
Itonde, Mongo and Nkundo (central Zaire, Africa), is a god of death. He consumes rats as food and is also the god of hunters in the deep jungle forests. He is described in the Epic of Lianja as the first man to die whose spirit at the instant of death into the son of Lianja. He possesses a bell having magical properties, the clejo, by which he predicts when death will strike. A.G.H.
Source:
Jordan, Michael, Encyclopedia of Gods, New York, Facts On File, Inc. 1993. pp. 119-120
Wamara is a god worshipped by the Bahimas of the Baziba tribes. Wamara, whose mother is Nyante-the pre-existing universe-and father is unknown, had four sons to whom he distributed different divisions of reality: Kagoro, mythical hero; Mugasha, god of water; Kazoba, god of the sun and moon, whose son Hangi supported the celestial vault; and Ryangombe, god of cattle.
This was the start of a very complex cosmogony leading to numerous adventures. For example, Mugash’s love for Kagoro’s sister brings about a conflict between the two brothers and Mugasha’s leg wound. The Bahima (cattle raisers) deities take precedent over the Bahera (serfs, peasants) deities, chthonian gods relegated to the rank of terrestrial spirits or genii. A.G.H.
Source:
Grimal, Pierre, Larousse World Mythology, Secaucus, New Jersey, Chartwell Books, 1965. p. 523
The first man was born with all limbs and organs that we have, but even though he could see, he was in other ways completely paralyzed, unable even to breathe. Waga’s wife asked him if he could give the man some medicine to make him speak. The God replied that he had none, but he would bring the man some breath, which he did. Now the man began to move, speak, and till the soil. When he died Wage took his breath back again. (Konso myth, Ethiopia) A.G.H.
Source:
Savil, Sheila. Pears Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends. “Western and Northern Europe, Central and Southern Africa.” London. Pelham Books Ltd. 1977. p. 155
Unkulunkulu “the Very old” is a predominate figure in Kaffir mythology (Zulu and Xhosa). The reason this seems true is because there existed extreme importance on the cult of royal or family ancestors among the Bantu tribes. These ancestors were intermediaries between mortals and the supreme god. The images of Unkulunkulu are that of the first man, ancestor of the human race, and of a demiurge, in so far as he iis the son of the Unvelingauge. This means “He who exists” and is delegated powers of creation by the supreme being. He arose from a bed of reeds, therefore the ground, Mother Earth, and seems to have been the creator of the customs and techniques typical of Kaffir civilization. Even though he is recognized as the founding ancestor, like many creator deities in world mythology, this god is too distant figure to be a focus of worship.
But as he a culture-hero, and benefactor of humanity, he also is indirectly responsible for death. This indirect responsibility is told in legend. Unkulunkulu said to the Chameleon, “Go! Go tell the men that they will not suffer death.” But the slow and lazy Chameleon lingered on the way. This angered Unkulunkulu who sent a second messenger, the Lizard who was to tell the men that death would come. When the Chameleon finally got there, the Lizard had already been there, and that is why men are mortal.
This myth is prominent among Bantu tribes, such as the Basuto or Baranga. It is associated with the idea that the Chameleon is supposed to be one of the first living creatures; he is said to have appeared before the earth emerged completely from the primordial waters, and since he had to learn to walk in mud he acquired a slow movement which caused the coming of death. It is said in myth as retribution Unkulunkulu instituted marriage so people could have immortality through their children A.G.H.
Sources:
Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. “Unkulunkulu.” 2005
Grimal, Pierre, Larousse World Mythology, Secaucus, New Jersey, Chartwell Books, 1965. p. 522
Tsui-Goab is the supreme god of the Hottentots, a higher-technical civilization often regarded as a cross between the north-eastern pastoral Hamites and the Bushmen. The origin of Tsui-Goab seems twofold who is by nature a great priest or sorcerer, and belongs to both the immigrants and the national hero, Heitsi-Eibib, a name derived from Heigib, “the great tree” (which reminds one of the Bushman’s Hise, spirit of the bush) who teaches men to hunt, and apparently belongs to the second ethnic group constituting the Hottentot race.
Tsui-Goab, whose cult is celebrated when the Pleiades appear, lives in the Red Sky where he commands storms, sends rain, and speaks with the voice of thunder. His name means “Wounded knee,” and in the Black Sky lives his adversary who is frequently identified with the Bushmen’s Gauna or Gaunab, chief of the dead. Tsui-Goad kills Gaunab, but first is wounded in the knee during a fight and thereafter walks with a limp. A.G.H.
Source:
Grimal, Pierre, Larousse World Mythology, Secaucus, New Jersey, Chartwell Books, 1965. p. 521
The creator Tsetse Bumba created nine creatures and then man. He ordered each to observe particular taboos, but one creature, Tsetse Bumba, refused to. Bumba therefore expelled her from earth. She sought refuge in the sky, where she has lived ever since, but Bumba allows her to make occasional visits to earth to bring fire for otherwise men would have none. Her descendents are a mixed blessing, for every one brings some disaster, but men have been able to light fires from trees that Tsetse Bumba has struck. (Bushongo myth, Kasai province, Zaire) A.G.H.
Source:
Savil, Sheila. Pears Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends. “Western and Northern Europe, Central and Southern Africa.” London. Pelham Books Ltd. 1977. p. 156
Tilo, a god revered by the Baranga tribe, whose name means “the sky,” and is present in rain or other storms, and speaks with the voice of thunder. In addition he is associated with most mysterious things of the universe such as children’s convulsions and the birth of twins (called “sons of the Sky”). A.G.H.
Source:
Grimal, Pierre, Larousse World Mythology, Secaucus, New Jersey, Chartwell Books, 1965. p. 522
The Zulu people of South Africa called the rainbow Utingo Lwenkosikasi, Arch of the Queen, believing it to form part of the Queen of Heaven’s hut, and to the Baganda (Uganda) the rainbow god Musoke is a wholly benevolent divinity, patron of fishermen. However many African people believe the rainbow is a sign of great ill omen, probably because they associate it with the end of rain storms, and rain is very precious to them. A.G.H.
Source:
Savil, Sheila. Pears Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends. “Western and Northern Europe, Central and Southern Africa.” London. Pelham Books Ltd. 1977. p. 157
Shango is an Osha warrior, the king of the Yoruba religion and one of the most popular Orishas of his pantheon. Shango is an Osha and is in the group of the bedside Oshas. It represents the highest number of favorable and unfavorable situations.
He was the first owner and interpreter of the oracle of Ifá, is a diviner and interpreter of the oracle of Diloggún and of Biange and Aditoto. Shango represents and has a special relationship with the Eggun world. It was the 4th Alafín (king) of Òyó, this is the second dynasty of Oduduwa after the destruction of Katonga, the first administrative capital of the Yoruba empire.
He arrived in a moment of transcendental Yoruba history, where people had forgotten the teachings of God. He was sent with his twin brother by Oloddumare to cleanse society and that the people would once again live a clean life and the teachings of the one God.
After he became king, the people began to say that he was very strict and even tyrant. At that time the laws said that if a king stopped being loved by his people he should be killed. His followers saw him as the recipient of great creative potentialities. He was one of the Yorubas kings that helped to build the formations of battle and thanks to its conquests the Yoruba empire extended from Mauritania to Gabon. He became famous mainly for his cavalry of war, which had a fundamental paper in the construction of the empire.
There are other legends where it is said that he killed his sons and wives for his experiments with gunpowder, after repenting he became Orisha. He is brother of heart with heart of Babalu Ayé (okan pelú okan). He eats first when this Orisha is crowned, since it was Shango who helped him to cure of its plagues. Ossaín is the godfather of Shango, the name of who was its slave is Deú and its messenger is called Bangboshé. His name means revoltoso, its stones or otanes are collected of waterfalls or rivers.
One of the fundamental Orishas that must be received when Kari-Osha Shango is made is Aggayu Solá and the Shango omo must enter with Aggayú Solá. Its main symbol is the Oshe. The Oshe is a doll carved in cedar and that instead of head has a double ax. Oshe over time is an energy that carries charge, which the babalawos do, it lives with Shango. To make Shango must be done with at least 6 days in advance to the Osha Akua Kua Leri a ceremony at the foot of a cedar or royal palm.
In syncretism he is compared to Santa Barbara, which has its feast on December 4, according to the Catholic calendar of saints. His day of the week is Saturday, although Friday is also popular. Its number is 6 and its multiples, although some they adjudge the 4, perhaps by its religious syncretism with Santa Barbara. Its colors are red and white. Greetings Kaó Kabiesilé, Shango Alufina!
The rainbow is a terrible animal that lives in water and comes out under the cover of darkness to devour other animals and even people. One such monster lived in Lake Naivasha and swallowed many Masai cattle before many young men managed to catch it and destroy it. Those rainbows seen in the sky are not the monster itself but the reflections of it. (Gikuyu myth, Kenya) A.G.H.
Source:
Savil, Sheila. Pears Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends. “Western and Northern Europe, Central and Southern Africa.” London. Pelham Books Ltd. 1977. p. 157