African Creation Stories
Since the beginning of humankind, there has been one common thread that ties together all cultures and religions of the world: an attempt to explain their origins. this holds true for the numerous religious groups existing on the African continent. In the absence of science, they resorted to creating stories to account for what they did not and could not understand. While similar in their basic design and theory, these stories varies greatly in their content and meaning. By studying them, much can be learned about the African people of the present and past.
The Shilluks of the Nile region, for example, tell a story in which humankind is fashioned out of clay. In each region of the world in which the creator traveled, he created humans from the materials available, making some white, others red or brown, and the Shilluk black. He then took a piece of earth and gave them arms, eyes, etc. This story says much about their values and culture. In distributing the characteristics to man, he chose first to give them the ability to do work through the use of their arms and legs. They were then given the ability to see and taste their food. Finally, they were given speech and hearing with which to entertain oneself ("An African Story"). This shows the value system at work among the Shilluk, that work comes above all else. It also attempts to explain the differences between men of various races by telling of how they came about.
A West African creation tale explains how two spirit people were accidentally sent down to earth by the sky god. Lonely, the people decided to create children from clay, but feel they must hide them when the sky god comes down. Because they are hidden in fire, the children soon turn to various shades based on how long they had been exposed to the heat. Over time, these clay children grow up and move to various regions of the earth, ultimately populating it (Fader). Much like that of the Shillu k people, this story serves a two-fold purpose: it explains both the creation of man as well as accounts for the differences among him. This tale shows the West Africans value these differences because they feel that all men are created equal and should be treated as such.
The Boshongo, a central Bantu tribe of the Lunda Cluster, tell a different story.
Concerning the nature of myths, one can often find that they are built on broad generalization lacking the premises necessary to make a solid conclusion. Such was the same myths, Pier Larson sought to disprove in his essay “The Student’s ‘Ten Commandments’.” Larson discuss damaging and caustic stereotypes that have worked their way throughout history to create a narrative that often subordinates Blacks when promulgated by a more affluent European society . One myth in particular appears to be quite troubling for its contradictory nature-that being the myth: all Africans are Black. Additionally, to be African is to be Black, Africans are not culturally diverse, and that Africans share one, essentially unified culture. Not only do I find these troubling for their outright abasement of African culture, which is plain to see, but rather for the duplicitous logic that lead to the creation of such myths, and why they remain so harmful when they are continued to be spread in contemporary.
Many oral traditional stories have been told and passed down from person to person and family to family for thousands of years. Almost every story that has been told has either been altered or told in a different way so after 100 years of one story being told someone will decide to create their own version of it.
Underneath the tale of Segu is the hushed and disloyal question few people tend to voice: how did they lose the rights to use the land and resources of an entire continent? This novel explains that it was not just Europe’s greed and Christianity pretense that led to the fall of Africa. It shows that Islam was a major force that endangered Segu as well. However, aside from the tragedy’s that were outlined, there lies a captivating story about culture, spirituality, and diversity.
Author of “The Negro Family”, E. Franklin Frazier believed that the centrality of the bible, structure of Black worship, and notion of God that evolved from the invisible institution to the Black Church was confirmation of the power of white influence . These tactics and different developments were merely adaptive methods used by slaves in order to worship freely in a confined space. Frazier’s beliefs were undermined by author Gayraud S. Wilmore’s description of Vodun in his book Black Religion and Black Radicalism. Frazier’s contention that black religion was evidence of white influence assumes a blank and passive slate. While Vodun in West Africa did have organization that was probably “infiltrated by Roman Catholicism” the goal of New World Africans was to adapt and understand their lives (Wilmore 43). Although white influence was forced upon New World Africans, slaves did not accept this influence but rather interpreted it to create a new, place-based Vodun religion. Vodun adapted to New World conditions, functioned as a coping mechanism, and possessed evolutionary qualities.
To begin, most Africans have come from societies with traditional African religious backgrounds unrelated to Islam or Christianity. As a whole, African religious traditions combine belief in a Supreme Being with the worship of other gods and ancestors and use ritual and magic to mediate between human beings, nature, and the gods. In many African languages, there is no word for God, because in their tradition every thing and place embodies God. Many African religions have common tenets. They share a belief in a community of deities, the idea that ancestors serve as a way to communicate with these deities. They also share the belief...
Migrations have taken place by slaves and by free people of sub-Saharan Africa for over seventy thousand years, beginning with the tropical areas of the Old World and followed by Eurasia and the Americas. These migrations, or Diasporas, began with religious voyages and cultural exchanges and evolved to the slave trade and the deportation of black men, women and children to new colonies as workers and servants. Long before the Atlantic slave trade grew, merchants from Greece and the Roman Empire traveled to the East African coast. Patrick Manning points out in, African Diaspora: A History Through Culture, that migrants came from southern Arabia to Eretria and Ethiopia in the first millennium BCE (Manning 36). As time went on, contacts grew with other regions of Africa and trade developed with Asia and Europe. This resulted in further migrations of black Africans as both slaves and free men. The Africans brought with them customs, music food preparation techniques and minerals. For example, the discovery of copper in Central Africa brought about a substantial trans-Saharan trade and more exchange of culture and migrations. As more Africans migrated to various parts of the world, they carried with them their culture and learned new techniques and ways of life. Whether they migrated as slaves or as free men, the Africans influenced their new lands and African identity was influenced forever. This paper will look at the effects of these migrations on African identity throughout the Diaspora. It will examine migration patterns, issues of race, racial hierarchy and culture.
“You remember your roots, Aliyah” she said “because one day, that’s all you’ll have left.” I remember my great-grandmother would chant this to me often, she’d usually do so before she’d unfold some story that illustrated the history of my culture. Rocking back and forth in her chair she’d witness to me, about the misfortunes of our ancestors, and the debasement of our race. She’d speak of things that were all result of the darkness of our skin, and how our strong complexion resisted being kept within the shadows of segregation and misunderstanding. She’d often refer back to Africa in these lectures, differentiating between nicknames for the sacred continent, names such as the “Motherland” and “Mama Africa”. This stuck with me, and although I hadn’t known a name for her gospel when I was younger, as I got older and obtained more interest I’d realized she shared the same views of those of an “Afrocentric” follower. This intrigued me to further understand the way she thought, and where she learned these things from.
Creation stories have profound effects on humans. Those associated with ancient cultures/civilizations aim to ensure the successful survival or well-being of themselves and that particular culture/civilization of their association, but not all are beneficial, prosperous, or fortunate. Mesopotamia’s “The Gilgamesh Epic”, Egypt’s “Hymn to the Nile-Documents”, and Mesoamerica’s Mayan and Aztec creation stories/religion are influential to establishing significant relationships within society, whether that is between humans and nature or humans and their “god(s).”
Every ancient society and civilization has creation myths that were passed down and keep alive throughout the passing of time by word of mouth. These myths are the world’s oldest stories and are vital to these cultures because they explain their beginnings and give purpose to their existence. By analyzing and interpreting different creation myths it becomes easier to understand different cultures and their connections and relationships with heir beliefs and god(s).
Each of their gods made the mountains, stars, animals, humans, oceans, moon, and the planets. The only thing that was not made by all three was the sun, because that is Begochiddy. So in the stories that the tribes had made their gods not only breed creation but, in two of the stories they caused destruction and chaos through thievery and impatience which are the same traits that people have in today's world. The communities must have thought that the gods looked like humans and acted like humans but, also have supernatural powers to help create the world around
A predominant theme among African creation myth is the people's relation to the land, as a means of survival and origin. The shilluk myth, "An African Story of the Creation of Man" and the Yoruba people's myth, "The Creation of the Universe and Ife" state that man was first made from clay. Both creation myths indicate an awareness and a need for explanation of the physical differences among human beings. The Shilluk myth claims that there are different colored people because of the varying colors o f clay that Joak, the creator according to this myth, encountered as he wandered the world. The Yoruba people's myth explains the differences in the shapes of humans as a result of the god Obatala being drunk when he shaped man out of clay. In both myth s, the action of the creating god caused the variation in man's physical characteristics.
In conclusion, it is clear that the coming of Christianity to Africa was not greeted with open arms. While it granted Africans the chance to acquire new teachings, it also insinuated itself within politics, family, and traditions, utterly destroying them from the inside out. Having been detailed within novels by Achebe, Oyono, and Thiong’o, it is easy to see how these “pacifying” roles eventually led to a total conquest for all of Africa.
When the modern person ponders the formation of human beings, our mind automatically goes to Adam and Eve, whom were the first man and woman created by God according to the Book of Genesis. Before there was Adam and Eve, diverse cultures came up with myths about the construction of humans. These myths included: “The Song of Creation” from the Rig Veda, An African Creation Tale, From the Popol Vuh, and A Native American Creation Tale “How Man Was Created” Each one of these legends gives a diverse perspective on the creation of human beings.
Shawn Mark. The Kingdom of God in Africa:: A Short History of Africa Christianity,(Grand Rapids: Baker
Kaduna: Baraka Press, 2004. Magesa, Laurenti. A. African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant Life. Nairobi: Pauline Pub., Africa, 1998. Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion.