Boshongo Creation Myth

African Creation Myths

African Creation Myths

Today’s show takes me back to my days as an African history student in a community class. Sitting in the back with my notebook on my lap, listening and taking notes. Our teacher, brother Derrick would always mention that the various creation stories on the continent have similarities. That no matter the tribe, you will find the commonalities which have evolved from a source and spread out among her people.

My intention today was just that. To pinpoint some of those similarities, and highlight the beauty that is, the story.

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Myths

The word myth has a few definitions. The first one is that it means a lie. There isn’t much more to add to that. However, its the second definition we will be concerning ourselves with. It explains that a myth is a story that has a deeper meaning. 

As always I’ve enlisted the assistance of some of our scholars who support this.

Egytpian Mystics, Moustafa Gadalla “Stories are better than exposition for explaining the behavour of things because the relationship of parts to each other, and to the whole are better maintained by the mind.”

Echoes of the Old Darkland, Dr. Charles Finch, M.D. “Through myth, archaic humanity sought to make tangible the imaginary, to create order from chaos, to give form to the unclear, and to make the cosmos intelligible… My, was then, as is now, the truth that man could grasp. ”

The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell “Myth are stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance.”

The Ancient Egyptian Roots of Christianity, Moustafa Gadalla Well crafted allegories are the only way to explain the deepest truths about God, creation, life, the soul, our place in the universe, our struggle to evolve to higher levels of insight and understanding.

Commonalities in Creation Stories

From the book, Encyclopedia of African Religion edited by Molefe K. Asante & Ama Mazama. The scholarly pair inform us of the following:

In general, Africans believe that the universe was brought into existence by the action of a single God, or a set of Gods, on behalf of the Supreme Being.

African creation systems are predicated on a pre- or self-existing entity bringing something into existence out of nothing.

Often there was nothing in existence before creation—except the flow of cosmic-spiritual energy emanating from God. This energy flow is the essence of the Supreme Being and is infused in all things on creation.

I found this to be very an interesting breakdown. Especially since the references provided by author David Adams Leeming give us with a bit more insight into creation types.

Creation Types

Ex Nihilo

They include creation from nothing.

The central fact of the creation from nothing, or ex nihilo, creation myth type is a supreme deity, existing alone in a pre-creation emptiness or void, who consciously creates an organized universe on his own.

Chaos

Creation from a preexisting, undifferentiated or chaotic state represented by primal elements or sometimes by a primal object such as a cosmic egg.

When the creator begins the act of creation, creative material containing the potential for creation is already there. The creative material does not emerge from the creator himself or herself.

The ex nihilo creator creates from himself from scratch, as it were. The creation from chaos creator gives form to already existing material.

Examples: The Ijaw of Nigeria tell of a table that descended to Earth with a pile of creative earth on it. 

One day the creator of the Malagasy people of Madagascar “noticed his daughter making little clay dolls. He liked her dolls so much that he blew life into them and they became human beings.”

By far, the primary source of creation of the world and of humans in the creation from chaos myths is the cosmic egg, the favored image of chaos.

Examples: The Bambara of Mali have a cosmic egg that climbs a tree and falls.  The cosmic egg for the Mande people of Mali is a pair of seeds.

World Parents

Creation from the union, separation, division or sacrifice· even dismemberment of world parents.

The world parent myth involves the breaking apart of a static primeval state. In one form of the world parent myth the beginning consists of the eternal union of the parents. A union that has to be broken in order for creation to take place. Another sort of world parent myth, sometimes a second part of the first, involves a stage of creation in which it is the body of a world parent that is itself separated, usually by an act of dismemberment. The body parts of this sacrificed deity parent actually become the world.

The world parents more often than not, identified as paternal Sky and maternal Earth.

Examples: The Krachi people of Togo and Ghana tell how in the beginning male Sky lived on top of female Earth and that Man lived between them, but with little room to move.

In the Ancient Kemetic book, Coming Forth by Day by Night, there is a story of how Ra ordered the separation of Geb and Nut.

Emergence

Creation by way of a hole in the earth. The emphasis is squarely on the creation of humanity. In this myth type the focus is on a process by which humans emerge in stages into this world from under the earth.

Emergence creation is, for the most part, peculiar to Native North Americans.

Earth-Diver

Creation by means of diving into the depths of the primordial waters. It is a myth type that stresses the creation of Earth. Animals often play an important role in the creation, as do the primeval waters and often an evil force that balances the good in a dualistic tension.

These stories types are so prevalent in the African myths that we explored on the show today.  It was a pleasure to breakdown these stories that have survived the test of time.

References:

Creation Myths of the World (An Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition) – David Adams Leeming

Primal Myths, Creation Myths Around the World – Barbara C. Sproul

Encyclopedia of African Religion – Molefe K. Asante & Ama Mazama