There are thousands of myths in Africa. They offer answers to the profound questions we ask ourselves about the world, life, happiness and evil.
Questions and answers that every generation puts and gives to itself and then passes on to the next. Myths are many: they deal with the universe, the heavens, weather phenomena, the beginning of life, social organization, etc. It has been calculated that in Africa alone, that myths, popular stories and the legends that contain them, could be as many as 250,000.
They are almost always transmitted by means of rites, ceremonies, dances, invocations and celebrations that allow the individual to integrate with nature, with the invisible and not to remain at the mercy of the events that are transient, above all those of suffering and death.
Many myths refer to creation, to how the universe was put in order. In almost all, the notion of ‘high’ and ‘low’ is to be found: the Divinity being ‘up there’ in heaven; human beings, animals and plants are ‘down here’ on earth. Almost always, human beings appear last.
A Kiga, Uganda, myth narrates that Imana (The-One-who-dwells-with us) in the beginning created two countries: one above the clouds made up of the sun, the moon and the stars and the other, below the clouds. It is this second one that we inhabit, together with the trees and the animals created by Imana.
In the stories, we see a golden age, when the divinity was living close to human beings and sending messages by entrusting them to the so-called ‘mythical ancestors’, whom anthropology calls ‘cultural heroes’.
The Gbaya people of the Central African Republic speak of the mythical ancestor, the first human being, the cultural hero who brought people the seeds of plants and taught them how to cultivate the land. He was cunning and, if necessary, a liar, a provoker and anti-conformist. The Chagga people of Tanzania say that God had a servant to whom he used to entrust the tasks to be executed. It was this servant who discovered that humans, disobeying God’s order, had eaten a certain type of tuber. God then decided to punish them with sickness, famine, war and death.
As for the circumstances and ways that have accompanied the arrival of human beings in this world, there is a large variety of versions. The idea of the creation of human beings from clay is very widespread throughout the continent.
In order to mould the human being, God acted like a potter. Shilluk people (Sudan) think that God used clay of different colours and this would explain the different pigmentation of human groups. The Bambuti pigmies of the Democratic Republic of Congo say that the Divinity (Arebati) shaped the first human being with clay; he then covered him with skin and poured blood on the lifeless body: only then did the first human being start breathing and became alive.
The Batwa pigmies state that they are ‘children of God’. The Tivs (Nigeria) narrate that the first human beings didn’t know how to cultivate the land until the day when Aondo taught them; from that day, great was the joy of all. To the Bambuti, God taught blacksmithing so that they might build for themselves the weapons and the necessary implements for a life of hunting in the forest: “You will never lack game”, is what Kmvum swore to them.
Then came the separation of the two worlds, with ill-omened results for humanity. The communication between God and people was interrupted; the messages destined for human beings were no longer there or were no longer understood. Many myths explain how the happy relationship between the Creator and humanity ended in a definite way.
Most accounts attribute this to an open disobedience on the part of the human beings: God imposed laws on them; they didn’t respect them; neither did they take them seriously. An Ewe'” (Togo) myth tells us that God had decided to live with the people He had created. He used to come down regularly to earth, sliding down a rope.
He was thus able to encounter His creatures and, being near, solve their problems. He, however, had ordered: “Let nobody touch this rope for any reason whatsoever”. But, one day, a woman, driven by curiosity, decided to touch the rope. God then got angry; He went back to heaven, cut the rope and swore that He would never come back among the people any more. The Bari, Fajulu, Toposa and Madi (Sudan and Uganda) share the story that, in the beginning, heaven and earth were united by a rope or a bridge and that God, from time to time, came down on earth to spend time with the people.
The rope, however, broke accidentally or was eaten by the hyena, so the link between God and humanity came to an end. Without paying attention to the reason that brought about God’s estrangement from the earth – whether because of a disobedience or an unwelcome accident provoked by humans – in all the stories, it is evident the that those who drove humanity into perdition were the human beings themselves. (Photo: Pixabay)
