WINMX Assorted Textfiles/Ebooks.tar/Text - Religion - African Gods & Godesses.txt

Text File | 2003-08-15 | 7KB | 142 lines

> AFRICA GODS AND GODDESSES
>
> ANANASI (Various tribes) The spider.  A trickster.  A creator god.
> Something of a scoundrel, but quite well liked.  Many amusing and fanciful
> stories are told of him.
>
> ANYIEWO (Ewe) The Great Serpent who comes out to graze after the rain.
> The rainbow is his reflection.
>
> BUKU (Various West African peoples) A sky god sometimes worshipped as a
> goddess.  Buku created everything, even the other gods.
>
> DANH also DAN AYIDO HWEDO (Dahomey) Snake god.  The Haitians know him as
> Dan Petro.  The Rainbow Snake who encircles the world, Danh is often
> protrayed with his tail in his mouth as a symbol of unity and wholeness.
>
> DXUI (Bushman; to the Hottentots, TSUI; to the Xhosa and Ponda, THIXO) A
> creator god.  In the beginning, Dxui took the form of a different flower
> or plant every day, becoming himself at night, until he had created all
> the plants and flowers that exist.
>
> ESHU (Yoruba) A trickster.  A shape-shifter, Eshu can change his form at
> will, and can even seem to be both huge and small at the same time.  Eshu
> confuses men and drives them to madness.  But Eshu also knows all human
> tongues and acts as a go-between f or mortals and the gods.
>
> GUNAB (Hottentot) The enemy of Tsui-Goab, Gunab lived under a pile of
> stones. Gunab kept overpowering Tsui-Goab, but the god grew stronger after
> each battle. Because he killed so many, Gunab is sometimes identified with
> death.  Creator of the rainbow.
>
> GUA (Ga tribe of West Africa) God of thunder, blacksmiths and farmers.
> Gua's temples are often found at blacksmith's forges.
>
> KIBUKA (Baganda) A war god sent to save the Baganda people.  The king of
> the Baganda asked heaven for assistance in war, and Kibuka was sent to aid
> them.  Warned not to have anything to do with the enemy's women, Kibuka
> nevertheless made love to a woman prisoner.  Unwisely, Kibuka confided in
> her, and after escaping she told the enemy how Kibuka could be killed, by
> firing arrows into the cloud where he was hiding.  Kibuka flew off to a
> tall tree to die, and a temple was built at the place where his bod y was
> found.
>
> LEZA (Central Africa) "The One Who Besets." Known to a number of peoples,
> Leza is the Supreme God who rules the sky and send wind and rain.  Leza
> sits on the backs of all people, and no one ever breaks free of him.  Leza
> is said to be growing old and s o does not hear prayers as well as he once
> did.
>
> MAWU-LISA (Ewe) The great god and goddess of the sun and moon.  Lisa is
> the sun and Mawu is the moon.
>
> MULUNGU (East Africa) God, the Supreme Being.  The concept of a supreme
> being and creator is nearly universal in Africa, although there are few
> temples to him. The titles which Africans have given God are wondrous in
> their variety.  A few of these are:  Creator, Moulder, Giver of Rain and
> Sunshine, he Who Brings the Seasons, He Who Thunders, Ancient of Days, the
> First, the Limitless, the One Who Bends Even Kings, the One You Meeet
> Everywhere, the Firelighter, Great Mother, Greatest of Friends, the Kindly
> One, the Providence Who Watches All Like the Sun, the Great Pool
> Contemporary of Everything, the Great Spider, the One Beyond All Thanks,
> the Bow in the Sky, the Angry One, the Inexplicable.
>
> NANAN-BOUCLOU (Ewe) The original god of the Ewe tribe, both male and
> female, Nanan-Bouclou is much too remote for worship.  In Haiti
> Nanan-Bouclou is remembered as the god of herbs and medicines.
>
> 'NGAI (Masai) Creator god.  At birth, 'Ngai gives each man a guardian
> spirit to ward off danger and carry him away at the moment of death.  The
> evil are carried off to a desert, while the good go to a land of rich
> pastures and many cattle.
>
> NYAME (Ashanti) Supreme God of Heaven, both the sun god and
> the moon goddess. Nyame created the three realms, the sky, the earth and
> the underworld.  Before being born, souls are taken to Nyame and washed in
> a golden bath, Nyame gives the soul its dest iny and places some of the
> water of life in the soul's mouth.  The soul is then fit to be born.
>
> NYASAYE (Maragoli, Kenya) Cheif god of the Maragoli.  Spirits aid
> Maragoli's work, and they are represented by round stones circling a pole
> which represents the god.
>
> NZAME (Fan people of the Congo) A vague and shadowy god whose likeness
> can't be captured in wood, stone or metal.  Nzame lived on earth with his
> three sons, Whiteman, Blackman and Gorilla.  Blackman, Gorilla and all
> their kinfolk sinned against Nzame, a nd so Nzame took all his wealth and
> went to live with his son Whiteman in the west.  Gorilla and his kin went
> to live in the jungle.  Without he wealth, power and knowledge of Nzame,
> Blackman and his kin live a hard life of poverty and ignorance, ever dre
> aming of the western land where dwells Nzame and his favored son,
> Whiteman.
>
> SAGBATA (Dahomey; to the Yoruba, SHAGPONA) God of smallpox.  Sagbata's
> shrines were painted with a design of small spots.  Sagbata's priests
> fought small pox with both prayers and medical knowledge, and wielded
> great power over the people because they h ad learned how to use dried
> scabs both to immunize themselves against the disease and to spread it.
> Smallpox was considered a great disgrace and its victims were ostracized.
>
> TANO (Ashanti) The second oldest son of God, and god of the river of the
> same name.  The gods of the other rivers and families in the same region
> are all his family.  Long ago Tano lost a singing match with Death.  Tano
> and Death sang defiance to each o ther for over a month, but neither could
> win so they had to compromise.  When someone is injured or falls ill,
> whichever god arrives first will claim him.  If Tano arrives first, the
> person will live, but if Death arrives first the patient is lost.
>
> TSUI' GOAB (Hottentots) "Wounded Knee," "Father of Our Fathers." A rain
> god who lives in the clouds, a great chief and magician.  Tsui' Goab made
> the first man and woman from rocks.  Several times Tsui' Goab died and
> rose again, to great joy and feast ing.  Men invoke Tsui' Goab with the
> first rays of dawn and give oaths in his name.
>
> UNKULUNKULU (Zulu) "Old, Old One." Unkulunkulu was both the first man and
> the creator, a god of the earth who had no traffic with the heavens.
> Unkulunkulu showed men how to live together and gave them knowledge of the
> world in which they lived.
>
> YO (Dahomey) A trickster, neither god nor human.  Yo's greed constantly
> gets him in trouble.  Mawu created him for no good reason.  Yo is
> everywhere.  You can't kill him, you can't eat him, you can't get rid of
> him at all.  Yo is the only one of his kin d.  One is enough.
>
> SOURCES
>
> Barber, Richard A COMPANION TO WORLD MYTHOLOGY, Delcorte Press, New York,
> 1979
>
> Carlyon, Richard, A GUIDE TO THE GODS, William Morrow & Co., New York,
> 1982
>
> Cavendish, Richard, ed., MAN, MYTH AND MAGIC:  THE ILLUSTRATED
> ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTHOLOGY, RELIGION AND THE UNKNOWN, Marshal Cavendish
> Ltd., New York, Toronto, London, 1983
>
> Parrinder, Geoffrey, AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY, Peter Bedrick Books, New York,
> 1987