Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [200]
Cagn (San of the Kalahari) The chief creator of the San (once called Bushmen) of the Kalahari Desert region in southern Africa, Cagn is a wizard of great power, whose magical strength resides in one of his teeth. A shape-shifter, he can assume the forms of different animals, including a praying mantis and an antelope. He also has a pair of sandals that can turn into attack dogs. At various times, Cagn is eaten by ants and by an ogre, but he always comes back to life when his bones rejoin.
The San have a myth about another creator, Dxui, who takes the form of a different flower or plant every day and becomes a man at night, until he creates all the plants and flowers that exist. Afterwards, Dxui becomes a fly, water, and a bird, until he is finally transformed into a lizard, which, the San believe, is the oldest creature of all.
Chuku (Ibo of Eastern Nigeria) The Ibo (or Igbo) believe that the supreme creator, the benevolent Chuku (“great spirit”), creates an earthly paradise in which there is neither evil nor death. In a very typically “confused message” story, Chuku sends a dog to earth to tell people that those who die accidentally can be brought back to life if they are laid on the ground and sprinkled with ashes. But the dog carrying this message is too slow in delivering it, so Chuku next dispatches a sheep with the same message. But the sheep stops to eat along the way, and by the time it finally reaches mankind, the message is confused—the sheep tells the people to bury their dead. Because of this foolish sheep, death comes into the world.
Imana (the Banyarwanda people of Rwanda) In Rwanda (central Africa), the omniscient creator Imana has very long arms and is benevolent to mankind, but likes to keep his distance. One legend describes how Imana is hunting down Death in order to rid the world of it. But Death begs an old woman for protection, and she agrees to hide Death under her skirt. For this, Imana decides that Death should live with mankind, after all.
Kalumba (the Luba of Zaire) The creator of the Luba tribe (central Africa), Kalumba creates mankind and then wants to protect people from death and disease. He sends a goat and a dog to guard the road on which Life and Death are traveling. The animals have been instructed to only allow Life to pass, but they argue and split up. While the dog sleeps, Death is able to sneak past. Then, while the goat is on guard, Life gets turned away, so people cannot be saved from Death.
Leza (the Kaonde of southern Africa) Leza is a supreme god who rules the sky, sits on the backs of all people, and is supposedly growing old, so he cannot hear prayers as well as he once did. In one tale of the Kaonde, Leza gives a bird three calabash gourds to deliver to humans. Inside two of the gourds are the seeds to grow food, but the third is not to be opened. Like Pandora, the bird can’t restrain its curiosity and looks inside the gourd, releasing all the evils of the world, which are contained inside. Leza and the bird are unable to recapture the evils once they are set loose.
Mawu and Liza (Fon of Benin) This pair of twin creator gods may have belonged to another tribe that was conquered by the Fon (western Africa), who possessed superior iron-working skills and probably had superior weapons. The defeated tribe’s gods were then absorbed by the Fon. Mawu and Liza are born from an older creator god, Nana-Buluku, who is a sexless primeval creator, and Aido-Hwedo, the rainbow-colored snake who holds up the earth. The male god Liza is associated with the sun, power, the daytime, work, and strength; the goddess Mawu is associated with the moon, nighttime, fertility, motherhood, and joy. This divine pair shape the universe from preexisting material and then create all the other gods in the sky and on earth.
In one of the Fon Creation stories, these two come together during eclipses to create the other