Creation

Commonalities

For hundreds of thousands of years, Africans have transferred knowledge about creation (the origins of the sky, man, plants, animals, and the Earth). Creation has two main components within the African context. The first has to do with the spiritual/religious and mythological aspects of how Africans interpret the origin of the world. The second is related to the scientific data surrounding the connection between the creation of the world and the genesis of mankind. In addition, African creation narratives involve internal and external group explanations. They center on the origins of specific ethnic groups and nations or attempt to explain the existence of the whole of humanity. Africans have played a major role in the global understanding of the concept of creation. In the academic study of African creation, there are distinctions made between spiritual/ religion interpretations and mythology. However, what was once characterized as myth is a central component of the spiritual/religion aspect. African creation systems are composed of cultural components that are central to the foundation of the nation and the state.

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.

The idea of creation within the African context is important to understanding the relationship that human beings are having with God and with one another. Thus, the creation events are told through broad (epic) narratives. The primary concepts aiding traditional African Creation epics are (a) the existence of one God, the Supreme Being; (b) intermediate divinities who serve God, the ancestors, and man; (c) ancestral spirits who interact with man and divinities; and (d) natural/elemental spirits.

African ethnic, cultural, and spiritual diversity indicates that creation narratives may be different, but similarities can be distinguished in [Page 184]precolonial Africa. Further, the influence of Islam and Christianity has impacted African creation myths as well as traditional intra- and intercultural exchange as a contributor to the various interpretations of creation with respect to African peoples.

Regional Myths and Legends

In eastern and southern Africa, there are a variety of creation legends. The Kamba in eastern Kenya and northern Tanzania (into southwestern Kenya) believe that the Supreme God, Ngai, created man and that man's ancestors communicate with god. In east South Africa, among the Zulu, the great God, Unkulunkulu, rises from a primordial marshland to go on and create the Earth. The southern African creation stories consistently feature the work of the Supreme Being. The Lozi in Zambia are witness to the creation of Kamura (the first human beings) by Nyambe. Nyambe created everything, including man, his own wife, and mother. In Malawi, God Chuita created the Earth and became aligned with rain and fertility among the Tumbuka people.

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