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Yoruba Creation Stories

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In all of the creation stories, there is the belief of a deity that is responsible in creating the earth and man. However, unlike the Hymn to Aten and the excerpts from Genesis, the Yoruba religion starts off the creation stories with the belief that the god of creation, Obatala was sent by the highest God, Oludumare to create the earth. This I thought was significant because both the Hymn to Aten and Genesis seem to find the creator of the world to be the almighty and highest being, emphasizing the value of monotheism, while Yoruba shows polytheistic views. However, Obatala does play a large role in this creation, as “he placed the corn on the water, spread the earth over it and placed the cock on top…and thus the land spread far and wide” and “gives shape to the new babe in the mother’s womb (392). Oludumare was responsible for sending Obatala and also breathing life into his creations: “Obatala made man out of earth. After shaping men and women he gave them to Oludamare to blow in the breath of life” (392).

Another interesting aspect in these creation stories is the value of animals in the culture. Throughout the creation stories a rooster, a chameleon, a spider, a goat and a sheep were all mentioned. The cock or rooster is seen as assisting in the spreading of the earth in Obatala’s creation: “The cock immediately started to scratch and thus the land spread far and wide”. I don’t know exactly what role the chameleon plays but he is mentioned to have “found a human pair in his fish trap… (and) reported his discovery to Mulungu.” The spider however plays a large role as it “spun a thread up to the sky and down again…And Mulungu ascended to the sky on the spider’s thread to escape the wickedness of men.” The sheep and the goat are sent as messengers from God to humans about life and death: “God sent the sheep with eternal life and a gift to men. But the he-goat ran on ahead and gave them death as a gift from God.” So in a way the sheep and goat may have been seen as symbols of life and death in their culture.

Also, there is a negative view on the role of women during this time. In the creation stories, women were seen as responsible for separating man from God, as stated, “In primeval times, God had familiar intercourse with men and gave them all they needed. This state, however, came to an end when some women who were grinding their food became embarrassed by God’s presence and told him to go away…” (393)

Based on these aspects, we can infer that the Yoruba people were polytheistic and held a value for animals in their culture. From the portrayal of women in their creation stories, one can infer that they had a patriarchal society. They also had their own ways of explaining the phenomena in the world, such as how the earth was created, why man is separated from God, and the origin of death.

Creation and the Cosmos Part I (Volume A):

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From the Creation and the Cosmos theme of the Norton Anthology, the texts share some insight on how the world began or how it was created from the “unscientific” oral and written traditions of antiquity. In the Norton Anthology, “The Great Hymn to the Aten” and the excerpts from Genesis offer notions of the beginnings of heaven and earth, however they differ in their cultural contexts, with the hymn praising the sun god Aten for his creation and sustenance of life in Egypt and the excerpts from Genesis describing the sequence of God’s creational universe. Both touch upon how mankind and humanity came to be, but the main similarity of both texts is the emphasis of monotheism. Even in the Rig Veda of India, there is the idea that something greater had existed, before the other gods, that had been involved in the creation of the universe; “But after all, who knows…The gods themselves are later than creation…Whence creation had its origin/ he whether he fashioned it or whether he did not…he knows-or maybe even he does not know.” Now based on the prevalence of monotheism in their explanations, can one assume that monotheism was very dominant during this period in which philosophers were trying to uncover the origins of the world, because as stated in the introduction to the hymn to Aten, Egyptians were against the fact that their religious beliefs in other gods were neglected, and also tried to abandon the capital of the King Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) after his death. This shows that there is much conflict in their religious beliefs during the period. What influence would this have had on Egyptian culture? What role does religion play in the overall explanation of the beginnings of the universe?