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Yelena's Research

This version was saved 18 years, 1 month ago View current version     Page history
Saved by PBworks
on February 9, 2006 at 9:38:02 pm
 

Yelena's Page

Updates:Work Up... I think that these are really important myths, what do you think?

The Yoruba Creation Myth

Olorun ruled the sky, and Olokun ruled the marshlands and waters below. The whole world was covered by water and marshland. This made another god, Obtala think. He really wanted to have dry land and creatures on the earth. After being granted permission from Olorun to do so, he went to Olorun's son, Orunmila the god of prophesy, and asked what he had to do to have dry earth on the world. He was told to get a bag containing a gold chain long enough to reach from the sky to the earth, a snail's shell filled with sand, a white hen, a black cat, and a palm nut. While Orunmila gave Obtala the items needed for the process, the other gods donated all of their gold for the chain. When he had everything complete, he attached the chain to a corner of sky and started to go down. At the end of the rope and still a long way from the ground, he heard Orunmila tell him to pour the sand from the snail's shell and let the hen go at the same time. The chicken landed on the sand and started scratching and scattering it about the whole world. Everywhere the sand went, land formed. Large piles of sand were hills, and small piles were valleys. Jumping to a hill, Obtala named it Ife and started to dig a hole for the palm nut. The palm nut grew into a tree immediately and dropped down more nuts which also immediately became trees and the cycle continued. Obtala sat down with the cat as company. Months passed and Obtala got bored. He decided to make creatures in his likeness. After making some people out of clay, he took a break and made some palm wine. Bowl after bowl he drunk and soon he became drunk. Still, he now continued to make creatures. His drunkedness led him to make imperfect creatures which later Obtala had Olorun breathe life into. The next day he realized his mistake and became the Protector of the Deformed and never drunk again. The people built huts like Obtala's and soon Ife became a city that prospered. The other gods were happy with Obtala's job and visited often, except for Orokun.

The Yoruba God: Shango

Shango was a tyrant king who was the Yoruba's fourth god. He was challenged by two of his ministers and had to hide in the forest for safety. After some time wandering he finally hung himself. After his death houses were set on fire, and people came to believe that it was Shango sending fire from heaven. Shango became the god of storms, and his axe symbolized thunder.

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