Between the 1500s and the 1800s, many thousands of Africans were brought to the Americas as slaves. Their myths and legends helped shape the black cultures that developed in the Caribbean islands and the United States. The Caribbean religion known as vodun or voodoo, for example, involves the worship of the vodu, meaning “spirit” in the West African language Fon. Enslaved blacks also told traditional stories about the spider Anansi, who was sometimes also depicted as a trickster hare. Anansi came to be called Anancy, and the hare became Brer (Brother) Rabbit, the character who appears in the Uncle Remus animal fables that were collected by Joel Chandler Harris in the late 1800s.
People. He taught humans how to make tools, which in turn enabled them to grow food and build shelters. The San Bushmen of the south say that creation was the work of a spirit named Dxui, who was alternately a man and many other things, such as a flower, a bird, or a lizard.
Myths from across Africa also tell how death came into the world. Some relate that the supreme god meant for humans to be immortal, meaning they would live forever; however, through an unlucky mistake, they received death instead of eternal life. One story tells of a god who told a cautious chameleon to carry the news of eternal life to earth. In that story, a faster lizard with news ofdeath arrives first. The Mende people ofSierra Leone say that a toad with the message “Death has come” overtakes a dog with the message “Life has come” because the dog stops to eat along the way.
Other myths explain that death came into the world because people or animals angered the gods. The Nuer people of the Sudan blame death on a hyena who cut the rope that connected heaven and earth. Their neighbors, the Dinka, say that a greedy woman, not satisfied with the grain the high god gave her, planted more grain. She hit the god in the eye with her hoe, and he cut the connecting rope. A tale told by the Luhya people of present-day Kenya relates that a chameleon cursed people with death because a man broke the laws of hospitality by refusing to share his food with the chameleon.
Twins Many African peoples regard twins as special, almost sacred, beings. Twins represent the duality—the tension or balance between paired or opposing forces—that is basic to life. Some groups, such as the Non-Bantu peoples of the Niger and Congo regions, believe that twins of opposite sexes are symbols of this duality.
Twins appear in many African myths and legends. In some stories, they are brother and sister who unite in marriage. In others, they seem to be two sides of a single being. The supreme god of the Fon people of West Africa is Mawu-Lisa, usually described as brother and sister twins who became the parents of all the other gods, also born as twins.
Trickster and Animal Fables Many African myths feature a trickster. The trickster may be a god, an animal, or a human being. His pranks and mischief cause trouble among gods, among humans, or between gods and humans.
West Africans tell many tales of a wandering trickster spirit known as Eshu among the Yoruba and Legba among the Fon. This trickster is associated with change and with quarrels. In some accounts, he is the messenger between the human world and the supreme god.
Animal tricksters are often small, helpless creatures who manage to outwit bigger and fiercer animals. Anansi, the spider trickster of the Ashanti people, is known throughout West and Central Africa. Tortoises and hares also appear as tricksters. In one such tale, the hare tricks a hippopotamus and an elephant into clearing a field for him.
Other stories about animals show them helping humans. The San Bushmen say that a sacred praying mantis gave them words and fire, and the Bambara people of Mali say that an antelope taught them how to farm. A popular form of entertainment involves sharing animal fables, stories about talking animals with human characteristics. Many of these fables offer imaginative explanations for features of the natural world, such as why bats hang with their heads downward or why leopards have spots.
World History
