History Myth / AfricanMythology

South of the Sahara stretching from Senegal to Sudan lies a belt of semi-arid grassland called the Sahel. The peoples of the western portion have many mythologies, but a few common threads cross through them with the upper Niger River as the likely conduit. Excessive concern with the physical world was thought to loosen the grip humans have on the spiritual domain. Everything physical was often seen as a manifestation of a spiritual reality. Physical reality teemed with symbols which expressed how the divine communicates with the profane. In turn, humans wielded the power of words to communicate the material to the spiritual. The world itself was like a code for humans to decipher and witness. The force permeating and animating the universe is described as something resembling vibration.

Located west of Egypt, the Maghreb remains something of a terra incognita for western readers in the area of folklore despite extensive integration with the larger Middle-Eastern (and to a much lesser extent southern European) world. The aboriginal North African peoples known as the Amazigh (Berbers) sat at a crossroads of influences. Arabs and Turks from the east, Greek and Romance cultures to the north, and Sahelian cultures from the south. In the Neolithic era peoples ancestral to the Amazigh lived in the Green Sahara back when it was still a lush savanna. These people were among the earliest cattle herders and their rock art can still be seen today. The higher social status and freedom Amazigh women traditionally enjoy over their Arab counterparts draws attention to the old religion in which goddesses played a far larger role. Heroic queens such as the Tuareg Tin Hinan and Dihya of the Zenata (called by Arabs Al-Kahina) are still fondly remembered. The Amazigh worldview was largely centered on the agricultural village, seen as a microcosm of the universe. In more recent times the Amazigh mosque represents the foundation and centerpiece of the village in contrast to the Arab Bedouins who saw the mosque more as a spiritual oasis symbolizing the global nature of Islam. The ancient Amazigh cult of Bull-gods like Itherther and Ram gods would feed into EgyptianMythology in the form of deities such as Amun and vice versa (Gurzil for example was considered the son of Amun).

Located west of Egypt, the Maghreb remains something of a terra incognita for western readers in the area of folklore despite extensive integration with the larger Middle-Eastern (and to a much lesser extent southern European) world. The Aboriginal peoples known as Berbers sat at a crossroads of influences. Arabs and Turks from the east, Greek and Romance cultures to the north, and Sahelian cultures from the south.

!! Overview

! The Maghreb

! The Sahel

! The Rainforests

! The Horn of Africa

! Southeastern Africa

! The Miombo Woodlands

! Southern Africa

! Overview

!! The Maghreb

!! Overview

! The Maghreb


!! The Sahel

!! The Rainforests

!! The Horn of Africa

!! Southeastern Africa

!! The Miombo Woodlands

!! Southern Africa

!! The Maghreb

! Overview

!! Overview

! The Maghreb

! The Sahel

! The Rainforests

! The Horn of Africa

! Southeastern Africa

! The Miombo Woodlands

! Southern Africa

Of course being the second largest continent on earth with over 10,000 different ethnic groups it is an exercise in futility to treat "African mythology" as a monolith. However it is possible to loosely sort the lores of Africa into a few broad categories based on wider cultural patterns and tropes.

* GodIsEvil: There's a certain tribe in Africa who believe that their supreme god created humanity because he was bored and wanted something to torture. There's good news, though: you can rebel against him, and in fact it is the right and duty of every human to do so.

* EnfantTerrible: Musa Wo of the Mende was a classic. This unwanted son of a curmudgeonly chief was born from a bizarre part of his mother's body such has her knee or thumb. Offended by her mistreatment by his father he builds her a house shortly after birth and makes the hajj to Mecca where he brings back various jujus & fetishes. Musa Wo rides a magical farting turtle and trades the magic farts which can revive the dead for half a kingdom. He gives this land to his sister and then arranges a spectacular bloodbath. Musa Wo tricks the subjects of his father into killing his cattle and then tells him about it, angering the chief so much he exiles them. Musa Wo tricks his father into murdering his newest wife which causes the wife's family to hunt him down. He tricks many people into committing suicide, gets his brother to help him murder his father's wives, kills the wife of a chief and then pees on the chief's head when caught, and castrates an elderly man with a poker. Musa Wo is basically a GTA protaganist. People would gather to laugh at his stories and the thought of how absurd life would be without the orderly institutions of Poro and Sande.
** Deskaleri the Mysterious was a lad from Mandinka folklore who spoke before he was even born and delivered himself. His brothers considered him an AnnoyingYoungerSibling and beat him up whenever he tried to tag along with them. He disguised himself as a cotton ball, a gourd, and a silver ring which they figured out each time. That was until they visited their aunt who was actually a witch. She rose each night to kill and eat them in their sleep but Deskaleri pretended he had to pee or fend off mosquitoes, or drink water to keep her at bay through the night. In a frustrated rage she chased the brothers. Deskaleri threw charms at her which made a forest, mountain, and sea to slow down the ravenous she-demon. They climbed a tree to escape so the witch threw palm nuts to get them down. Deskaleri was the only one not tied up in her bag so he threw a palm nut at her and they switched places. The boys made a fire and cast the witch into it by shaking the tree. They returned home singing Deskaleri’s praises.

The traditional beliefs and practices of African people like their history remains largely unfamiliar and unknown to the European and American public compared to more popular worldwide mythologies like the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greco-Roman]], [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse]], [[Myth/CelticMythology Celtic]] [[Myth/AztecMythology Aztec]] and [[Myth/MayanMythology Mayan]] pantheons. This page deals with all tribes and cultures originating from Africa, except for the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Ancient Egyptians]]. We should mention that like with the [[Myth/NativeAmericanMythology Native Americans]], this page encompasses a huge array of different people grouped here together for the sake of convenience. Worth knowing is that a large portion of these stories are [[Main/OralTradition oral tradition]] that haven't survived to the present day or have been "rewritten" with the introduction of the modern Abrahamic religions.

The traditional beliefs and practices of African people like their history remains largely unfamiliar and unknown to the European and American public compared to more popular worldwide mythologies like the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greeco-Roman]], [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse]], [[Myth/AztecMythology Aztec]] and [[Myth/MayanMythology Mayan]] pantheons. This page deals with all tribes and cultures originating from Africa, except for the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Ancient Egyptians]]. We should mention that like with the [[Myth/NativeAmericanMythology Native Americans]], this page encompasses a huge array of different people grouped here together for the sake of convenience. Worth knowing is that a large portion of these stories are [[Main/OralTradition oral tradition]] that haven't survived to the present day or have been "rewritten" with the introduction of the modern Abrahamic religions.

The traditional beliefs and practices of African people like their history remains largely unfamiliar and unknown to the European and American public compared to more popular worldwide mythologies like the[[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greeco-Roman]], [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse]], [[Myth/AztecMythology Aztec]] and [[Myth/MayanMythology Mayan]] pantheons. This page deals with all tribes and cultures originating from Africa, except for the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Ancient Egyptians]]. We should mention that like with the [[Myth/NativeAmericanMythology Native Americans]], this page encompasses a huge array of different people grouped here together for the sake of convenience. Worth knowing is that a large portion of these stories are [[Main/OralTradition oral tradition]] that haven't survived to the present day or have been "rewritten" with the introduction of the modern Abrahamic religions.

The traditional beliefs and practices of African people like their history remains largely unfamiliar and unknown to the European and American public compared to more popular worldwide mythologies like [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greeco-Roman]] and [[Myth/NorseMythology Pagan Germanic]]. This page deals with all tribes and cultures originating from Africa, except for the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Ancient Egyptians]]. We should mention that like with the [[Myth/NativeAmericanMythology Native Americans]], this page encompasses a huge array of different people grouped here together for the sake of convenience. Worth knowing is that a large portion of these stories are [[Main/OralTradition oral tradition]] that haven't survived to the present day or have been "rewritten" with the introduction of the modern Abrahamic religions.