myths are derived from one original source spoken, oral transmitted through direct ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN: Terms: Monogenesis - all myths contact betwee n cultures | Polygenesi s - Myths of similar types arose indepe ndently of each other in variou s parts of the world | Jung Theory origin of myths are the unconscious mind (something we fear or can’t explain) | Levi-Strauss Theory - Focuses in the the extremes and opposites in myths, like good vs evil, young and old | The Descent of Inanna: Inanna - “Queen of Heaven”, Heaven”, Power struggle with sister Ereshkigal, Goes to underworld underworld to take power from sister, Represents the new way of life, Husband/brother is Dumuzi | Ereshkigal - Ruler of the underworld, sister of Inanna, controls all the rules, represents represents the power of of death, death death cannot be defeated | Dumuzi Dumuzi - Husband/brother of Inanna, called the “shepherd god”, used as a sacrifice in the underworld underworld as Inanna’s replacement, represents the cycle of animal/pastoral fertility (**when in the underworld, animals do not procreate, when he he is released for 6 months, the animals are fertile), Ascended Inanna’s thrown thrown while she was gone, Animal fertility- old way of of life, dying-rising divinity | Geshtinanna - sister to Dumuzi and and the others, Goes to the underworld after Dumuzi, Trades places with Dumuzi, each must spend half a year in the underworld The Enuma Elish: Apsu - God of Freshwater, unpredictable, destructive ruler of all gods, husband to Tiamat, gets tired of the young gods, decides he wants to get rid of them, is killed by Ea | Tiamat - god of salt waters, represents chaos, upset with Apsu for wanting to destroy their children, gives kingu the power, is killed by marduk | Anu - sky god, creates creates the winds winds as a “toy” for the the younger younger gods, gods, Marduks Marduks grandfathe grandfather, r, son of Ansar and K Kisar isar | Ea Ea - god of of wisdom, wisdom, kills Apsu, son of Anu, father of Marduk | Marduk - god of light of the sun, defeats Tiamat, Tiamat, son of Ea, creates humanity humanity out of Kingu, represents the establishment of order, order, establishes the zodiac and the heavens/earth seperation | Kingu - new husband of Tiamat, Tiamat, is killed to create humans The Epic of Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh - king of Uruk, 2/3 part god, abused his power as king, slept with women on their wedding nights, friends/lovers with Enkidu, searches for everlasting life/immortality, life/immortality, dies sick in bed, learned to be a better king | Enkidu - lived with animals, sent to help help Gilgamesh, friends/lovers with Gilgamesh, rips off leg of bull bull of heave, punished by gods, dies sick in bed, punishment | Humbaba Humbaba - guards the cedar forest, killed by Gilgamesh and Enkidu, under orders of Enlil | Utnapishtim - only survivor of flood, only human ever granted immortality, Gilgamesh seeks him to find immortality | Ishtar - goddess of heaven, same as Inanna, asks Gilgamesh to marry her, treats her boyfriends badly, Gilgamesh denies proposal, would have obtained immortality that way | Shamash - sun god, on Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s side, power struggle between Enlil and and Shamash, power struggle played out on earth through them | Enlil - god of earth, wind and air, tells Humbaba to guard the cedar forest, not not a fan of humans | Egyptian Myth: Geb - The earth God, usual ly earth is female but not this time | Nut - the sky goddess, sun goddess, usually not female, cursed to not have have kids, curse broke, had Osiris, Isis, and Seth | Osiris - a god in human form, very positive king, one goal is to civilize humanity, concerned about about people, sacrifices himself, body cut into 14 pieces, penis gets thrown in the nile, represents fertility of the Nile, when the Nile floods he comes to life, when when it reseeds he dies, dying dying rising divinity | Isis - Osiris’s wife/sister, looks for for Osiris, revives a child from from scorpion scorpion bite, power of lan, lan, conceives conceives Horus Horus after Osiris dies, cannot cannot revive revive Horus, Horus, calls calls sun goddess, goddess, creates a shrine for osiris everywhere she finds a body part, allows seth to live | Seth Seth - brother of Osiris, represents death, drought, famine, and sterility, threw Osiris into the river, river, cuts him into 14 pieces, Horus and and Seth battle, Isis allows him to live | Horus - Son of Osiris and Isis, seeks revenge on Seth, Seth, represents upper/lower Egypt, represents the unification of upper and lower Egypt, comes to power after Isis has spread the worship worship of Osiris throug throughout hout Eg Egypt, ypt, symbolica symbolically lly the first ruler ruler of a united united Egypt | Re (or Ra) - sun god, god, responsible responsible for placing placing curse curse on Nut, Nut, teaches Isis the spell to revive Horus Horus Egyptian Creation Myths: Atum Version Version - Atum first first deity, deity, creates creates the others, others, imagery imagery is masturbatio masturbation, n, takes fist and puts it in his mouth, male deities often spit up, essentially only way a man can give birth, birth, metaphor is a sexual act | Ptah Version Version Ptah creates the world, imagery is power of language, speaks the world into creation, also involves the mouth NATIVE AMERICAN: Terms: Pantheism - the sense that there is a spirit in everything, even inanimate objects such as rocks and plants | Mana - the force or spirit that is in all things, and which may be focused in a person person or an animal | Mandala - all things are connected in a circle | Axis mundi - vertical center of the universe that that represents the connection between the earthly and divine | Earth Diver - swims to the bottom of the primordial sea to bring up mud to make land, typically a water animal | Emergence - people move up up from under the gound and evolve physically cand socially, metaphor for birth | Duality - there are are often two two creators, one good, one evil, alternately there is an imperfect divine creator | Shamanism - the power of an individual to go into a trance, or or dream state, that connects the Shaman with the spirit world | Kachina doll like figure that is used to represent represent the spirits of dead ancestors as well as and educational toy to help children learn about the spirit world | Kiva - underground ceremonial chamber | Vision Vision quest - when an idividual seeks direct contact with the divine through through a journey that includes fastin g etc. | Ghost Dance - the ritual seen by Wovoka in a visi on that was to restor e the Native lands/bis on to the native americ ans and get rid of the Euro american s | White Buffalo Woman - the holy woman who gives the Lakota people the ritual of the pipe and expresse s the Plains cultures holding of the bison in reverence | Emergence Myth: emergence motif, axis mundi-prayer mundi-prayer stick, ritual planting prayer stick, metaphor metaphor for agriculture, need to learn how to plant plant corn-god teaches them, webbed hands, hands, cut them, represents social development because they learn how to cook | How The World Was Made: Cherokee Myth, Earth Diver motif, 4 cords holding up earth-something earth-something sacred, the divine holding holding it, sun too close, medicine men help raise sun, sun, creation of plants/animals, stay awake awake for 7 days, nocturnal animals, evergreens, evergreens, animals wanted more room, little water beetle goes down and brings up mud, 1st man man hits woman with a fish and she becomes pregnant, fish is phallic symbol | Legend Of The Sky-Woman: written by a Seneca person, husband breathes on wife, she becomes pregnant, non-sexual non-sexual conception, man uproots tree of life, kicks her down hole, hole, ends up on earth, axis mundi is tree, earth diver motif, muskrat goes to bottom bottom of sea and creates earth for her, her, gives birth to daughter, daughter daughter chooses husband, brings flint tipped arrows to her, places arrows above bed, next day, pulls off arrows , becomes pregna nt w/ twins, metaphor for sex | Legend Of The Evil Minded and Good Minded: GM - Sprout, Sprout, EM- Flint, Flint, sky-woman sky-woman is grandmother of twins, everything GM twin makes, EM twin counteracts it, affects humans, humans, based on how it helps humans survive, GM tries to win over EM, world not perfect - people would be lazy, lazy, plant mother in shallow grave, plant grows out of body body,, recipe for corn soup - involves ritual, beans/corn etc. gift from divine, makes makes cooking a sacred act, small power struggle between twins, decide by playing a game, did not battle, GM created man | Origin Of Stories: orphan orphan goes out to hunt birds, rock rock he finds tells him stories stories of the world, world, rock rock older than than anything anything alive, witness to creation, orphan has has to give birds to rock, shows that the stories are valuable, has to pay for them, everyone comes and does it, says keep these stories as long as you live, story of the origin of oral traditions, orphan because he doesn’t know where where he came from, history of the people is important, it they don’t know, they are like orphans | Raven: theft of light and water, light one of the last things created, keeps water to himself, turns into small small piece of dirt, nonsexual conception, swallows dirt, becomes pregnant with Raven, evyes bright, moves rapidly, tricked chief’s daughter, steals the light, giant keeps water, water, raven drinks all water, raven stole light and water, turns turns black, creates rivers, people living in the dark, Raven says take me across river, wants people people to recognize he he gave them the river, they refuse, he threatens them with light, lets out sun, Gift of light, creates ecosystem, order in the world, light represents order and knowledge, Raven trickster, trickster, cluture hero | How Rabbit Rabbit Killed The Giant: Giant: rabbit comes, giant steals all of the food, doesn’t eat rabbit, be nice to guests, community is important, rabbit is culture hero, has giant killed, respects villages social rules, leaves | The Toothed Vagina: superimpose the idea of the vagina and the mouth, social context important, coyote asks to go w/ rabbit rabbit and 2 girls, coyote doesn’t follow rules well, complains a lot, pulls blanket all the time, girls and rabbit rabbit sneak away, cross river, coyote drowns, tricksters never die though, though, water is renewing, coyote burns up rabbit’s children, destroys rabbit’s society, coyote finds woman who has has killed many men, has a toothed vagina, anyone who sleeps with her dies, coyote uses sticks to sleep with her, kills her after 10 times, thinks he his a culture hero, shows both sides of a trickster, dual nature of humans, of natural world, of the divine, nothing is absolute | The Boy Who Shot The Star: 2 boys, 1 looks at moon, says it looks looks like mom’s mom’s labret, labret, moon moon is divine entity entity,, it’s insulted, labret is just decorative, insignificant, saying divine divine is insignificant, axis mundi is ladder of arrows, climbs ladder, stuffs bushes in hair, berries ripen, means its been a long time, meets girl and grandmother, give gifts to help him, friend hanging in moon’s house over smoke hole, pulls him out, this is like rebirth, rebirth, hole like a birth canal, moon comes after him, boy throws things, slows moon down, went back to where they were, people thought thought they were dead, convinced them they were alive, describes a vision quest, maybe fell asleep and dreamed, or died and came back back to life, hunting culture because it uses a vision quest | The Girl Who Marries a Kachina: sees Kachina, wants to go with him, leaves , doesn’t like it, wants to come back, not allowed, has stayed there for 4 days, she died, joined the spirit of the ancestors , there is a fear of death, universal human fear, fear, why they won’t marry Kachina, agricultural community because of Kiva | The Gift Of The Sacred Pipe: Pipe: Sioux, planes cultures, Laglala, 2 boys hunting, beautiful beautiful woman dressed in buck skin, holly woman, woman, 1 boy has bad thoughts about her, turned into a pile of bones, finds a lodge, walks around lodge, pulls out a sacred pipe, presents pipe and and tells the ritual of it, points in 4 directions , means its sacred, # of people will increase if ritual is followed, white buffalo woman woman gives the people the ritual , she represents the the bison, bison represent a way of life, sacred, she changes changes color, white is divine, reddish/brown reddish/brown is normal, black representative of her changing | Trail Of Tears: 1830s, American southeast, example of gov. gov. moving people to another place (as a policy) to own land, called trail of tears because many people died on journey, gave Native Native americans blankets from people who had died from small pox, knowing they would then catch small pox, Cherokee had actually helped Andrew Jackson before, people people died of exposure and starvation, may have feared retribution, why he waited so long to write it, may be afraid of consequences consequences for for when he dies | Samuel’s Memory: written written by his great-great great-great grandso grandson, n, through through stories stories passed down, event became became a part of tradition, family family identity, repercussions through generations, Massacre - 1890 (Wounded (Wounded Knee), Lakota, Lakota, bison hunting culture, Gov. offered to buy land from Lakota, 1876 Lakota told to move to reservations, event end of the plains culture | Navajo ground, pre-navajo people, how they were represented before their their culture, Creation: air spirit people described ad insects/bats, lived under ground, emergence creation motif, start underground and move up, after 4 days/nights told they bring disorder, told told to leave, flood comes (not a major flood area), moves to next next level , swallow people, blue, adultery is committed, thrown out again, famine-can be caused by rules being broken, taboo against adultery, adultery, third level, yellow, committed committed adultery again, kicked out, social disorder, go through twisted passage to 4th world something special will happen, #4, decide not to commit adultery anymore, white-sunrise, blue-daytime, yellow-sunset, black-night, no sun means that they aren’t civilized yet, people in upright upright houses, teach air people about agriculture, at the beginning of navajo creation, 4 mysterious beings, gods say they want smarter people, air spirit people cannot be civilized anymore, need to learn more about society, creates people from buck skin, 2 ears of corn are basis of the Navajo, first woman gives gives birth to twins, 1st set not entirely male or female, considered
more perfect, give gift of pottery, pottery, implements of farming, etc, 1st set of twins important, divine gives man/woman information, they are doing something wrong, incest, most universal taboo, renounce adultery and incest, 1st woman wants to keep marriages together, creates the penis and vagina, sex for pleasure, puberty, now you are old enough, rules of marriage, coyote wants to be helpful, takes hair hair from chin, pubic hair now, having too much sex, clothing, people people are too attracted because of pubic hair, when sky and and earth meet, coyote springs from ground, birth of him, sexual imagery, coyote wants to be a part of society, messes up stars in the sky, sky, causes humans to be mortal, brings home deer, woman thanks vagina, vagina, if no sex after dinner dinner man wouldn’t wouldn’t hunt, hunt, men/women men/women separate separate,, women try try to temp temptt them, b begin egin to starve starve to death, death, women want food and men, start to masturbate with weird objects, create awful monsters, represent drought, pests, disease, (cause crop to fail), over farming, force people to move, man takes liver from deer, deer, puts in front of fire, masturbates with liver, does it again when owl says not to, men/women men/women apologize, establish gender roles - equally important, taboo against masturbation, cannot take place of normal sexual relations with spouse, following rules of society can have a positive effect on the natural world, coyote causes more problems, woman stolen by water monster, coyote steels water babies, causes flood, move people to 5th world, reed - axis mundi, where they become fully civilized, water rises, coyote throws babies back, water goes down, coyote culture hero, forces people to move to the 5th world, if stone sinks, we all have to die, 1st woman creates sun Avatar - the temp temporary orary physical forms that that the Trimurti and the HINDUISM: Terms: Polymorphous Monotheism - one god takes many forms | Avatar Shaktis take, includes humans, animals, and plants | Dharma - your duty, determined by your position in the caste system , demons usually mean anti-dharma | Karma- idae that every act produces and effect, has has far reaching consequences | Rita - cosmic order | Swarga - heaven like place where souls may spend time in between lives and where the devas live - physical place | Yama - underworld inhabited by demons (rakshasas) | Caste System - institutionalization of the division of labor | Brahman - the one God, the divine principle, no gender or physical appearance, pure divinity | Ishvara - when Brahman becomes active, no physical form | Trimurti - depicted as male (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) | Brahma - when God creates the world, creator | Vishnu - when God preserves the world, preserver | Shiva - when God destroys the world, destroyer | Sarasvati - Brahma’s Shaktis, knowledge | Lakshmi - Vishnu’s shaktis, beauty | Shiva’s Shaktis: Sati, loyalty, fertility, fertility, Parvati, faith devotion, Uma, devotion, Kali, death, motherhood motherhood | Shaktis - female female energy counterparts, represent God’s energy, without them there would only be ideas | Indra - storm god, deva who lives in swarga | Yama - god of the underworld | Vedas - sanskrit texts, first oral, then written down, which comprise the the Hindu sacred books, describe the period of Aryan assimilation into Native Indian culture | Upanishads - later sanskrit texts, philosophical instruction that typically as rather than answer questions | The Churning of the Ocean: creation myth, Shiva destroyed the world, gods fled to Brahma for protection, told them to look for Vishnu, leads leads gods to him, Vishnu maintains the world, gods must must churn the milky ocean w/ demons, shows that there is no evil separate from God, many things churned out of ocean, moon placed on Shiva’s head, Lakshmi is churned, the world is re-created, metaphor used, milk is fertility symbol/nourishes/semen, mountain in middle is phallic symbol | Shiva Stories: two acts of Shiva are destruction and mediation, Lingam - what shiva is represented by, the cosmic pillar-phallic symbol | Potter Analogy - metaphorical representation representation of the the relationship between the members of the trimurti and their shaktis: First cause - the potter, member of the trimurti, they they decide what action will be taken, Material cause - the clay pot, the result of the action taken by the potter, the creation, the world, Instrumental Instrumental Cause - the wheel, turns the clay and allows the potter to create the pot, provides energy, the shaktis | The (brahma and vishnu talking), Lingam appears and they are amazed, Supremecy of Shiva: before world is created, god talking to himself (brahma Vishnu goes down lingam but cannot reach the end, Brahma went up, also couldn’t find the end, this this story is for the humans, humans now recognize recognize and and accept accept that that destruction destruction is a part of God, god god is a destroyer destroyer | Sati: Sati becomes becomes wife wife of Shiva, Shiva, represent represents s Shiva’s Shiva’s energy energy to destroy, Sati’s father didn’t approve of Shiva, Shiva, cursed Chiva but a priest cursed the father father back, had to pick a husband, Sati and Shiva married, father prepared a horse sacrifice, invited everyone but but Shiva, shiva doesn’t care about ritual, Sati gets offended, consumed by fire and dies, Shiva gets mad, cuts off the father’s head, tramples Indra, broke the staff of Yama, scatter the gods, destroys the earth, Sati represents fertility, shown by plants dying, Vishnu cuts Sati Sati into pieces, 52, gods decide to make peace with Shiva, gives Daksha the head of a goat since his was burned, | Eye Saint: Sturdy - worshipper of the southern mountain mountain deity, captured a boar, came to to stone lingam, lingam spoke to him, thought he could give some form of service to the God, brought water, boar, and wild flowers, priest brought pure water, fresh flowers, and leaves, horrified to see what Sturdy brought, priest cleaned the lingam, alternated bringing their their things, priest called upon Shiva to protect his image, ad blood flow from one eye, Sturdy came and sacrificed his right eye by cutting it out with an arrow, arrow, the other eye started to bleed, bleed, Sturdy began to cut out his left eye, Shiva stopped Sturdy from cutting out his other eye, pure water and flowers represent mediation, meat and dirty dirty water represent destruction, priest realized that love is greater than ceremonial purity, purity, it’s not as important as the intention, devotion is what matters, destruction and mediation mediation are equal, Sturdy now the Eye Saint | Uma’s Sport: Shiva meditating, Uma-wife of Shiva, Uma covered Shiva’s eye, when covered, she provides him with the energy to destroy the world, created a third eye to protect all creatures | Shiva’s Dance: Potter analogy, analogy, energy of the universe | Ramayana: Valmiki - author, refuge of Sita after she is banned, | Rama - avatar of Vishnu, Vishnu, sent into exile, (dad dies when Rama leaves, cursed after after killing a hermit, karma), kills Ravana, refuses to take back in Sita, two parts of dharma - as to defeat anti dharma, establish social order and doesn’t doesn’t want people to think adultery is okay, | Bharata Bharata - avatar of Vishnu, rules in Rama’s absence, | Lakshman - Avatar of Vishnu Vishnu | Sita - avatar of Lakshmi, Lakshmi, wife of Rama, Rama, born from mother earth, earth, is kidnapped by by Ravana after sending out a golden deer, deer, | Ravana - leader leader of the rakshasas (demons), kidnaps Sita, anti dharma, anti order in the world, had to be defeated by an avatar, avatar, 10 heads ymbolizes power, | Sugriva - monkey king who helps Rama, | Hanuman - one of the monkies, jumps over the ocean to see if Sita is alive, burns down the city after he was captured | Mahabharata: Even though social order is important, it is not the most important thing | Bhishma - Father of Dhritarashtra and Pandu, looking for someone to give thrown to,| The Kurus - Duryodhana, Karna | Duryodhana upset that that Yudhishthira Yudhishthira got the throne, throne, tries to get rid of the Pandavas Pandavas by setting their house on fire, very jealous of Yudhishthira, | Karna rival of Arjuna, was adopted and raised by a chariotteer, becomes friends with the Kurus, older than all of the sons in both families, half brother, | The Pandavas Pandavas - Yuhhishthiia, Yuhhishthiia, Arjuna, escape fire, set a woman and 5 kids to burn, | Yudhishthira Yudhishthira - throne given to him when Dhrit retires, his nephew, compromises with Yudhishthira Yudhishthira and they both rule halves of the kingdom, is a good king, becomes wealthy, likes to gamble but isn’t good, lost everything, including draupadi, loses again, Bhima is caught by snake only way to save him is to answer questions about spirituality, 1st test, Dury and brothers are captured, Yudd saves them, 2nd test, they all drink poison, all die except Yudd, Yudd, told he can bring back one brother, chooses Nakula so each mother will have a son, chooses what what is right spiritually, all brothers get to come back, 3rd test, gets Krishna in war, Dury picked army, | Arjuna - | Krishna - saves Draupadi from being derobed, derobed, | Drona - teacher of the sons, has son, elephant with same name as son, elephant killed, thinks son is killed , then then he was killed | Drupadi - marries marries all 5 sons of the Pandavas, daughter of king in another kingdom, Arjuna wins her but has to share, gets 2 boons, only asks to release Yudhishthira, is kidnapped, | Not all allowed to go to heave when they give up material lives (Pandavas)Yudd wants wants dog, passed test, gets to go to hell to visit brothers, then everyone gets to go to swarga, Yudd learns spiritual order is important AFRICAN: Terms: Divination - communication with the Divine | Ananse Stories: Ananse - a spider who is a man/a man who is a spider, trickster trickster figure, very smart, smart, wants wants to be God, God, owns the spider spider stories, stories, no po position sition in in society society | Separation of God from Man: Wulbari - imperfect creator, is annoyed of humans, wants sun, moon, and darkness, is blamed for the blinding of the animals | Ananse - thinks he is smarter than God, tricks Wulbari in believing believing he can read minds and create sun, moon, and darkness | God Retreats To The Sky: Nyambi Nyambi - imperfect imperfect creator, threated by Kamonu, has spider create a web to get away, away, takes away Kamonu’s Kamonu’s dog, pot, and child | Kamonu - does everything Nyambi does, learns to kill and cook, follows Nyambi, creates a false axis mundi - towers | The Chameleon Finds: Mulungu - imperfect creator, has to escape from the humans, they learned how to cook and started fires | The Descent From The Sky: Olorun - sky god, supreme deity, power struggle with Olokun, tricks Olokun into compromising | Olokun - Goddess of the waters, challenges Olorun to clothmaking | Orunmila - oldest son of Olorun, saves the peo people ple from Olokun | Eshu - the me messenger ssenger and linquist, people went to Eshu when when Obatala wouldn’t respond, contacts Obatala for the people | Obatala - imperfect creator, creates earth, Ife (city), creates humans to keep him him company, gets drunk, makes mistakes, mistakes, feels bad, protects humans, humans, dries up the waters | How Shango Departed From Oyo: Shango Shango - 4th k king ing of Oyo, not a very good king, jealous of Timi Timi and Gbonka, has Gbonka kill Timi, tries to kill Gbonka in fire, told to leave by Gbonka, left Oyo, became Orisa of thunder and lightning, punished those who spoke bad of him | African Epic: Gassire’s Lute: Wagadu - the city, place they are in, also refers to the culture of the city, goes through many phases where it falls and rises | Gassire - wants father to die so he can take thrown, thrown, told he won’t be king but instead will carry a lute and cause the the fall of Wagadu, lute doesn’t sing, lengthens war to get blood of sons, considered somewhat of a culture hero, gives Fasa people their cultural identity, cultural history, becomes a Griot | The Epic of Askia Mohammed: Si kills Kassaye’s Kassaye’s babies babies because because of of prophecy, prophecy, is killed by by Mamar | Mamar Mamar - Kassaye’s Kassaye’s child, raised raised by a servant, servant, kills Si, prophecy, prophecy, brings Islam Islam as a state religion to Mali, islamic cultural identity identity | The Adventures Of Papaju: Papaju - son of first wife, power power struggle with Xigamana for throne, throne, swallows swallows a stone, makes him mute, mute, Iguana Iguana helps helps Papaju Papaju become become unmut unmute e by having him him kill him, kills Xigamana, Xigamana, rightful rightful place place on throne, follows a bird, breaks a taboo and opens basket, releases Gegestsu, learns the qualities to be a good king and established the right of heredity | Gegetsu Gegetsu - | The Dogon Creation: ist word represents the organization of Nature, 2nd word represents represents social order, 3rd word repressents repressents spiritual spiritual and cosmic cosmic order, order, Amma - creates creates the earth earth as a female body body,, attem attempts pts intercourse intercourse with with the earth, earth, result result is jackal disorder, after earth is excised, the result is the Nummo Twins Twins | The Nummo - regenerates ht defiled earth through language and 3 words, | basket represents granary granary which is symbolic of a geometric geometric structured univers, metaphor metaphor for the the re-establishment of Natural, Natural, Social, Spiritual, and Cosmic order. | Dahomean Narrative: Mawu-Lisa- female moon, male male sun, androgynous supreme god, creator | Sagbata - earth god, proves divine by not sleeping for for 7 days, power power struggle with Sogbo, | Sogbo- sky god | Fa - represents divintation and and destiny, | Legba trickster figure, linguist knows all the languages, | Chameleon - messenger, helps protect, no one can sneak up on you, refelcts in skin, | wands axis mundi,
