African Mythological Commonalities :: African Creation Myths Essays

African Mythological CommonalitiesCreation myths vary among African ethnic groups highlighting similarities and differences in belief systems and societal constructs. There are universey factors that contribute to creation myths for each individual group. Survival issues dominate many my ths, suggesting the origins of land, the ability to cultivate land, and the gain of existing off of what one has cultivated. Questions of where land came from, the purpose of man, and the relationship between the condition and the created are evaluated. The important issues of each African ethnic group became the central point of their creation and origin myths. A predominant theme among African creation myth is the peoples relation to the land, as a means of survival and origin. The shilluk myth, An African Story of the Creation of Man and the Yoruba peoples myth, The Creation of the Universe and Ife state that man was first made from clay. Both creation myths indicate an awareness and a indis pensableness for explanation of the physical differences among human beings. The Shilluk myth claims that there are different colored people because of the varying colors o f clay that Joak, the creator according to this myth, encountered as he wandered the world. The Yoruba peoples myth explains the differences in the shapes of humans as a result of the god Obatala being drunk when he shaped man out of clay. In both myth s, the action of the creating god caused the variation in mans physical characteristics. The Shilluk myth attempts to explain why mans body is designed as it is. Each part of the body is designed, according to this myth, to fulfill a purpose related to survival.