Unkulunkulu
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Unkulunkulu (/uɲɠulun'ɠulu/), often formatted as uNkulunkulu or uMkhulu Omkhulu,Weir, Jennifer. "Whose Unkulunkulu?" ''Africa (pre-2011)'', vol. 75, no. 2, 2005, pp. 203-219''.'' is a mythical ancestor, mythical predecessor group, or Supreme Creator in the language of the Zulu,
Ndebele Ndebele may refer to: *Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa *Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe * Sumayela Ndebele (Northern Transvaal Ndebele), located in South Africa Languages *Southern Ndebele language, the language of ...
and
Swati Swati may refer to Films * ''Swati'' (1984 film), a Telugu film * ''Swati'' (1986 film), a 1986 Bollywood romantic drama film * '' Swati Mutyam'', a 1986 Telugu-language drama film written, directed by K. Viswanath * '' Swati Kiranam'', a 1992 ...
people. Originally a "first ancestor" figure, Unkulunkulu morphed into a creator god figure with the spread of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
.Worger, William H. "Parsing God: Conversations about the Meaning of Words and Metaphors in Nineteenth-Century Southern Africa." ''Journal of African History'', vol. 42, no. 3, 2001, pp. 417-447.


Pre-Christian role

Unkulunkulu was a general term referring to an "old-old one", or an
ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...
. In this situation, these Onkulunkulu (the plural form) could be male or female, and most tribes and families had one, regarding them with great respect. Unkulunkulu also existed in a broader role as a sole, ancient figure; this figure being male, he played a role in broader as the ancestor of humanity, but was given little attention. Scholar Ana Maria Monteiro-Ferreira asserts that before the
spread of Christianity Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the 1st century in the Roman province of Judea, from where it spread throughout and beyond the Roman Empire. Origins Christianity "emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Judea" in the sy ...
to the Zulu people, Unkulunkulu was not a
Supreme Being {{broad-concept article A supreme deity, supreme god or supreme being is the conception of the sole deity of monotheistic religions or, in polytheistic or henotheistic religions, the paramount deity or supernatural entity which is above all other ...
like that of the
Christian God In Christianity, God is the eternal, supreme being who created and preserves all things. Christians believe in a monotheistic conception of God, which is both transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material universe) an ...
.


Post-Christian role

With the
spread of Christianity Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the 1st century in the Roman province of Judea, from where it spread throughout and beyond the Roman Empire. Origins Christianity "emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Judea" in the sy ...
in the mid-1800s, various Zulu populations began referring to Unkulunkulu in a different light. This new form of Unkulunkulu was a
creator deity A creator deity or creator god is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatristic traditions separate a ...
rather than an ancestor archetype. This form closely resembles the
Christian God In Christianity, God is the eternal, supreme being who created and preserves all things. Christians believe in a monotheistic conception of God, which is both transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material universe) an ...
and is referred to in the same context.The Library of His Excellency Sir George Grey, KCB: A catalogue Compiled by W H I Bleek, Sir George Grey and J Cameron Vol 4, London and Cape Town 1867 M. R. Masubelele argues that American and European missionaries in the 1830s originally rejected the use of "Unkulunkulu" to the Christian God because of its association to
ancestor worship The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...
, but eventually many European missionaries began using the name in order to better evangelize the Zulu people. Other names for this being used in similar cultures include ''uMdali'' (meaning "Creator") and ''uMvelinqandi'' (meaning "Before everything"; analogous to '' Umvelinqangi'' in the
isiXhosa Xhosa ( , ), formerly spelled ''Xosa'' and also known by its local name ''isiXhosa'', is a Bantu language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language ...
language). While he still often represented the first man, he also began to represent a creator/originator of humanity and all creation.Callaway, Henry. ''The Religious System of the Amazulu: Unkulunkulu; or, the tradition of creation as existing among the Amazulu and other tribes of South Africa''. 1868. This version of Unkulunkulu originated from reeds; he then created humans and livestock from the same reeds, and created everything else afterwards from no original source.Leeming, David Adams; Leeming, Margaret Adams (2009). ''A Dictionary of Creation Myths'' (Oxford Reference Online ed.). Oxford University Press. After he created all, Unkulunkulu is said to have forgotten his creations and abandoned them, and there are no myths of him beyond this point of creation. Historian William H. Worger argues that nineteenth-century indigenous Africans believed these creation myths and others pertaining to Unkulunkulu to be metaphorical rather than literal, as demonstrated through their debates with European missionaries about their similarities to the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
and their "literal" truth.


Notes

{{reflist Zulu gods Creator gods Names of God in African traditional religions