The
Bushongo or
Songora are an ethnic group from the
Congo River
The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharg ...
and surrounding areas. The creator god (or chembe) in Bushongo mythology is called
Bumba. Other names for him include M'Bombo and M'Bomba. He is said to have originally existed alone in darkness, in a universe consisting of nothing but primordial water. M'Bombo was said to appear like a gigantic man in form and white in colour. The
creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
*Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
*Creationism, the belief that ...
took place when he vomited the
sun,
moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
,
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage ...
s and then
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...
ity.
Stephen Hawking mentioned the Boshongo creation myth in his last book, "
Brief Answers to the Big Questions", as an example of one of humanity's many creation myths.
Modern influence
David Adams Leeming in The World of Myth, states:
"The dominant theme in this myth is that of creation out of the male principle. Bumba 'Bombos vomiting reminds us of the Egyptian High God's creation by spitting and seed spilling. The absence of the female principle here suggests a patrilineal culture. The fact that Bumba 'Bombois white suggests that this is a late myth, affected, like so much African mythology, by the presence of the white race in colonial Africa."
Thus Bushongo mythology has been heavily influenced by modern cultures.
Creation myth
According to the Bushongo creation myth, the only thing that existed in the world originally was a god named M'Bombo. Having become ill, M'Bombo vomited: out the sun, the moon, the stars, various animals and Tsetse the lightning. Finally, M'Bombo vomited out humans. The animals that M'Bombo had vomited out earlier created other animals.
The three sons of M'Bombo attempted to finish the creation of the world. The first, Nyonye Ngana, made white ants but was not equal to the task and died as a result. The ants, however, thankful for life, went searching for black earth and covered the barren sands to bury and honour their creator. Chonganda, the second son, brought forth a plant from which all other plants in the world are descended. The third son, Chedi Bumba, only succeeded in creating the bird called the
kite
A kite is a tethered heavier-than-air or lighter-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create lift and drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have a bridle and tail to guide the fac ...
.
Tsetse the lightning, proved to be a trouble-maker. Consequently, M'Bombo chased her into the sky, leaving mankind without fire until he later showed people how to draw fire out of trees.
When the work of creation was completed, M'Bombo walked through the villages and said to the people, "Behold these wonders, they belong to you"
[Mircea Eliade, Gods. Goddesses, and Myths of creation (New York, 1974), pp. 91-92]
References
{{Africa-myth-stub
Bantu mythology