Khonvoum is the supreme god and creator in the mythology of the Bambuti

Pygmy In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a po ...

people of

central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

. He is the "great hunter", god of the hunt, and carries a bow made of two snakes which appears to mortals as a rainbow. He rules the heavens and when the sun sets, he gathers pieces of the stars and throws it at the sun so that it may rise the next day in its full splendor. He contacts people by means of the mythical elephant Gor (the thunderer) or through a

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

.Lynch, Patricia Ann; Roberts, Jeremy , ''African Mythology, A to Z'', Infobase Publishing (2010), p. 67

/ref> Khonvoum created black and white people from black and white clay and the Pygmies from red clay. For them, he also created the jungle with its lush vegetation and animal life.

References

Creator gods Hunting gods Sky and weather gods Pygmy mythology {{Africa-myth-stub

See also

References