God or the Creative Principle in Traditional Cameroonian Mythology
Where do all things and we who contemplate them come from? Over the course of time, this question has been asked and answered by people all over the world who witness the rising and setting sun and the multitude of phenomena in between, including the existence of their own selves. Answers to the question have ultimately attributed the existence of all things to some active all-encompassing creative/generative principle, whether expressed in creationist myths with an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient entity or group of entities, or in scientific theories such as the sequence of phenomena proceeding from the Big Bang. The idea of this creative/generative principle was well known and defined in the minds of the peoples of various tribes in the Cameroonian territory and interpreted in a wide variety of ways. In accordance with many African and other indigenous mythologies, the supreme entity is sometimes characterized as female, sometimes (especially after contact with Christian theology) as male, sometimes as neither male nor female and sometimes as both.[i] In some cases, the being is impersonal and far removed from human affairs. In others, the being is the founding ancestor of the people, kingdom or group and thus, is intimately involved in their affairs. Whether remote from or directly involved in human affairs, almost all versions of this entity were accompanied by pantheons of lesser entities of varying powers, physical manifestations, and genders expressions as well as by ancestral spirits, who are propitiated, consulted with, or otherwise approached the supreme entity on behalf of the living. [i]
For example, the Matakam (also known as the Mafa) of the Far North region believe in a supreme but distant creator deity they call Jigilé, a word which translates literally to “Up.”[ii] Ancestral spirits act as intermediaries between Jigilé and the living. Before Islam took root, the Hausa, who populate much of West Africa and in Cameroon are found mostly in the Northern region, recognized Ubangiji, a deity which also is not connected to everyday human life but accessible only through a subset of supernatural forces known as iskoki.[iii] The Mambila of the Adamawa region believe in Chàŋ, a deity who created all that exists, and holds the inescapable power to determine all that was, is and is to be.[iv] The Kapsiki (also known as the Higi), of the Far North region believe in the concept of Shala, an indwelling supernatural alter ego which directs the path and destiny. Each person, family, clan, ward, village, mountain, river, forest etc. has a Shala to whom prayers, libations and sacrifices are directed.[v] The Kapsiki are unique as one of the few groups on the continent who do not have ancestral cults.[vi]
The Bamileke of the Western region, believe in Si, an omnipresent, omnipotent, supreme creator deity who is the founding ancestor of the chiefdom and sits at the top of the hierarchy of spiritual beings. [vii] The Bamileke also believe in ancestors and other lesser deities, with these three entities forming the triangle of power to whom they address their prayers.[viii] The Bamileke ancestral cult is very well developed. Ancestral spirits are embodied in the skulls of deceased ancestors which are treated with great reverence.[ix] In Bangangte, which is a Bamileke chiefdom, there are sacred places called m’ben dedicated to an entity which is thought of as the god of the land, a force that cannot be known or touched and is more similar to fate or destiny. The Bamum, also of the Western region believe in Nnui (also Njinyi or Yoruban) a supreme deity who is invisible, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. The name Nnui translates to “…he who is everywhere, he who sees and hears everything.”[vii] Nnui is believed to operate through local deities such as gods of the mountain, sun, stone and hills [x] The Bamum also practice ancestral veneration. The Nso of the Northwest region believe in a “First Cause”, an entity called Nyuy. Nyuy is “formless, impersonal, immanent and genderless…partible in in its manifestations in all life and nature, making itself felt in unexpected events and numinous places.”[xi] As in other cases, Nyuy rarely communicates with the living, a task assigned to anyuy, which are lesser divinities in their own right, or divinized ancestors.[xii] The people of Oku, also from the Northwest region, believe in Feyin, the high god who created the world and humans, is the source of life power and the ultimate recipient of all prayers brought to him by ancestral and other lesser spirits known as Emyin.[xiii],[xiv] To the Obang of the North West region Uguo’banyonghe is the most remembered ancestor, whose life is shrouded in mystery and who is believed to have disappeared into a river.[xv] Water’abey is the immediate descendant of Uguo’banyonghe is the person to whom practices such as pouring libations to ancestors, are traced.
Among the Ejagham of the South West region, Obasi Osaw is the sky deity, often characterized as male and Obasi Nsi, the earth deity characterized as female.[xvi], [xvii] Ejagham people also pay homage to ancestors (Akibansi), as well as to a host of nature deities to whom they address prayers, pour libations and offer sacrifices. The Sawa ethnic groups which include tribes like the Bakweri of the Southwest and the Duala of the Littoral region believe in a creator deity called Owase which translates to “the master of everything.”[xviii] As in the case of other supreme deities, Owase is far removed from the banalities human life and ancestral spirits serve as intermediaries between Owase and the living. The Sawa people equally believe in jengu (also liengu or miengu) powerful ancestral and other spirits which live in the Atlantic ocean, and rivers in the region, the most famous of which is the female entity commonly known as Mami Wata.[xix], [xx] The Bàsàa of the Littoral region believe in Hilolombi (The-Greatest-Because-The-Eldest), the Creator, whose name is so holy, it is said a Bàsàa person could spend all their life and never utter this name.[xxi],[xxii] Bàsàa tradition holds that once qualified by initiation or other means, a man may say the name Hilolomb or Hilolombi while a woman would say Kilolomb or Kilolombi. Hilolombi is masculine and Kilolombi is feminine and the Bàsàa believe that “If you are a woman, the Supreme Being is a She, a Woman, Mother”.[xxii]
The Fang (whose populations include the Yaunde, the Beti and the Bulu) of the Center and Southern region believe in Mebeghé a primordial cosmic entity from which all that is emanated, including Nzame ye Mebege the masculine principle of God and Gningone Mebeghé the female principle entity.[xxiii],[xxiv], [xxv] To the Baka of the Eastern region, Komba is the demiurge in the Gnostic sense of one who did not create the universe but one who is given control of the material world. This in an important distinction because to the Baka, before there was anything there was the forest, which is thought of as a primordial space. Komba thus, is not the creator, but an organizer of a basic preexisting creation.[xxvi] Komba is believed to have formed all living beings (animal and vegetable) from this preexisting creation, and is the original possessor of fire, water and knowledge, the vital necessities for life. Komba does not live on earth but is represented by the forest spirit, Ezengi (also Jengi) which plays a key role in the daily life of the Baka.[xxvii] Like the Bàsàa creation myth, the Baka creation myth is fascinatingly complex and gets a more detailed treatment in subsequent sections. The Gbaya people, also of the Eastern region believe in a Great Spirit called Gba-Só who is different from nature spirits known as Só.[xxviii] The Tiv , mostly located in Nigeria but who also have a small population in Cameroon, have one supreme deity called Aondo as well as many small spiritual forces called Kombo (Akombo as in the plural form).[xxix]
It is exciting to me that there exists a plurality of traditional Cameroonian ideas about the universe and its creative principle or supreme deity. I find rich material for exploring and better understanding phenomena in these ideas starting with what resembles a remote, resolutely unfolding scientific universe, incapable of personal interest in the unfolding of each unit of life, but which interacts and can be interacted with in ways which result in existence, consciousness of this existence at various levels and in things like ideals, values, laws and principles, compelling enough to organize communities and endure the tests of time. Also exciting is the idea of an immanent entity embodied by every being. Even more exciting is the idea of interacting with and coming to understand the various manifestations of this universe from the intangible to the tangible and to participate in its and by extension our own harmonious unfolding.
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