| Nyambe | |
|---|---|
God of Creation | |
 | |
| Venerated in | Bantu mythology |
| Symbols | Sun, Sky |
| Ethnic group | Bantu |
| Equivalents | |
| Roman | Jupiter |
| Bakongo | Nzambi Mpungu |
| Igbo | Chukwu |
| Egyptian | Amun-Ra |
Nyambe (also Nyambi, Nyembi, Nzambe, Nzambi, Nzemi, Njambe and Njambi) is the Supreme God, Sky Father, and God of the Sun across numerous traditional Bantu religions.
The Bakongo people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and the Republic of the Congo believe in the Supreme God Nzambi Mpungu and his female counterpart Nzambici. They are the only people who recognize Nzambi as both male and female, with Nzambi Mpungu symbolizing the Sun and Nzambici symbolizing the Moon and Earth. [1]
The Bassa people of Cameroon believe the Supreme being Ngambi/Nyombe is the revealer of secret truths, present and future. After the Bible was published in the Bassa language in 1922, Ngambi became seen as the Creator God. Due to their great respect of elders in their society, Ngambi is also seen as the greatest Elder. [1] [2]
The Chokwe people of northeast Angola believe in the Supreme God Nzambi (similar to the Bakongo god, Nzambi Mpungu), who they also call Kalûnga and Samatanga; the latter meaning "the creator." The king, or Mwanangana, is said to be a representative of Nzambi. They have the ability to connect the physical world to the spiritual world of the ancestor and seek guidance from nature spirits. [1]
The Fang people of Cameroon and Gabon believe in the Supreme God Nzeme, also called Mebere. In Fang cosmology, Nzeme created everything in the world and blew life into the Earth and the first ancestor, or Zambe. Nzeme is also said to have created three spirits: Nzame with strength; Mbere with leadership, and Nkwa with beauty. [1]
The Lele people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo believe that the Supreme Being Njambi created all things, including the forest, which supplies them with most of their needs from fish, salt, corn and medicinal plants to firewood, meat from animals, oil, etc. Njambi is said to have created water spirits called mingehe , which are similar to bisimbi spirits in Kongo religion. [1]
The Nyoro and Toro people of Uganda referred to their Supreme God as Nyamuhanga. [1]
The Hambukushu people of Botswana, also known as the "Rainmakers of Okavango," believe in the Supreme God Nyambi, who is said to have created the universe, animals, and man, placing the Hambukushu in the hills of Tsodilo. This place is considered a sacred place to their people. Nyembi is also believed to bless those who do good by sending them to heaven, or Diwiru, when they die and punish those who do evil by sending them to his messenger of death, Shadapinyi. [3] [4]
The Herero people of Namibia believe in the Supreme God Njambi Kurunga, whom they also refer to as Omukuru. Like many of depictions in other cultures, Njambi creation the universe, spirits and humans, and then retreated into seclusion in the sky. [1]
The Lozi people of Zambia and Zimbabwe believe that the Supreme Being Nyambe created all things, including his own mother, his wife and man. Because the sun is seen as a great force that powers everything in the universe, the Lozi also see Nyambe as the Sun God. Their oral traditions state that the first humans that Nyambe created were the Kamura people. After seeing how destructive his creation could be, he retreated to a mountaintop and never interacted directly with man again. [1]
The Akan, Fante and Asante people of Ghana and Burkina Faso believe Nyame (also Oyame ) created all things, including Heaven, or Osoro, and earth, or Asaase, and is continually adding to and redesigning the universe. His other name Onyankopong means "the Supreme Being," while Odomankoma means "Infinite beings whose Beginning and End are unknown to humans." [1]
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 secondary creator from a primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator.
Candomblé Bantu is one of the major branches (nations) of the Candomblé religious belief system. It developed in the Portuguese Empire among Kongo and Mbundu slaves who spoke Kikongo and Kimbundu languages. The supreme and creative god is Nzambi or Nzambi a Mpungu. Below him are the Jinkisi or Minkisi, deities of Bantu mythology. These deities resemble Olorun and the other orishas of the Yoruba religion. Minkisi is a Kongo language term: it is the plural of Nkisi, meaning "receptacle". Akixi comes from the Kimbundu language term Mukixi.
The Kongo people are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo. Subgroups include the Beembe, Bwende, Vili, Sundi, Yombe, Dondo, Lari, and others.
The Bassa are a Bantu ethnic group in Cameroon. They number approximately 800,000 individuals. The Bassa speak the Basaa language.
The Lozi people believed in a creator god, whom the Lozi call Nyambe. Nyambe's wife was Nasilele and his mother was Ngula. Nyambe is said to have created both his wife and his mother. He is also said to have created everything else that exists, including the heaven, the Earth and all the plants and animals.
The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky.
The Kalûnga Line in Kongo religion is a watery boundary between the land of the living and the spiritual realm of the ancestors. Kalûnga is the Kikongo word "threshold between worlds." It is the point between the physical world and the spiritual world. It represents liminality, or a place literally "neither here nor there." Originally, Kalûnga was seen as a fiery life-force that begot the universe and a symbol for the spiritual nature the sun and change. The line is regarded as an integral element within the Kôngo cosmogram.
The Lunda are a Bantu ethnic group that originated in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo along the Kalanyi River and formed the Kingdom of Lunda in the 17th century under their ruler, Mwata Yamvo or Mwaant Yav, with their capital at Musumba. From there they spread widely through Katanga and into Eastern Angola, north-western Zambia and the Luapula valley of Zambia.
The Mbukushu people, also known as the Hambukushu, are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group indigenous to Southern Africa. They are part of the larger Lozi ethnic group and have significant populations in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia, numbering around 120,000.
Bantu religion is a system of various spiritual beliefs and practices that relate to the Bantu people of Central, East, and Southern Africa. Although Bantu peoples account for several hundred different ethnic groups, there is a high degree of homogeneity in Bantu cultures and customs, just as in Bantu languages. Many Bantu cultures traditionally believed in a supreme god whose name is a variation of Nyambe/Nzambe and ancestral veneration. The phrase "Bantu tradition" usually refers to the common, recurring themes that are found in all, or most, Bantu cultures on the continent.
Nzambi a Mpungu is the Supreme God, eternal Sky Father and God of the Sun (fire) in traditional Kongo spirituality. His female counterpart is Nzambici, the Sky Mother and Goddess of the Moon. Among other Central African Bantu peoples, such as the Chokwe, and in the Kingdom of Ndongo, Nzambi Mpungu was also called Kalunga, the god of fire and change. This may have a connection to an element of Bakongo cosmology called Kalûnga. It was seen as the spark of fire that begot all life in the universe. After Portuguese colonization, Nzambi Mpungu became synonymous with the Christian God and existed chiefly as the Creator God.
A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms.
The Kongo cosmogram is a core symbol in Bakongo religion that depicts the physical world, the spiritual world, the Kalûnga line that runs between the two worlds, the sacred river that forms a circle through the two worlds, the four moments of the sun, and the four elements.
Kongo religion encompasses the traditional beliefs of the Bakongo people. Due to the highly centralized position of the Kingdom of Kongo, its leaders were able to influence much of the traditional religious practices across the Congo Basin. As a result, many other ethnic groups and kingdoms in West-Central Africa, like the Chokwe and Mbundu, adopted elements of Bakongo spirituality.
Mebege is the Supreme God of the Fang people of the Central African Republic.
Njambe is the supreme creator god figure in the traditional religion of the Loki or Boloki people, who are primarily based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to anthropologist John H. Weeks, Njambe is also used to refer to a deity associated with sickness and death [2]. He is prominent in Boloki myths regarding the origin of death [1] [3].
Nzambici is the eternal God of Essence, as well as Moon, Earth and Sky Mother in Bakongo religion. She is also the female counterpart of the Kongo creator god, Nzambi Mpungu.
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