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had grown up, Nyambe fell in love with her and had incestuous sexual intercourse with her. When
Nasilele found out what had happened between her husband and her daughter, she quarrelled with her husband and beat her daughter. Nyambe was so upset by his wife's behaviour that he called his servant, Sasisho, and announced his decision to return to heaven. Nyambe ordered a spider to spin a web, so that he and his servant could climb to heaven leaving Nasilele on Earth. Due to her remorse, Nasilele died a few weeks later.
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Litooma-mundi-wa-Nyambe (which means "heaven, the home of Nyambe" in Luyana) and his first wife was called
Mwambwa. She later became the first female chief of the Luyi people. Through this myth, the Lozi royalty was said to originate from Mwambwa. She was, therefore, given the title Njemakati (which means "a woman from whom the kingdom originates"). She is also said to have given birth to nine other children, including a daughter named Mbuyu, who took over the sovereignty from her mother.
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believed in a creator god, whom the Lozi call Nyambe. Nyambe's wife was
Nasilele (which means "she who is associated with long things") and his mother was Ngula (which means "she who is pregnant"). Nyambe is said to have created both his wife and his mother. He is also said to have created everything
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In this version, Nyambe is shown to be the founder of the Lozi nation. Nyambe and his wife
Nasilele had a daughter Mwambwa (which means "one who is being talked about"). In a variation on this theme, Nyambe is said to have created many wives for himself and had children by all of them. When Mwambwa
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god but was the first human being. All Luyi peoples were said to have originated from him. In this account, the identity of the
Creator is not stated explicitly. Instead, the people in the myth are simply stated to have been living on the Zambezi floodplains. Nyambe's village was called
719:. Nyambe told Kamunu not to kill the other creatures but Kamunu would not stop. To punish this misbehaviour, Nyambe begun taking away Kamunu's possessions: first his pot broke, then his dog died and eventually his son died. This, according to the Lozi, was the way that
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Mwambwa, the daughter of Nyambe and
Nasilele, later became the first Luyi sovereign and, therefore, founder of the nation. Her eldest daughter, whose name was Mbuyu and who was presumably
680:. Nyambe gave Kamunu the task of naming all the other creations and told the human being that all the animals were his siblings. As such he should look after them.
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to weave a web. Once Nyambe had used the spider's web to climb into
Litooma, he blinded the spider so that it would not tell Kamunu how to get to heaven.
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of animals. Although Nyambe was at first impressed, he soon became tired of Kamunu's mimicry, especially when the man started killing the animals and
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Kamunu, being the most intelligent of all Nyambe's creations, rapidly learned and copied Nyambe's various skills: the mastery over
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and lived on its summit, but Kamunu climbed the mountain and found Nyambe. Finally, Nyambe decided to move away from
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In frustration, Nyambe moved away from Kamunu on several occasions but, wherever Nyambe moved to on the
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That is how Kamunu remained on Earth, condemned to live and die here after Nyambe refused to provide
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is not cast in stone, there are several versions of it, depending on who is telling the
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The three versions of the Lozi founding myth given below are not the only ones.
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floodplains, Kamunu would follow. Eventually Nyambe decided to cross the
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from the incest with Nyambe, took over the sovereignty from her mother.
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In this version of the founding myth, Nyambe was not the
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Harold Scheub, 'Nyambe Moves Away from
Aggressive Men'.
832:Harold Scheub, 'Nyambi Flees from Assertive Men'.
289:Index of African mythology and creation narratives
797:Nyambe founds the Lozi nation as the first person
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46:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
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322:List of African deities and mythical figures
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77:Learn how and when to remove this message
665:, and the name of the first sovereign.
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818:, 'Nyambe And The Origin of Death'.
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703:of spoons, plates and canoes; the
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834:A Dictionary of African Mythology
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820:A Dictionary of African Mythology
299:Serer astronomy (the star Sirius)
279:Dogon astronomy (the star Sirius)
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16:South African native mythology
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754:(called Litooma in Lozi
672:Nyambe flees from Kamunu
317:Index of African deities
32:This article includes a
284:Dogon astronomy (Nommo)
61:more precise citations.
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534:Persecution of Serers
529:Persecution of Dogons
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653:. Like any other
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370:Kanem–Bornu
243:Waaqeffanna
67:August 2020
59:introducing
854:Categories
810:References
725:human race
480:Priesthood
430:Tattaguine
420:Sine River
345:Benin City
294:Philosophy
267:Divination
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663:first man
457:Education
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261:Doctrines
119:Religions
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501:Saltigue
440:Yaboyabo
380:Nri-Igbo
152:Bushongo
94:a series
92:Part of
803:creator
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736:Zambezi
732:Zambezi
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689:forging
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233:Tumbuka
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197:Lugbara
55:improve
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620:heaven
574:Portal
405:Sangha
390:Ouidah
385:Nsukka
355:Fatick
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219:(Igbo)
207:Maasai
187:Lotuko
130:Baluba
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750:into
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693:metal
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624:Earth
496:Mambo
486:Hogon
468:Okuyi
435:Tukar
238:Vodun
228:Serer
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182:Nubia
177:Hausa
162:Dogon
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