61:, to curl up beneath the earth and thrust it up in the sky. When she asked Awe, a monkey she had also created, to help out and make some more animals out of clay, he boasted to the other animals and challenged Mawu. Gbadu one of the first Loa Mawu birthed from her love making with Lisa, saw all the chaos on earth and told her children to go out among the people and remind them that only Mawu herself can give Sekpoli - the breath of life. Gbadu instructed her daughter, Minona, to go out among the people and teach them about the use of palm kernels as omens from Mawu-Lisa. When Awe, the arrogant monkey climbed up to the heavens to try to show Mawu that he too could give life, he failed miserably. Lisa made him a bowl of porridge with the seed of death in it and reminded him that only his wife Mawu could give life and that she could also take it away. According to myth, Mawu is the sole creator of human beings from clay, while her husband/brother Lisa was instructed by her to teach humans how to build civilization.
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Both ethnological research/data and oral accounts collected from the Fon themselves attest to these facts. Among the Gbe speaking people, Mawu in particular but also the twinned Mawu-Lisa duplex was elevated to occupy the apex position in the hierarchy of Voduns. It became the state deity of
Dahomey,
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From a historical approach however, the cult of Mawu-Lisa actually diffused westwards from
Yorubaland where its roots are, into the socio-religious consciousness of the Gbe speaking peoples, first from the Agbome (Abomey) plateau which had come under the control of the very centralized Dahomey
73:
The gradual transformation from the word Orisa to Lisa is in congruence with the general rules of transmutation of borrowed words of Yoruba origin in Gbe lexicons to fit the Fon-Gbe phonology, which are characterized by certain sound shifts such as; the dropping of
Initial Vowels i.e
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kingdom. Mawu is Mowo (Yeye Mowo), who is female and consort of Orisa (Obatala) in Ife, while Lisa is Orisa also known as
Obatala, the creator and sky deity of the Yoruba. In Ife, the cultural cradle of the Yoruba, both deities are twinned as Orisa-Yemowo in conjoined temples.
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but ultimately, Mawu was not originally a Fon phenomenon. Among other Gbe speaking people especially the Ewe, Mawu has been elevated to the omnipotent God by the influence of
Christian missionaries.
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As the myth goes, after creating the Earth and all life and everything else on it, Mawu became concerned that it might be too heavy, so she asked the primeval serpent,
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46:. Mawu and Lisa are divine twins. According to the myths, she is married to the male god Lisa. Mawu (Mahu, Mau) and Lisa are the children of
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Dieux d'Afrique: culte des
Orishas et Vodouns à l'ancienne côte des esclaves en Afrique et à Bahia, la baie de tous les saints au Brésil
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Afrique: histoire et religion en Afrique noire
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Vodou in the
Haitian Experience: A Black Atlantic Perspective
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Joseph, Celucien L.; Cleophat, Nixon S. (5 May 2016).
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185:(in French). Editions Revue noire. p. 36.
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795:Names of God in African traditional religions
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253:(in French). KARTHALA Editions. p. 254.
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247:Chrétien, Jean-Pierre (1 January 1993).
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213:Adefuye, Ade; Agiri, Babatunde (1987).
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216:History of the Peoples of Lagos State
16:Creator goddess in Dahomey mythology
137:Traditional African religion portal
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160:(in French). E. Larose. 1924
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747:Native American religions
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50:, and are the parents of
179:Verger, Pierre (1995).
84:, the phoneme to i.e
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30:, associated with the
287:. Lexington Books.
775:Dahomean goddesses
488:Trinidadian Vodunu
44:West African Vodun
770:Creator goddesses
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669:Western occultism
478:Spiritual Baptist
294:978-1-4985-0832-2
260:978-2-86537-373-4
226:978-978-2281-48-7
219:. Lantern Books.
192:978-2-909571-13-3
52:Oba Koso (Shango)
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372:Black church
298:. Retrieved
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116:quarters of
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657:Catholicism
617:Voodoo doll
597:Nine nights
377:Catholicism
300:17 November
266:17 November
232:17 November
198:17 November
164:17 November
114:Akoro/Okoro
48:Nana Buluku
764:Categories
607:Spirituals
144:References
118:Porto Novo
112:, and the
59:Aido Hwedo
725:Rastafari
468:Quimbanda
384:Candomblé
350:Religions
20:Mawu-Lisa
587:Mojo bag
473:SanterĂa
411:Convince
86:Oba Adjo
582:Michari
577:Macumba
538:Houngan
493:Umbanda
438:Judaism
426:in Cuba
367:Atheism
26:) is a
718:Yoruba
713:Orisha
622:Zombie
550:Hoodoo
458:Maroon
443:Kumina
357:Abakuá
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95:Oyinbo
90:Avadjo
82:Gun/Gu
730:Winti
694:Bantu
689:Nkisi
684:Kongo
640:Alusi
602:Obeah
555:Kongo
543:Mambo
533:Bokor
498:Winti
433:Islam
406:Comfa
389:Bantu
362:Arará
105:Iroko
742:Zemi
735:Akan
645:Igbo
612:Veve
592:Myal
463:Palo
399:Ketu
394:Jejé
302:2023
289:ISBN
268:2023
255:ISBN
234:2023
221:ISBN
200:2023
187:ISBN
166:2023
110:Loko
100:Yovo
77:Ogun
42:and
36:Moon
34:and
24:Mahu
701:Loa
679:Ifá
108:to
98:to
92:or
88:to
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38:in
32:Sun
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