4 fascinating and thought-provoking African myths that would make you wonder

Why God’s dwelling place is in the sky?

In Akan mythology, God lived very close to earth, however, he moved further away from us because an old woman (abrewa) would not stop pounding food in a mortar for her kids. The pestle constantly bumps Nyame (God) which made him furious. Out of anger, he moved further away from man.

The Efik people of Nigeria and Cameroon also relate that Abasi (God) and his wife (Atai) connived to let their adult children, man and woman, to live on earth, but to ensure that they completely depended on their father, Abasi (God) for sustenance, they were prevented from tilling the land. They would always go back to the sky to eat. On one such visits to eat in the sky, they explored many things. They learned how to sing, created musical instruments and discovered how to make food. These developments made their father angry and so he sent them back to earth. They continued to break their father’s rules and so he got angry and stayed out of the affairs of human beings. He stayed in the sky and watched them live their lives on earth.

For the Basotho and Bavenda people of Lesotho, Huveane, their creator moved to heaven because humans made too much noise. Huveane wanted to admire his handiwork after creation. Unfortunately, humans had gained knowledge about certain things like birds and bees. This was a huge stride for the humans, but the noise that resulted from this was too loud for Huveane so he ascended into the heavens by driving pegs into the ground to help him climb to the top. He removed all the pegs so that it became impossible for man to follow him to heaven.