The Origins Of African Mythology 1
The mythologies of Western and South-Western Africa, a region spanning from the Sahara Desert to the jungles of Congo, are just one example of the vast pool of ideas available to you that you can draw upon before running out of inspiration. This region is home to a complex mix of cultures, nations, tribes, and peoples descended from ancient empires. The world is vast and old, and every culture has its share of strange and fascinating things.
1- Bisimbi Bi Masa - Water Nymphs
Beautiful creatures can be found in forests close to lakes, rivers, and ponds in the Congo. They are notorious for causing skin conditions that they alone can treat with their eerie cries. Only experienced herbalists risk going into areas where they are known to exist because they are so dangerous.
2- Vampires of light
The vampiric beings are among the most fascinating creatures in West African folklore; unlike their European counterparts, they appear to prefer light to darkness. Consider the Adze of Togo and Ghana, a witch that can change into a firefly and feed on human blood.
It can sneak through closed doors and windows at night as a firefly, then transform back into a humanoid form to suck its victim dry.
The Ashanti Obayifo, also known as Asiman in Dahomey, is a vampire sorcerer who travels as a ball of light and has the power to possess both humans and animals. Even though the possessed person shines light from its mouth, armpits, and other orifices, it still stalks the night in search of prey. The Obayifo is a powerful, evil spirit that eventually feeds on human blood, withers fruit, and destroys crops. The Obayifo, like the Adze, have a particular affinity for young people.
The Asanbosam, a large ogre with iron teeth and claws that hangs from trees and waits for prey to approach below, is arguably the most terrifying and imaginative of the vampires. Its cousin, Sasabonsam, is as tall as a tree, has teeth that resemble spears, and has enormous wings like bats.
3- Lost World
Local legends claim that a variety of mythical, cryptid monsters once roamed the tropical jungles of Congo and Zaire. These legends gave rise to stories of the Lost Land, where dinosaurs continued to exist as if there had never been an extinction. These were all supposed to be real animals, the relics of earlier times, for the less fantastical Victorian explorers.
There are friendly creatures like the Ambize Angulo, also known as the hog-fish (so named because it is lard-producing and as fat as a hog), and vicious ones like Kongamato, the "breaker of boats," a red and black pterosaur with hideous claws and leathery wings. The Mokele-mbembe, also known as "he who stops the flow of rivers," is an elephant-sized creature with a long neck and a small tail that is Kongo's distant cousin Nessie. The Ninki Nanka is a dragon that dwells in the swamps of Senegal and the Gambia.
The six-horned Ngoubou or the dreaded Emela-ntouka, "the slayer of the elephants," are two many-horned, rhinoceros-like monsters that the pygmies of Central Africa live in fear of. The Congolese also mention the unicorn-sized Abada, which is smaller than a donkey. The Nguma-monene, also known as "the great python," is a 10-meter-long greyish-brown lizard with a spine ridge on its back so large that it hunts hippos. Its smaller, greener, herbivorous cousin, the Mbielu-Mbielu-Mbielu, is a smaller, herbivorous relative.
Making friends with the Rainbow Serpents, or the God Serpents Damballa and Aiya Weddo, who appear in the myths of the people of Benin, Dahomey, and Nigeria and are carried into the Caribbean through voodoo, would be a wise choice if you need a large dragon-like creature. These snakes, which were involved in the creation of the world, are mounted for the Gods, and when they ride out into the sky, they create a rainbow.
4- Forest Fairies and Evil Children
Numerous fairies and gnomes, the majority of whom are kind or, at the very least, cunning, dwell in the forests and jungles of West Africa. Children are typically taken possession of by the few evil ones, who either kill them with some wasting disease or else mistreat them and ruin their parents. The Yoruba Emere are the Elves of West Africa; they are kind of like super children who can travel between worlds at will, are beautiful, and are powerful. On the other hand, the Yoruba-speaking Abiku dwarves will consume anything the child consumes and then move on to another victim after it has unavoidably passed away.
The Yumboes are white dwarves with silver hair who look after a particular family and cry whenever something bad occurs. They are among the other forest creatures. Mali's Wokulo are hairy, three-foot-tall, largely invisible creatures that steal food and are strong enough to outmatch the best wrestlers. The hunters' wives are frequently frightened by the hairless, grass-covered, sharp-clawed Eloko of central Congo, which frequently devours their prey. The good-natured counterparts are the tiny, hairy, anthill-dwelling Aziza of Dahomey, who offer the hunters spiritual guidance and white magic while smoking long pipes. The Egbere fairy is the last, with its priceless sleeping mat; if you take it away, it will follow you around weeping.
The terrifying Yehwe Zogbanu of Dahomey is an ogre-sized giant with thirty horns on his head and body. He proves that not all forest dwellers are small.
5- Rivers and Tricksters
The rivers of West Africa are also dangerous. In Nigeria, the evil tortoise-like Ikaki, water spirits that prey on humans, live; in the Congo, Bisimbi Bi Masa, water nymphs that spread disease, are so dangerous that only the most daring witch doctors and hunters dare to enter them.
Anansi the Spider, originally from Ghana but now widespread throughout the Caribbean and the United States, and Ngofariman, the cunning chimp of Mali, are two of the most well-known tricksters in West Africa. Tricksters are a distinct type of mythical creature that are common to most cultures around the world.
These are just a few of the fantastical beasts that can be found in West Africa; there are many more, including wise-cracking oxen and smoke ghosts that control tribal dancers.
