women and men. Similarly, the Ankh, the symbol of
life in ancient Egypt, was often used as a sign for
water during rituals. Streams of libations were rep-
resented by ankhs on some of the temples’ walls.
The Gods and AncestorsFertility, the maintenance of life, always requires
sexual fusion as far as Africans are concerned.
Thus, for many African people, and quite consis-
tently, the Supreme Being, ultimately responsible
for the creation of the world, is androgynous (i.e.,
both male and female). NanaBuluku, the supreme
deity of the Fon, or Amma, the supreme deity of
the Dogon, are but two examples of such primor-
dial androgyny. Furthermore, Mawu-Lisa, the
dual divinity created by NanaBuluku, displays
both male and female attributes. Also, in the
Dogon tradition, the primordial egg that con-
tained the world was divided into two twin
placenta: Each placenta contained a pair of twin
Nommo, from which human beings came.
One of the striking similarities of the Nommo
was sexual completeness because they were each
endowed with the spiritual principles of both
female and male at the same time. Similarly, it is
not uncommon for many of the African divinities
most closely connected with fertility to display the
same characteristic of sexual completeness
Danbala-Wedo, the vodu snake giver of children
of the Vodu tradition of both Haiti and Benin, for
example, never appears without its female coun-
terpart, the vodu Ayida-Wedo.
On Earth, the coming together of the male and
female, during sexual encounters, is interpreted as
the necessary reenactment of the original divine
androgyny to which the world owes its existence
in the first place and without which life would not
be present. It is easy to understand why, within the
African worldview, homosexuality is incompre-
hensible and highly reprehensible because it vio-
lates the ultimate order of things and inescapably
means infertility (i.e., the end of life).
All over Africa, the ancestors are intimately
involved with the occurrence of human, animal,
and land fertility. There are a number of reasons
for this. Given the primary role of the ancestors as
guardians of the social order of the world of the
living, such involvement is not surprising. Within
the African worldview, a harmonious state of
affairs requires the continuation of life, and it is
incumbent on the ancestors to bestow fertility on
the living. The ancestors are directly responsible
for sending children to married couples.
In fact, the ancestors have a vested interest in
human procreation because children ensure the
continuation of the family line and the veneration
of the ancestors. Indeed, it is those children who,
through appropriate acts of ritualized commemora-
tion, will keep members of the family’s lineage alive
for many generations. Also, it is those children sent
by the ancestors who allow the latter to reincarnate
and come back into the world of the living.Ritual and Art
Unsurprisingly, rituals to ensure fertility abound
in Africa. Rituals marking the beginning of a new
agricultural season (e.g., asking the ancestors for
sufficient rain) are quite common. The great pres-
tige of rainmakers, as privileged intermediaries
between the living and God, to cause rain to fall
or stop (if too much rain has already fallen), is
attested throughout Africa. Some African royal
figures, such as the Queen of Luvedu, owe much
of their prestige to their rain-making abilities,
which they received from the ancestors.
Thus, offerings and sacrifices are presented to
the ancestors before and after harvesting. In some
African societies, for instance, the first fruit of the
harvest is offered to the ancestors, and only after-
ward are human beings able to eat. Similarly, offer-
ings and sacrifices will be made to the ancestors, as
well as other spiritual entities, to secure the coming
of numerous children. When a couple has diffi-
culty conceiving, the ancestors are immediately
suspected of having closed a woman’s womb or
cursed a man with impotency as a form of severe
punishment for engaging in actions deemed disre-
spectful or neglectful by the ancestors.
Divination and appropriate rituals will be
performed as an attempt to help restore the com-
promised harmony. The rituals in question will
commonly involve animal sacrifice because
African people ordinarily believe that the act of
spilling blood on the Earth reinforces one’s life
force. If everything has been done correctly, a
successful pregnancy should follow shortly.264 Fertility