EARTH
Most traditionalAfricansocietiesregard th e Earth
assa cred.Theimplicationsofthisphilosophical
idea arenumerous.Infact,Afri canstaketheEarth
tobea majorspirit—notju st th e carrierof allthe
otherspirits,buta vital,living entity.
Intheancient narrativeofcreationtoldinthe
African Nile Valley, the Supreme Deity created
ShuandTefnut,airandmoisture,andNutand
Geb,skyandEarth.Thus,Geb,theEarth,wasat
theve rybeginning.Asa deity, Geb wasconsidered
on e ofthesacredelementsoftheuniverse.The
Earthasa deitymust betreated withre spect and
de ferenceif theuniverseis tobehe ldtogether.
One way toprotect thehu manan d natural
orderis toshareingeneraldevotion totheEar th
assac re d.Thisis whythe Earthis co ns ideredby
someethnicgroups tobe a femalede ity , a god
mother,whois trulythemothergodofallhuman -
ity.The Akanpeopleof Ghanabeli evethatthe
Earthis a deity,AsaseYaa,an d is thegoddessof
fe rtility.OnemustwalksoftlyontheEarthsoas
no t tocauseharmtoitssu rface.Thepersonwho
stompsandtramplesonth e Earthwithnoregard
foritssacrednaturebringsshameonhis orher
community.
TheEarthis responsible forgivingbirthtoal l
hu manswhopeopleit.Noonecanbebornwho
do esnotcomefrom theEarth. Whena person
dies, heorshealsogo esbacktotheEarth,who,
asa deity,causestheraintofall,thegrasstogrow,
andthelandtoprosper.Everythingthatis seenby
humans is the result of a good relationship
betweentheEarthan d otherdeities.
TheAkanaccepttheideathattheEarthis the
principalso urceoflifeforallhumans.Without
theEarthto co nceal,protect,and provide,the
massesofpeoplewillnotbehappy.Howcanone
findhappinessin a societywherethereis disres-
pectfortheancestors?TheEarthis theabodeof
theancestors.It is herewhereonemustfindthe
convergence between the living and the Dead.
According to Zulu oral traditions in southern
Africa,a secretmilklakeexistsunder theEarthto
no urish thegrassrootsthatmakeit possiblefor
the cattleto have much to eat. Therefore, the
Earthis theonlysourceoffoodforanimalsand
hu mans.
Africanpeopleknowthathumanfleshis also
Earthandthatit returnstoEarthwhena person
di es.Allliving thingsare reallytheEarth, and
theEarthis in alllivingthings.TraditionalAfrican
cultures of tenbelieve that anything th athas
connection with theEarth is sacred. Thus,fire
thatcomesfromwoodthatcomesfromtheEarth
is alsosacred.
TheEarthis notworshipped,andthereareno
priestsorpr iestessesdedicatedtoanEarthtemple
in Africa.Yethu mansaresupposedtotakecareof
theEarth,toaskherpermissionbefore di ggingto
bu rytheDead,andtoseekherblessingthatthe
child returns toEarth. Thursday is her day in
theAkanlanguage.AsaseYaais theupholderof
thetruth,andonecouldswearona partofthe
soil.Indeed,theidea oflibationis wherewateror
ginis po uredon theEarthin thenameofthe229