Mangala made two eleusine seeds of different kinds. Then he made three more pairs of seeds, and each pair became the four elements, the four directions, as corners in the framework of the world’s creation.
By Mr Madu
@1200 CE
he story begins when Mangala, the creator god, tries making a balaza seed but it failed. Then he made two eleusine seeds of different kinds, which the Keita clan in Mali call “the egg of the world in two twin parts which were to procreate“. Then Mangala made three more pairs of seeds, and each pair became the four elements, the four directions, as corners in the framework of the world’s creation. This he folded into a hibiscus seed. The twin pairs of seeds, which are seen as having opposite sex, are referred to as the egg or placenta of the world. This egg held an additional two pairs of twins, who were the prototype of humans.
Among them was Pemba who wished to dominate and so he left the egg early, ripping a piece of his placenta. Pemba fell through space and his torn placenta became the earth. Because he left the egg prematurely the earth formed from this piece was dry and barren and of no use to Pemba. So Pemba tried to return to the egg, to rejoin his twin and rest in the remainder of his placenta. But it was not to be found-Mangala had changed the remaining placenta into the sun. So Pemba stole male seeds from Mangala’s clavicle, and took them to the barren earth and planted them there. Only one of them could germinate in the dry earth, a male eleusine seed which grew in the blood of the placenta. But because Pemba had stolen the seed and it germinated in Pemba’s own placenta, the earth became impure and the eleusine seed turned red.
West Africa
How far back?
2020 | Present
