African Deities
A-G, H-L, M-O, R-Z
Rock-Sene
The god of the Serer people of Gambia.
Ruwa
The high god of the Djaga of Kilimanjoro.
Sagbata
The god of smallpox in Benin.
Sakarabru
The god of justice, retribution, and medicine of the Agni people of Guinea.
Sakpata
The Dahomey god of smallpox and ruler of the earth.
Sango
The Yoruba god of thunder.
Shango
The thunder god of the Yoruba of West Africa.
So
The Ewe god of lightning and thunder.
Tano
The Ashanti river god of Ghana and Togo.
Tore
The Bambuti god of wild animals and the forest.
Tsui'goab
The rain god of the Hottentot of South Africa.
Twe
A lake god of Ghana.
Umvelingqangi
A Zulu creator god.
Unkulunkulu
The high god of the Amazulu also known as Nkulnkulu.
Unumbotte
The creator god of Basari of Togo.
Uwolowu
Akpossa of Togo sky god and creator of everything including minor gods who also gave mankind fire. Gernerally he is seen as a beneficiant and is invoked for spring, rain, agriculture (harvest), sun, and birth.
Wak
African (Ethiopian) god who dwelled in the clouds. He was supreme and a benefactor god. He kept the heavens at a distance from the earth and ornamented it with stars. When the earth was flat, Wak asked man to build himself a coffin. Man did so and Wak shut him up in it and buried it. For seven years he made fire rain down. This is how the mountains were formed. Wak then danced upon the place where the coffin was buried and man sprang forth, alive. He was sure he had slept for a brief moment only and was shocked to find it had been so long and earth had changed so much; this is why man is awake for most of the day. Eventually man grew tired of living alone. Knowing of man's loneliness, Wak took some of his blood and after four days, the blood turning into a woman whom the man married. Man and woman had 30 children, but man was so ashamed at having had so many that he hid fifteen of them away. Wak was angry at this, and as a result, the children man hid away were turned into animals and demons.
Waka
The bengign rain god of the Oromo of Ethiopia.
Wele
The supreme god of Bantua Kavirondo.
Were
An African creator god who is the giver of life and the cause of death. He is similiar to Zeus in that he punishes evildoers with lightning bolts.
Wulbari
The supreme god of the Krachi of West Africa.
Wuni
A creator god and shaper of destiny. He is the supreme god of the Dgamba people of Ghana.
Xewioso
The Dahomey god of fertility and thunder.
Yemonja
One of the great African goddesses, specifically of Nigerian Yoruba. She was the daughter of the sea into whose waters she flows. Her breasts were enormous because she mothered so many Yoruban gods. She also is the Mama Watta, or "mother of the waters", and gave birth to all the bodies of water in the world. She is the sister and wide of Aganju, the soil god, and together they had Orungan, god of the noonday sun, as their child.
She is known by many different names, each with some variations in character:
- As Yemayah or Yemoja, she is the orisha of the oceans, seas, fish, and motherhood. Nurturing, feminine, and life-giving. Considered the epitome of feminine power. Like the ocean, she can be not only gentle but destructive and torrential as well. She holds the secrets that are within the sea. She can be invoked for issues with childbirth, mothers, fertility, or anything involving women's issues or women's mysteries.
As Imanje or Yemanja in Brazil, she is the ocean goddess of the crescent moon.
As Ymoja in West Africa, she is the river goddess who grants fertility to women.
In Cuba, she is Yemayah. Yemaya Achabba, stern goddess - Yemayah Oqqutte, violent goddess - Yemayah Ataramagwa, wealthy queen of the sea - Yemayah Olokun, dream goddess.
She is Agwe in Haitian voodoo beliefs. Finally, she is Yamoja, a combination of the phrase Iyamo eja ("our mother").
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