Truth be told

From Hollywood directors to producers, writers, script writers, film makers, and ect.

Every body loves to populate their creative writing pieces with intrigue, and mystery to get get that unique flare to the story line making their masterpiece stand out from the dull, unimaginative, and utterly boring ocean of 
read-a-like short stories. They want to be emancipated from the dull drums editors force feed you to write.  A fate worse then death for the creative mind.  You crave to write about places that are different;  uncharted territory to make your story come alive.  Everybody wants their story lines and plots to hold their audience's  attention; by any means necessary, including distorting the facts, or maybe blowing things out of proportion....just a little. We might even misrepresent and villainise  a culture or two at the expense of  the integrity and authenticity of the subject content. No big deal it reads great.      
How often has Africa been relegated to a mere afterthought when applied to the beginning of civilization or the creation stories of the word. It is almost implied that the only creation story that ever existed was the Christian version of creation when there are numerous stories that circle the globe, however in this article we will just focus on this one story… giving you a little back ground before we start of course..... it's just power for the consciousness, and better resources for stories, novels, and other articles in the long run. 

Archaeological evidence of human habitation dates back to 9000 BC in Nigeria with Benin Chad, and Cameroon along with the Gulf of Guinea surrounding her borders. Taking her name from the Niger Nigeria birthed several ethnic groups from her fertile soil, or what the creation story refers to as the land of expansion so to speak. But how was this distorted to the notorious "N" word? That's another discussion.  
On the western shores we have the Ga, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Ibo, Popo and Fulani which are only a few of the ethnic groups that make up the population of Nigeria's of 158,000,000’s souls covering 36 city-states with an official language of English due to colonial occupation from the United Kingdom, however on October 1, 1960 Nigeria gained her independence from the United Kingdom and was declared a republic in 1963. Abuja 923768 (km) her capital reverberated independence to her highest peak Chappal Waddi (2419) for all to hear; the most populous country in Africa, and the most populous in the world. Despite Africa being labeled poor backward and primitive how is it that Nigeria  is a member of “The Common Wealth of Nations” with her oil reserves bringing in an

enormous revenue…in other words a whole lot of Naira the country’s currency flows like the Niger.

Fifty percent of the country practice some form of Islam while 40 percent are Christians and the other 10 percent remained loyal to their ancestors embracing their traditional beliefs.

The Yoruba's beginnings are almost lost in time. One of their most ancient names is the Nok; going as far back as 9000 BC. It was said that they migrated from the east as far as the north eastern extension of what was called Alkebulan that bordered on the western coast with was what was referred to then as the Ethiopian sea.  The Nok culture later became the Yarrib which then became what is commonly known today as the Yoruba, or Yoruba land hosting a rich and diverse culture of art music and literature.  

Their spiritual beliefs are cosmological in nature therefore the practice was referred to as Ifa; a nature based spiritual practice that consisted of a host of deities residing in nature called Orisha an extension of the creator god Oludumare who resided in Orun what Christians consider to be heaven. When we say Orisha we’re referring to a deity that guides our consciousness.  This is only the tip of the iceberg a small piece of the puzzle due to the scope of this article however it will be just as informative.

The folklore of the Yoruba people of south western Nigeria is deeply sub merged in oral traditions, beliefs, and legends pertaining to the formation of the universe and structure of the spiritual and physical world.  This ancient science of the material world and celestial bodies was called Gede; the practice and study of the universe's celestial bodies including astrological events that greatly influence the spiritual costumes of the ancient Yoruba and the traditional Yoruba today.

 The spiritual beliefs of the traditional Yoruba states that the creator’s essence resides throughout the universe and within nature the creator’s attributes referred to as Orisha emanate planetary cosmological and Stellar influences.  The Orisha are also described as numerous individual heavenly energies with specific characteristics that dominate throughout nature and the heavens.  Oral traditions passed on from generations to generations have symbolically communicated universal laws, morals, values, principles, ethics, and abstract ideals in regards to the role played by cosmological and Stellar influences. The ancient Gede describe cosmic and stellar influences as timeless individual characteristic energies expressing themselves universally in allegorical narratives telling of legends eons older then Western civilization.  This is what would be referred to as the creation story or genesis of civilization according to the traditional Yoruba practicing Ifa. They believe creation began 218 kilometers 135 miles northeast of Lagos at Ile-Ife the holy city of Nigeria. Ile-Ife is also considered the land of expansion dating back to 600 BCE the planet's oldest organized community.

Their oral traditions also include a creation story; one version of the story states that Obatala gazed out as far as his eyes could see and was met with a watery waste so he decided to ask the creator god Oludumare if he could create life.  He was referred to the oracle deity Orumila for instructions. Orumila told him to get a three toed hen a bag of soil and go to Ogun to get a chain to descend down to the watery waste when arriving sprinkle the sand and drop the hen and when the hen scratches the sand earth will begin to form.  Afterwards Obatala would return to Orun to create the new being, and Orumila Obatala and Oludumare; the three of them including the new being would decide what his or her destiny would be, but only after Oludumare breathed the breath of life into the new being.

Another version is that Obatala started the creation of the new being but stopped to drink some palm wine and became intoxicated, so Odduduwa another Orisha had to complete the creation of the new being. Odduduwa was successful. 
Many city-states and empires were named after the sons and daughter of Odduduwa such as the following, Ila Orangun, Owu, Ketu, Sabe, Popo, Oyo, and Benin. These are the original regional states and also where life is said to have come from in Ile-Ife.

It is this rich culture whose creation story has intrigued and fascinated those of us who are conscious of its existence. How arrogant to assume that there exist only one genesis, or creation story.  Imagine the many ethnic groups throughout the 59 countries in Africa alone.  There are thousands that circle the globe.  Over the decades the spiritual and religious traditions of Africa have been grossly

misrepresented and distorted out of ignorance, fear, and racism.  Mis-education has played a vital role within the education system in contributing to this misconception with our society continuing to be influenced by the clergy escalating  intolerance to African and non-Christian spiritual practices in general.

African deities, and its religions have been vilified while the media and the graphic media have explored the spiritual icons and avatars throughout Africa using them to gain a great deal of wealth in the media industry.  

As a writer and published author it is my pen's responsibility to retrieve and recover the traditions of Africa and place them in their proper context and correct the mis-representation that have created negative images in regards to traditional African spiritual practices.

The clergy who influences society in general have no understanding of African culture or the spiritual concepts embraced by the indigenous population who embrace a traditional belief system. During the colonization of African countries an ocean of religious intolerance spilled over onto the ancestral beliefs  nearly obliterating their culture, oral traditions and practices.  However the movie industry has taken full advantage of the so called dark primitive  African gods accumulating great wealth while the masses remain ignorant of the true origins of African spiritual practices. So it really begs one to wonder how did such a large percentage of African descended people in the Diaspora become Christians, especially in these crucial times of change. 

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