Comparing the Societal Goals Set by Nuer and Dogon Creation Myths
In the academic study of religion, one must think of the values and societal goals that any particular myth sets forth. Religion is not simply a random belief system; rather, it seeks to explain the world and to tell its believers how to act. In this way, a researcher can look at the myths of a religion and begin to understand the culture that it belongs to. In a case study approach, this paper will analyze two related Dogon creation myths and a Nuer creation myth, noting the important messages bestowed upon their respective people by these myths. Creation myths from both cultures set gender expectations, warn against destructive acts and actors, and assist in the making of an implicit moral code.
There are two different Dogon creation myths this paper will be discussing, one repeated to Westerners by men (namely Ogotemmeli) and one repeated to Westerners by Dogon women. We will first deal with the implications and worldview of Ogotemmeli’s creation myth. This creation myth begins with a creator named Amma, who begins as alone. She then casts wet clay into the open space. This we clay becomes our planet, taking shape as Mother Earth with a feminine body. Mother Earth has a passageway into the Earth, which is hidden behind a termite hill. This is thought to represent Mother Earth’s vagina and clitoris, respectively. Amma, finally not alone (and now decisively male), decides to penetrate Mother Earth, but is somewhat blocked by the termite hill. Amma then excises Mother Earth’s termite hill and rapes Mother Earth’s interior passageway. Soon after, Amma and Mother Earth have consensual sex. The rape produces a jackal, who eventually also rapes Mother Earth, in an effort to acquire the ability to speak, while the consensual sex produces twin spirits known as Nummo. One of the twin Nummo is predominantly male while the other is predominantly female. In the predominantly male Nummo, his foreskin is the center of his femaleness, while in the predominantly female Nummo, her clitoris is the center of her maleness. After removing their foreskin and clitoris, the two Nummo have sex and conceive twins four times. There are four girls and four boys, and these eight children of the Nummo become the ancestors of the Dogon.
The most obvious takeaways from this creation myth come from analyzing what is deemed to be positive, and what is deemed to be negative; these expectations borne by the myth lay the groundwork for an orderly, tight-knit community with strict rites of passage into adulthood and little violence and fear. The first thing that is negative is being alone. The fact that Amma creates an entire world, even one full of problems, just to cure her loneliness indicates (and sets in motion) a Dogon belief that cherishes community over loneliness, even if the community is difficult to manage and capable of causing harm. Also negatively depicted is rape, causing the birth of a violent jackal. Rape being negatively portrayed helps maintain order in Dogon society as well as prevent unnecessary harm. In addition, trying to take a skill that you were not meant to have (the jackal seizing speech) is negatively depicted, helping to ensure that people do not challenge authority and attempt to do it all. There are things depicted as positively as well in the Dogon creation myth. Excision, of both men and women, is said to be absolutely necessary to procreation. From a purely functionalist view, pubescent circumcision might be beneficial because it sets a firm day for when a person becomes an adult, and it does so in a memorable way. In addition, the idea that one is not fully one sex until adulthood helps to facilitate free expression as children, since they don’t have to worry about being masculine or feminine, and they are not deemed ready to have sex until circumcision. Notably also viewed positively is twins. Though it is hard to necessarily parse why the Dogon might cherish twins, I think it is conceivable that respect and admiration for twins signifies that strange human phenomena need not be frightening, but can be thought of as a welcome surprise from the gods.
The Dogon creation myth is slightly different as reported by Dogon women, namely having less violence and warning against male imaptience. This creation myth has no repeated rape of the Earth; instead it has Amma creating an egg, then a double placenta shared by two twins each. One of the four fetuses, Ogo, wants a female to mate with, but doesn’t want to wait his 60-year gestation period. He breaks the placenta, and a piece that flies off becomes Earth. Ogo then has sex with this Earth, for which Amma punishes him by transforming him into a solitary pale fox. More happens in this myth, but this is where the most key differences are. By reporting this new version of the creation myth, women are warning each other of the danger of impatient men. Not only that, but they are removing explicit rapes from the story, advising against incest, and ignoring circumcisions.
The Nuer creation myth has a similar narrative in which gods accidentally create the imperfections of the world. The myth begins with the earth connected to the heavens by rope, with all humans being immortal through their access to heaven. Again, there are two different stories for how this rope gets cut. The first is the simpler one: a trickster hyena cuts the rope as a prank. This tale tells us to be wary of hyenas, but it also tells us that perfect paradise is not possible and reminds us that there are always forces in the world working towards chaos, so we should not always expect an orderly world.
The second story for how the rope is cut is that there was a girl deity who went down to Earth with her friends to find food, as deities did regularly. While on Earth, the girl meets a man, falls in love and has sex with him, and refuses to ascend the rope back to heaven with her friends. Her friends become quite frustrated with her and sever the rope, leaving humans to their imperfect, mortal lives, and without easy access to the gods. Just like the other rope-cutting myth, this myth prompts us to think about perfection as unattainable and inconsistent with the human experience. Even if one falls in love, perfection will not be possible. Even if one has close friends, perfection will not be possible, and vengeance against this fact will only lead to sorrow. Even if one does not mean to mess up anything, and is just following their heart, things will still go wrong. This myth tells us not to fear imperfection.
In addition, the latter Nuer creation myth sets up important sex and gender roles. For one, the Nuer are patrilocal, meaning that when a woman gets married, she moves in with her husband’s family. One can see this tradition echoed in the myth, since the girl deity is the one to move in with her Earthly lover. The myth also pairs a sexual relationship with this patrilocality; this pairing of sex with shared living arrangements teaches an important lesson to the community, that children should have a home with multiple parents, and that one should not have irresponsible sex if this home is not in place.
In both myths, we see a great deal of similarities. We see that humans and imperfection go hand in hand. We see loneliness as unsustainable, and life as inevitably somewhat chaotic. Gender and sexual expectations are also set forth, from excisions to patrilocality. These two creation myths both set key values of their cultures, even if important forces are embodied by different actors, from chaos embodied by a hyena to uncommon phenomena embodied by twins to impatience embodied by a male fetus to imperfections of love embodied by two deities.