the High God of Storm
Bemba · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
High-god / sky-creator (deity) of the Bemba of north-eastern Zambia. Lesa is the regional Bemba form of the wider Bantu high-god name Leza; both transcendent sky-and-rain god and the immanent breath in creatures.
Domains
- rain
- thunder storm
- fertility
Powers
- send rain and speak in the thunder
- Sets the creative power in the roots and shrubs used for medicine and ritual
Epithets
- Lesa The supreme creator and rain-giver of the BembaBemba (Zambia) ethnography (secondary)
Sources
- Lesa is the Bemba high-god, creator and controller of rain, storm and fertility, approached communally in time of drought rather than through a regular cult.: Richards, A. I. (1939). Land, Labour and Diet in Northern Rhodesia. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute. (secondary); Werner, A. (1933). Myths and Legends of the Bantu. London: George G. Harrap, ch. III. (secondary)