Twofold Creator Pair
Ewe · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
The Ewe high god is most often the dual pair Mawu-Lisa, frequently elided into the single name Mawu (glossed by some Ewe as 'maa-wu-wo', 'he/she who will not kill you'). Distinct from Fon Vodun in that Ewe usage emphasizes Mawu as a near-monotheistic supreme being and frames the thunder vodu as So/Sogbo rather than the Fon Xevioso. Typed deity (high creator).
Children
- Vodu of the Bush and the Hunt
- Vodu of Iron and War
- Trickster-Linguist of the Crossroads
- Earth Lord of Smallpox
- Thunder God of the Storm
Domains
- creation
- sun and moon
- cosmic order
Powers
- brings the ordered world into being
- divides day from night between the pair
Relations
- equated with: Mawu-LisaThe same West African deity under its Gbe/Yoruba reflex (Mawu-Lisa).West African vodun/òrìṣà cognates: the same deity across the Gbe (Ewe, Fon) and Yoruba traditions (M. Herskovits, Dahomey, 1938; G. Parrinder, West African Religion, 1961; P. Verger, Notes sur le culte des Orisa et Vodun, 1957) (secondary)
- descendant of: Primordial Grandmother of the GodsThe primordial androgynous grandmother bore the twofold Mawu-Lisa and then withdrew; a sole divine parent, so recorded as descent rather than parentage.M. J. Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (1938), vol. II (primary)
Sources
- Among most Ewe (and the neighbouring Fon), Mawu-Lisa is the high creator conceived as a complementary female-male pair, sometimes invoked as the single deity Mawu.: Herskovits, Melville J. Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom. 1938, vol. 2. (secondary); "Fon and Ewe Religion." Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed., 2005. (tertiary)
- Mawu is associated with the moon, night and coolness; Lisa with the sun, day and heat.: Spieth, Jakob. Die Religion der Eweer in Süd-Togo. Leipzig, 1911. (secondary)