Tyanaba, Primordial Serpent and Ancestor of Cattle
Tyanaba, also Caanaba, is the great primordial serpent of the pastoral Fulɓe, at once guardian and ancestor of cattle. Born from an egg, the serpent is said to carry ninety-six scales answering to the sacred colour-combinations of cattle hide, binding it intimately to the herding life. In the cosmology it is the instrument of the unseen creator Geno, who acts upon the world through it. The myth, collected especially from the Massina of Mali, tells how the multiplying herds were entrusted to the herder Ilo son of Yaladi, whom the serpent led down the Niger, so founding pastoral society; in the initiation recorded by Hampâté Bâ and Dieterlen the bush-spirit Koumen serves as the serpent's auxiliary. A localized cult of Tyanaba persists in Mali into the present day.
Domains
- cattle and herds
- serpent guardianship
Powers
- to bring forth and protect the cattle of the Fulɓe
- to serve as the channel through which the creator acts in the world
Epithets
- CaanabaAmadou Hampâté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen, Koumen: Texte initiatique des Pasteurs Peul, Cahiers de l'Homme, n.s. 1 (Paris: Mouton, 1961). (secondary)
Relations
- creator of: Koumen, the Bush-Spirit Master of HerdersThe bush-spirit Koumen acts as the auxiliary and agent of the serpent Tyanaba, carrying out its instruction of the herders.Amadou Hampâté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen, Koumen: Texte initiatique des Pasteurs Peul, Cahiers de l'Homme, n.s. 1 (Paris: Mouton, 1961). (secondary)
Sources
- Tyanaba (Caanaba) is the primordial serpent of the pastoral Fulɓe, guardian and ancestor of cattle and the channel through which the creator Geno acts, whose cult is still attested in Mali.: Amadou Hampâté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen, Koumen: Texte initiatique des Pasteurs Peul, Cahiers de l'Homme, n.s. 1 (Paris: Mouton, 1961). (secondary); Salif Sow, 'Entre mythe et histoire, l'évolution du culte de Tyanaba à Tongo (Mali)', cArgo: Revue internationale d'anthropologie culturelle & sociale 8 (2018). (secondary)