Creator God
Ga · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Supreme creator god of the Ga of coastal Ghana (Accra). The compound name is glossed 'father-mother divinity' (Ataa 'male', Naa 'female', Nyɔŋmɔ 'divinity'), expressing a dual/androgynous nature — recorded as sex 'other'. Classed as deity.
Domains
- creation
- sky
- rain
- agriculture
Powers
- give and withhold the rain and sunlight
- sends famine or abundance by withholding or granting the rains
Epithets
- Ataa-Naa Nyɔŋmɔ The Father-Mother God; the supreme being who sends the rain and the lightningM. J. Field, Religion and Medicine of the Gã People (secondary)
- Ofe 'the very first' — title of the maker-godOsabu-Kle, 'The Ga People and Homowo Festival' (secondary)
- Maawu alternate name of the supreme creatorAfrica Facts Zone, 'The Ga Religion and Culture' (secondary)
Relations
- ancestor of: Town GodSupreme creator from whom the kpele gods (dzemawodzi) derive; the kpele class already lists descent from Nyongmo.Field, Religion and Medicine of the Ga People (1937); Kilson, Kpele Lala: Ga Religious Songs and Symbols (1971) (secondary)
- ancestor of: Sea GodSource-divinity of the great dzemawodzi, of whom the sea-god Nai is chief.Kilson, Kpele Lala (1971) (secondary)
Sources
- Ataa-Naa Nyongmo is the Ga supreme creator, a sky-and-earth god of dual male-female character who controls rain, sunlight, and plant growth.: M. J. Field, Religion and Medicine of the Gã People (Oxford University Press, 1937). (ethnography)