Maker

Supreme creator deity recorded among the eastern/Kalabari and Delta Ijaw, where the creator power is often named Tamuno (with the form Temearau emphasising the feminine 'Mother-Maker'). Overlaps in role with Woyengi; treated here as a distinct attested name within the same tradition. Classed as deity.

Domains

• creation
• sky

Powers

• fix the allotted span of each life
• create all things, partly identified with the sky
• give each person a spiritual double (teme) and appoint the destiny chosen before birth

Epithets

• Tamarau

Sources

• P. Amaury Talbot, Tribes of the Niger Delta (Sheldon Press, 1932).