Limatunda, the Creator
Nyamwezi · deity · Nyamwezi traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Limatunda, 'the Creator', is the Nyamwezi name for the Supreme Being in the act of making the world; he is credited with creating all things. He is one of several names of the one High God, who is also called Likube ('the High One'), Limi ('the Sun') and Liwelelo ('the firmament'). Like other African high gods of the withdrawn-creator type, Limatunda is remote from daily life, which is conducted through the ancestral spirits (masamva); some accounts additionally gloss the name as 'the watcher of everything', stressing his continuing oversight of creation.
Domains
- creation of the world
Powers
- to create all things at the beginning of the world
- to watch over all that he has made
Epithets
- LimatundaR. G. Abrahams, The Peoples of Greater Unyamwezi, Tanzania. London: International African Institute, 1967. (secondary)
Relations
- subordinate to: Likube, the High OneLimatunda ('the Creator') is one of the names of the single High God otherwise called Likube; the names denote aspects of one being rather than separate deities.R. G. Abrahams, The Peoples of Greater Unyamwezi, Tanzania. London: International African Institute, 1967. (secondary)
- creator of: Liwelelo, the FirmamentAs Limatunda the deity is said to have made all things, including the firmament/cosmos personified under the name Liwelelo.Fr. Bösch, Les Banyamwezi, peuple de l'Afrique orientale. Bibliothèque-Anthropos III/2. Münster: Aschendorff, 1930. (secondary)
Sources
- Limatunda is the Nyamwezi name of the Supreme Being in his creative aspect, 'the Creator' who made all things.: R. G. Abrahams, The Peoples of Greater Unyamwezi, Tanzania (Nyamwezi, Sukuma, Sumbwa, Kimbu, Konongo). Ethnographic Survey of Africa, East Central Africa Part XVII. London: International African Institute, 1967. (secondary); Fr. Bösch, Les Banyamwezi, peuple de l'Afrique orientale. Bibliothèque-Anthropos III/2. Münster: Aschendorff, 1930. (secondary)