Limi, the Sun

Limi, 'the Sun', is one of the names borne by the Nyamwezi Supreme Being. Identifying the High God with the daytime sun expresses both his sovereignty over the visible world and his remoteness 'at a distance' from human affairs, a stance characteristic of the withdrawn high gods of East-Bantu religion. The name belongs to the same deity called Likube ('the High One'), Limatunda ('the Creator') and Liwelelo ('the firmament'); it is fitting for a people whose own name, Nyamwezi, is usually rendered 'people of the moon'.

Domains

• solar deity

Powers

• to shine over the world as the sun

Epithets

• LimiR. G. Abrahams, The Peoples of Greater Unyamwezi, Tanzania. London: International African Institute, 1967. (secondary)

Relations

• subordinate to: Likube, the High OneLimi ('the Sun') is one of the names of the single High God otherwise called Likube; the solar name foregrounds his sovereign remoteness rather than a separate solar deity.R. G. Abrahams, The Peoples of Greater Unyamwezi, Tanzania. London: International African Institute, 1967. (secondary)

Sources

• Limi, 'the Sun', is one of the names of the Nyamwezi Supreme Being, identifying the remote High God with the sun.: 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); Serge Tcherkézoff, 'Black and White Dual Classification: Hierarchy and Ritual Logic in Nyamwezi Ideology,' in Contexts and Levels (JASO Occasional Papers 4). Oxford: JASO, 1985, pp. 54-67. (secondary)