Liwelelo, the Firmament
Nyamwezi · deity · Nyamwezi traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Liwelelo, 'the firmament' or 'the cosmos', is the name under which the Nyamwezi Supreme Being is identified with the all-encompassing sky-vault and universe; it is explained as meaning 'present everywhere', expressing the High God's omnipresence. The name belongs to the same deity called Likube ('the High One'), Limatunda ('the Creator') and Limi ('the Sun'); the cognate Liwelelo is likewise reported among the neighbouring Sukuma as a name of the supreme creator. The four names together describe a single, remote sky-and-creator god approached in practice through the ancestral spirits (masamva).
Domains
- firmament and cosmos
Powers
- to encompass the whole world as the firmament
Epithets
- LiweleloR. G. Abrahams, The Peoples of Greater Unyamwezi, Tanzania. London: International African Institute, 1967. (secondary)
Relations
- subordinate to: Likube, the High OneLiwelelo ('the firmament/cosmos') is one of the names of the single High God otherwise called Likube; it foregrounds his all-encompassing presence rather than a separate sky-deity.R. G. Abrahams, The Peoples of Greater Unyamwezi, Tanzania. London: International African Institute, 1967. (secondary)
Sources
- Liwelelo is the Nyamwezi name of the Supreme Being identified with the firmament/cosmos, glossed as 'present everywhere'.: 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); Salvatory Stephen Nyanto, 'Religious Experiences of Life after Death in Buha and Unyamwezi Cosmologies, Western Tanzania,' History Research 6(2), 2016, pp. 80-100. (secondary)