Mystical Forces That Govern the World
Tiv · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
A spirit/force-class collective rather than a personal god; typed deity per the schema's restricted type list, with the impersonal-force status explained here. Sex 'none'. Distinct from tsav (human mystical power) and from the ancestors.
Parentage
- parent: Otiose Sky Creator
Domains
- cosmic regulation
- health and affliction
- fertility of land
Powers
- afflicts with sickness when disturbed and restores when set right
- must be activated by human mystical power to take effect
Sources
- The akombo are the non-human mystical forces (and the emblems embodying them) that Aondo established to regulate the Tiv cosmos; they afflict transgressors with illness and are repaired by ritual.: Bohannan, Paul, and Laura Bohannan. The Tiv of Central Nigeria. London: International African Institute, 1953, pp. 84-86. (primary); Downes, Rupert M. Tiv Religion. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1971. (secondary)
- Akombo are distinguished as 'of the sky' (great, public) and 'of the ground' (lesser, domestic), and lie inert until activated by tsav.: Akiga. Akiga's Story: The Tiv Tribe as Seen by One of Its Members. Trans. Rupert East. London, 1939. (primary)