Unkulunkulu
Zulu · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Zulu first-ancestor and creator who emerged from the primal reed-bed (uhlanga).
Domains
- creation first ancestor
Powers
- Brings forth the first people from the reed-bed
- Ordains social order and custom
Epithets
- uNkulunkulu 'the very great/ancient one' (reduplication of -khulu 'great') — the First Ancestor who broke off from the reeds (uhlanga); the supreme being/progenitorCallaway, Henry. The Religious System of the Amazulu, Springvale/Trübner, 1868–70 (primary ethnography)
- uMvelinqangi 'the first to appear / the one who came out first' — title of uNkulunkulu as the primordial emergent beingCallaway, Henry. The Religious System of the Amazulu, 1868–70 (primary ethnography)
Relations
- equated with: UnkulunkuluSame Nguni figure carried north by the Ndebele (a Zulu offshoot, 1820s): uNkulunkulu the Old, Old One, first ancestor from the reed-bed, later reread as creator under mission influence. Direct inheritance.Henry Callaway, The Religious System of the Amazulu (1870) (secondary); W. Bozongwana, Ndebele Religion and Customs (1983) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Callaway, The Religious System of the Amazulu (1870); Wikipedia, Unkulunkulu (secondary)