Clay

Ama Mazama

Throughout Africa, creation stories according to which the first human beings were created out of clay are common. One may think, for example, of the Yoruba creation story, in which Obatala, the son of Olorun, the supreme Yoruba God, created the first 16 human beings out of clay, which he molded. The Shilluks of the Sudan also tell a story in which God, Juok, made human beings out of clay. The different colors that distinguish the races are attributable to the color of the clay available at the time of their creation. Similarly, according to the Efe (a Bantu people), God kneaded the body of the first human beings out of clay, an account reminiscent of the Ewe story about the coming into the world of the first woman and the first man. In fact, a common metaphor for God, as he or she creates the world and all that ...

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