The Ewe Traditional Cosmology And Cosmogony

This paper is the result of eleven years research that I have been conducting into the indigenous value and conceptual orientations of the Ewe of Ghana, Togo and Benin. A great deal of my findings has confirmed what has been discovered about other ethnic groups of West Africa, e.g. the concept of the origin and destiny of man. The Ewe, however, have developed a unique philosophy of unity in duality which has led to the development of a different theory of opposites which is seen in their concept of life, death and of this world and the next. They have also developed a unique philosophy of eternal motion and rejuvenation which has become the presupposition of their concept of this world and the next. The Ewe conceive of the next world not as a separate and an independent world which happens to be next to this world, but as an integral part of this world and interactive with it. Reference to the next world, in the daily life of the Ewe of West Africa cannot therefore be treated meaningfully without knowledge of this world considered cosmologically as a unit For the Ewe this world taken as an orderly system is xexeme, but when it is considered as the abode of human beings who are conscious of their existence then it is referred to as Kodzogbe and so one name for human beings is Kodzogboawo, meaning conscious beings or conscients. The Dual High God, Mawu-Lisa is said to be responsible for the existence of the world as an orderly universe – xexeme – as well as the abode of conscious human beings – kodzogbeawo. According to an Ewe cosmogonic belief, the world was not created but ordered into a unitary form organized into an orderly system, and Mawu-Lisa, the Dual High God was its chief organizer, who was helped by the Serpent (Da) in Ewe who is a semi-personal organizing power, the force or principle of life, motion and eternal rejuvenation. She acted as a creative instrument of Mawu-Lisa and as a conscious assistant in the process of ordering the world as follows: firstly, the world was gathered together by the Serpent, Da, then the places of the waters were determined; secondly, the two halves of the universe were welded together and secured by the Serpent, the two halves of the universe were welded together and secured by the Serpent, Da, who called around the inchoate earth and thus enabling it to be firmly gathered together. The Serpent is then the organizing, ordering and maintaining principle of the universe and it is a refraction of the Dual God, Mawu-Lisa, in her role as an organizing and maintaining power. After the organization of the universe, the animals and vegetation of the wilds were called into being. Finally, Mawu-Lisa formed the first human beings from clay and water, the mixture being worked over in the same manner that clay and water are worked over to provide building materials for the walls of a house. The place where the act of forming man takes place is the next world called severally as: Amedzofe, Bome, Bofe, Feme, Mabome, Mafe, Dime, Sofe. Any of these names are used for the next world when it is conceived of as the place from which we originate, but when it is considered as the place where we go back to after death then it is referred to by any one of the following names: Afe, Agume, Awlime, Avlisi, Kutonu, Kuwode, Noliwode,Togbuiwode, Togbuiwogbo, Tsiefe, Tsietonu, Vovlowde and Yome. The next world therefore has a dual name depending upon which of its dual functions is being referred to and the dual names correspond to the dual names of the Dual High God – Mawu-Lisa. In the Dual Mawu-Lisa, Mawu is the female principle of life and Lisa is the male principle of death. Whenever the next world is thought of as the source or origin of the (dzogbe or dzofe, Ewe), then it is a female principle, i.e. Mawu, the principle of life and so in the creation myth the Moulder of human beings is called Bomeno, i.e. The Mother of Bome. Bome itself stands for that which gives birth or life to, living things a form. Whenever the next world is thought of as the place where life ends, then it is a male principle, Lisa, the principle of death, and so the person who welcomes the soul of the departed back is a man, father, thus when an individual is dead he is said to have gone to the fathers’ and never to the mothers. To the Ewe therefore, the next world’s is both the origin and destination of life, it gives birth to life and ends it and so it is conceived of as both female and male principles, principles of creativity and destructivity, the beginning and the end of existence.