Nana-Buluku
Female Wooden Figure by Fon artist, (n.d.)
British MuseumCC BY-NC-SA 4.0Overview
Nana-Buluku is the supreme deity of the Vodun religion. She is primarily worshipped by the Fon and Ewe people of West Africa, though many other West African cultures, including those of the Yoruba and Igbo people, also regard her as an influential deity.
Within Fon mythology, Nana-Buluku is considered the creator of the universe as well as the original mother goddess. In iconography, she is typically imagined as an older woman.[1]
After creating the universe, Nana-Buluku gave birth to Mawu and Lisa, twin creator gods. Mawu and Lisa inherited the responsibility of creation from Nana-Buluku and went on to form the other gods, the earth, and all life on earth.
Pronunciation
English
Fon
Nana-Buluku Nana-Buluku Phonetic
IPA
[nah-nah-buh-LOO-koo] /næ.næ.bʊ.lu:.ku/
Nana-Buluku Gives Birth to Mawu-Lisa
A copper alloy figure of a standing female carrying a bowl by Fon artist, (19th century).
Brooklyn MuseumCC0According to Fon mythology, Nana-Buluku formed the universe from an empty primordial void. Her first (and only) act thereafter was to give birth to two primordial gods: Mawu (a female deity) and Lisa (a male deity). Nana-Buluku gave Mawu the moon and Lisa the sun.
When this was done, Nana-Buluku withdrew and no longer played an active role in shaping the universe. Mawu and Lisa, meanwhile, merged into a single deity with both male and female aspects: Mawu-Lisa. It was Mawu-Lisa who created the rest of the world and gave birth to the vodun (gods).