The Sun, the Moon, and the Universe

By Grace Trudeau and Rachel Chaika

This is the story of Mawu and Lisa,

and how they created the world.

The Fon people, a tribe in West Africa, say that there was once a powerful creator goddess, Nana Buluku.

Nana Buluku was the first mother, and she created two gods named Mawu and Lisa.

Mawu was the goddess of the moon. She was very kind and very wise.

Mawu also represented motherhood.

Her friend, Lisa, was the god of the sun.

Lisa was fierce and strong, and he represented war.

Mawu and Lisa were in love and wanted to be together all the time, but that was very hard because they lived in different parts of the sky.

Only on very special days when the sun and the moon overlapped could Mawu and Lisa be together. They did not like to be apart, so one day they decided to create the world.

They made the world so that they could have something to rule over together. They built it from things that already existed.

Mawu and Lisa pushed rocks together, to create the earth.

But they needed some help to complete the world.

So they got a giant snake named Da, and another god, Gu, to help them. Gu was shaped like a sword, and Mawu and Lisa used him to shape the earth.

They rode on the back of the rainbow snake, Da, and they cut into the earth to make the mountains. Then they cut into the earth again to make the oceans, and finally they finished making the world.

But after the world was created, Mawu and Lisa were afraid it was too heavy.

They thought it might fall out of the sky.

So they told the snake to go underground, wrap around the world, and give it a big hug.

This hug gave the world the support it needed, and Da, the rainbow snake, is still underneath the world today, keeping it in place.