Nana Buluku

2025-07-10T04:56:15Z

2603:6080:4BF0:1750:2C33:B8A:3F13:FAA1: spelling correction

{{Short description|Female supreme being in the religion of the Fon people and the Ewe people}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Yoruba
| image = Nana Buruku.jpg
| caption = Nanã as pictured in [[Candomblé]].
| venerated_in = [[West African Vodun]] based religions ([[Candomblé]], [[Louisiana Voodoo]], [[Haitian Vodou]]) and [[Dahomean religion]]
| deity_of =
| affiliation =
| children = [[Mawu|Mawu and Lisa]]
}}
'''Nana Buluku''', also known as '''Nana Buruku''', '''Nana Buku''' or '''Nanan-bouclou''', is the female supreme being in the West African traditional religion of the [[Fon people]] (Benin, [[Dahomey]]) and the [[Ewe people]] ([[Togo]]).<ref name="Washington2005p63">{{cite book|author=Teresa N. Washington|title=Our Mothers, Our Powers, Our Texts: Manifestations of Àjé in Africana Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_WoU41r8I4C&pg=PA63|year=2005|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-00319-9|pages=63–64}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Greene | first=Sandra E. | title=Religion, History and the Supreme Gods of Africa: a Contribution To the Debate | journal=Journal of Religion in Africa | publisher=Brill Academic Publishers | volume=26 | issue=2 | year=1996 | pages=122–138 | doi=10.1163/157006696x00037 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Toyin Falola|author2=Nana Akua Amponsah|title=Women's Roles in Sub-Saharan Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVxtIRV1a5kC |year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-38545-2|page=70}}</ref> She is one of the most influential deities in West African theology, and one shared by many ethnic groups other than the Fon people, albeit with variations. For example, she is called the ''Nana Bukuu'' among the [[Yoruba people]] and the ''Olisabuluwa'' among [[Igbo people]] but described differently, with some actively worshiping her while some do not worship her and worship the gods originating from her.<ref name="Washington2005p63"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Geoffrey Parrinder|title=West African Religion: A Study of the Beliefs and Practices of Akan, Ewe, Yoruba, Ibo, and Kindred Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UAOQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |year=2014|publisher=Wipf & Stock |isbn=978-1-4982-0492-7|pages=28–29}}</ref>

In [[Dahomey mythology]], Nana Buluku is the mother supreme creator who gave birth to the moon spirit [[Mawu]], the sun spirit [[Lisa (mythology)|Lisa]], and all of the universe. After giving birth to these, she retired and left the matters of the world to Mawu-Lisa. She is the primary creator, Mawu-Lisa the secondary creator, and the theology based on these is called Vodun, Voodoo or Vodoun.<ref name="Asante2009p270">{{cite book|author1=Molefi Kete Asante|author2=Ama Mazama|title=Encyclopedia of African Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B667ATiedQkC |year=2009|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-3636-1|pages=270–273}}</ref>

According to [[Maya Deren]], some Vauduisants believe that Nanan-bouclou is both male and female.<ref>Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti by Maya Deren, page 55</ref>

==Observance==
===Africa===
The Vodoun religion of the Fon people has four overlapping elements: public gods, personal or private gods, ancestral spirits, and magic or charms.<ref name="Asante2009p270"/> In this traditional religion of West Africa, creation starts with a female supreme being called Nana Buluku, who gave birth to Mawu and Lisa and created the universe.<ref name="Asante2009p270"/> After giving birth, the mother supreme retired and left everything to Mawu-Lisa (Moon-Sun, female-male), deities, spirits, and inert universe. Mawu-Lisa created numerous minor imperfect deities. In Fon belief, the feminine deity Mawu had to work with the trickster Legba and the snake Aido Hwedo to create living beings, a method of creation that imbued the good, the bad, and a destiny for every creature including human beings. Only by appeasing lesser deities and Legba, in Fon theology, can one change that destiny. This appeasing requires rituals and offerings to the lesser gods and ancestral spirits, who are believed to have the ability to do favors for human beings.<ref name="Asante2009p270"/><ref>Sara A. Rich (2009), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41715164 The Face of "Lafwa": Vodou & Ancient Figurines Defy Human Destiny], Journal of Haitian Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1/2, Haitian Studies Association 20thAnniversary Issue (Spring/Fall 2009), pages 262-278</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Cosentino | first=Donald | title=Who Is That Fellow in the Many-Colored Cap? Transformations of Eshu in Old and New World Mythologies | journal=The Journal of American Folklore | volume=100 | issue=397 | year=1987 | pages=261–275 | doi=10.2307/540323 | jstor=540323 }}</ref>

=== Americas ===
As millions of West Africans were captured and enslaved during the colonial era, then shipped across the Atlantic to work on sugarcane, cotton, and tobacco plantations, they brought with them their religious ideas, including those about Nana Buluku. She is celebrated as ''Nanã'' in [[Candomblé Jejé]] and [[Tambor de Mina]] and as ''Nana Burukú'' in [[Candomblé Ketu]], where she is pictured as a very old woman, older than creation itself. She is found in French, Dutch, and British West Indies in particular, such as among the African heritage communities of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, Trinidad, Martinique, Haiti, and other Caribbean islands.<ref name="TaylorCase2013p742">{{cite book|author1=Patrick Taylor|author2=Frederick I. Case|title=The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOyYCgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-09433-0|pages=742–746, 1134–1139}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Miller | first=N. L. | title=Haitian Ethnomedical Systems and Biomedical Practitioners: Directions for Clinicians | journal=Journal of Transcultural Nursing | volume=11 | issue=3 | year=2000 | pages=204–211 | doi=10.1177/104365960001100307 | pmid=11982109 | s2cid=33589193 }}</ref>

==Other info==
* There is a song that was made in the Tamil language with the title "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vEAJjiiNVI&pp=ygULbmFuYSBidWx1a3U%3D Nana Buluku]" (Youtube) and was shown in the movie "[[Pichaikkaran 2|Pichaikaran 2]]" released in the year 2023. The lyrics also mention Nana Buluku as a god and refer to the dancer having a friendship with the god.

==See also==
* [[Olodumare]]

{{Portal|Traditional African religion}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Charles Spencer King.,"Nature's Ancient Religion" {{ISBN|978-1-4404-1733-7}}
* Charles Spencer King, "IFA Y Los Orishas: La Religion Antigua De LA Naturaleza" {{ISBN|1-4610-2898-1}}

==External links==
{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050404023711/http://www.inle.freeserve.co.uk/dahomey.htm |date=April 4, 2005 |title=The Children of Dahomey }}

{{Afro-American Religions}}

[[Category:Dahomean goddesses]]
[[Category:Yoruba goddesses]]
[[Category:Creator goddesses]]
[[Category:Voodoo goddesses]]
[[Category:Names of God in African traditional religions]]
[[Category:West African Vodun]]
[[Category:Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities]]

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Nana Buluku