Boshongo+and+Bakuba

How Vomit May Have Created the Universe

According to the Boshongo and Bakuba people of Africa Bumba, the white creator, fashioned the Earth as we know it through his unique vomit. The Earth was originaly completely covered in water, before Bumba started having severe stomach pains.He began by vomiting up the sun, which evaporated some of the water, creating clouds. This evaporation gave great joy to the hills, sandbars, and reefs, which enabled them to rise out of the waters, dry themselves off, and form the outline of the continents of the earth. After puking the sun, he vomited up the moon, stars, animals, and humans.

These animals went on, in turn, to evenually create most of the living creatures on Earth. Finally, he had three sons who finished creating all of the remaining animals and plants.

Everything was perfect, except for the fact that Tsetse, who was lightning, began to set too many things on fire. Tsetse was originally an animal, one of the original ones that Bumba vomited up. However, she was eventually banished to the sky. To compensate for the lack of fires, which the humans needed for heat, light, and cooking, Bumba taught humans the art of fire making, and finally told the humans to rejoice in the world that he created. There are two similarities with the Bible and the Enuma Elish, two other creation stories. All three of these stories begin with the earth completely covered in water, and they all involve higher powers, namely gods and goddesses. Other than that, similarites are only shared between two of the three stories.

This story and the Bible share a few similarites and differences. Both of them preach a monotheistic belief system, having only one head god. However, the methods used in creating the Earth are radically different. The Lord God in the Bible created everything out of nothingness, wheras Bumba created everything by vomiting up the important elements of the Earth. Then, the animals Bumba vomited finished his work. Also, in the world created by Bumba, there is no Garden of Eden equivalent, and there are multiple tribes of humans, instead of one man and one woman.

There are many differences between The Enuma Elish and this creation myth, and almost no similarities. The biggest difference is that the Enuma Elish preaches a polytheistic religion, with many gods and goddess's, while The Origin of Life and Fire is monotheistic. Also, in The Enuma Elish, the gods were rowdy and combative, whereas almost no conflict exists in the world that Bumba created aside from the minor altercation between him and Tsetse over fire. Finally, the methods of creating the world are radically different. The Enuma Elish says that the world was created out of the remains of Tiamat, a rebellious goddess, whereas with The Origin of Life and Fire Bumba vomits out most of the Earth, and the creatures that he vomited took care of the rest.