THE FULANI CREATION STORY

    Right from the moment Mr.Salami -my social studies teacher in year 8- taught us about religion and what different ethnic groups in Nigeria believe the true creation story is ;according to their norms and traditional orientation. I took a  particular interest in one story , which was The Fulani peoples' story. 
    I guess my reason was because it was so different from all the other stories. I was captivated by how they incorporated different elements of life ; how it was presented in  poem form ,but it isn't a poem lol.
Let me spare you the detail . Here is a brief history of the Fulanis , for those who aren't too familiar with who they are and what part of Nigeria they hail from.

Fulani, people of Africa numbering about 7 million and dispersed in varying, often sizable, concentrations throughout the grassland areas of West Africa from Senegal and Guinea to Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad.

Their Fulfulde language is closely related to the languages of Senegal, suggesting the possibility that their ancestors migrated from the Middle East through North Africa to Senegal. By the 10th century, they had adopted a new language in Senegal and begun to spread eastward, reaching present-day Nigeria by about the 14th century.

A number of African states, including ancient Ghana and Senegal, had Fulani rulers. The Fulani became zealous Muslims (11th cent.), and from 1750 to 1900 they engaged in many holy wars in the name of Islam. During the first part of the 19th cent. the Fulani carved out two important empires. One, based on Massina, for a time controlled Timbuktu; the other, centered at Sokoto, included the Hausa States and parts of Bornu and W Cameroon. The Fulani emir of Sokoto continued to rule over part of Northern Nigeria until the British conquest in 1903. The Fulani of Massina were conquered (1861) by Hajj Omar, but their resistance ultimately resulted in his death.

Although traditionally most Fulani have been cattle herders, through the centuries many settled down and turned to politics, successfully establishing a series of kingdoms between Senegal and Cameroon by the 19th century, and conquering the Hausa by about 1810. The Fulani held much of northern Nigeria in subjection until defeated (1900-1906) by the British. The religious beliefs of a large percentage of the cattle-herding Fulani are animistic, although many of the politically oriented Fulani are Muslim and have often justified their conquests on religious grounds.  

 -Sourced from : http://www.onlinenigeria.com/fulani.as

                             An image of a typical Fula or Fulani girl. Fulani girls are commonly recognized for their beauty and the extraordinary lengths of their hair.

THE FULANI CREATION STORY

At the beginning there was a huge drop of milk.

Then Doondari came and he created the stone.

Then the stone created iron;

And iron created fire;

And fire created water;

And water created air; 

Then Doondari descended the second time.

And he took the five elements 

And he shaped them into man.

But man was proud.

Then Doondari created blindness 

And blindness defeated man.

But when blindness became too proud,

Doondari created sleep, and sleep defeated blindness;

Doondari created worry and worry defeated sleep;

But when worry became proud,

Doondari created death and death defeated worry.

But then death became too proud,

Doondari descended the third time,

And he came as Gueno, the eternal one.

And Gueno defeated death.

   I hope you found this story as alluring as i did when i was 12 :)

    P.s : Check out my favourite quotes page for new quotes xx