A Who's Who of World Mythology : Amma


Amma is the creator god of the Dogon people of southwestern Sudan and Mali. He created the sun by baking a clay pot until it was white hot before coiling a band of copper around it eight times. The moon was similarly fashioned, but of brass. Black folk were created from sunlight and white came from moonlight. According to one tradition he became lonely and sought union with the Earth goddess. He circumcised her by cutting down an anthill (her clitoris) and impregnated her to produce the first animal, the jackal. Later he sent the rains which brought forth plant life from the Mother.