All cultures and religions have their creation stories. From the Bushongo in Congo comes Mbombo (or Bumba), the African Creator God of Vomit.
This God comes from the Kuba people of Central Africa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was a giant in form and white in color.
In the beginning, there was darkness but from that darkness came Mbombo, a very pale skinned god who was not feeling very well at all. The reason for his illness was his incurable loneliness.
Eventually, he vomited the Sun, creating light and day. The heat from the sun dried up the water to create the clouds and after time dry hills emerged from the water. Mbombo threw up a second time and created the moon and the stars which divided day and night.
But Mbombo was still so very lonely and still so terrible ill which bought on the third wave of vomit. With this wave came nine animals:
The leopard, Koy Bumba; The eagle, Ponga Bumba; The crocodile, Ganda Bumba; The fish, Yo Bumba; The tortoise, Kono Bumba; A black cat-like animal that would eventually become lightning, Tsetse Bumba; A white heron, Nyanyi Bumba; A scarab and a goat named Budi. Mbombo also vomited many men, one of them was called Loko Yima.
And thus his loneliness subsided and he happily watched as his new creations went on to create the rest of the animals on the planet. The first heron created more birds, the crocodile created more reptiles and serpents, and the goat made horned beasts. The fish created other fish and the beetle created all manner of insects. An iguana, produced by the crocodile, made creatures without horns.
Mbombo had three sons that decided to finish creating the world. The first son, Nyonya Ngana, vomited white ants but died after. To honor him, the ants went deep in the earth for dark soil to bury him and transformed the barren sands at the earth’s surface. The second son, Chonganda, created the first plant, which in turn gave rise to all trees, grasses, and flowers. And Chedi Bumba, the third son, made the last bird, the kite.
Tsetse Bumba caused trouble on Earth so Mbombo chased him into the sky where he became the thunderbolt. This left people without fire, so Mbombo showed them how to make it from the trees. Once the creation was complete and peaceful, he delivered it to mankind and retreated into the heavens, leaving Loko Yima to serve as “god upon Earth.”
