The founding myths
The LoziNyambe flees from Kamunu
One of Nyambe's creations was Kamunu, the firstNyambe founds the Lozi nation
In this version, Nyambe is shown to be the founder of the Lozi nation. Nyambe and his wife Nasilele had a daughter Mwambwa (which means "one who is being talked about"). In a variation on this theme, Nyambe is said to have created many wives for himself and had children by all of them. (This story also legitimisesNyambe founds the Lozi nation as the first person
In this version of the founding myth, Nyambe was not the creator god but was the first human being. All Luyi peoples were said to have originated from him. In this account, the identity of the Creator is not stated explicitly. Instead, the people in the myth are simply stated to have been living on the Zambezi floodplains. Nyambe's village was called Litooma-mundi-wa-Nyambe (which means "heaven, the home of Nyambe" in Luyana) and his first wife was called Mwambwa. She later became the first female chief of the Luyi people. Through this myth, the Lozi royalty was said to originate from Mwambwa. She was, therefore, given the title Njemakati (which means "a woman from whom the kingdom originates"). She is also said to have given birth to nine other children, including a daughter named Mbuyu, who took over the sovereignty from her mother.References
* Harold Scheub, 'Nyambe And The Origin of Death'. ''A Dictionary of African Mythology'', Oxford University Press, 2000 * Harold Scheub, 'Nyambe Moves Away from Aggressive Men'. ''A Dictionary of African Mythology'', Oxford University Press, 2000 * Harold Scheub, 'Nyambi Flees from Assertive Men'. ''A Dictionary of African Mythology'', Oxford University Press, 2000 * https://web.archive.org/web/20060511000121/http://www.barotseland.com/2earlyhistory.pdf * http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/mlb/mlb04.htm Bantu mythology Lozi people