Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Sa

Sa, as the word for today, represents another of my occasionaldives into the complex and diverse world of deities and gods. Sa one of a pair of underground or chthonic creator godsfrom eastern Guinea on the west coast of Africa. He lived in the primevalswamps in the area before any other living things appeared on Earth; beforeeven the sky or light existed. His daughter eloped with his partner deity,bearing 14 children of different colours and speaking different languages. Sagave these children the tools to survive in the world.As with so many creation stories, there are the seeds hereof an attempt by primitives to explain what must have been inexplicable at thetime the myth was born. In this respect, of course, it bears a strikingresemblance to the story of creation told in the Bible and borrowed fromJudaism by both the Christian and Muslim religions.