Heitsi-eibib

Heitsi-eibib is a figure in the Khoikhoi mythology. While he is usually mentioned as a cultural hero, Heitsi-eibib's role in the mythology is fluid.cite book| title=African Traditional Religion in South Africa: An Annotated Bibliography| author=David Chidester, Chirevo Kwenda, Robert Petty, Judy Tobler, Darrel Wratten| work=Greenwood Press| year=1997| pages=p. 68-70| isbn=0313304742] He is sometimes called a trickster figure, similar to Cagn of the related Bushmen people. In other contexts, he appears as a patron of hunters and in some stories he even had a part in creating the world. The multiple roles of Heitsi-eibib have been called a reflection of the fluidity of the Khoisan's religious resources and rituals, which are usually ambiguous and lack in standardization. Heitsi-eibib was also a life-death-rebirth figure, dying and resurrecting himself on numerous occasions.cite book| author=Arthur Flagg Cotterell| title=A Dictionary of World Mythology| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1986| pages=p. 242 |isbn=0-192-17747-8] Resulting from this, his funeral cairns can be found in many locations in southern Africa, and it is customary to throw a stone onto them for good luck. [cite book| title=The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion| author=James George Frazer, Robert Fraser| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1994| pages=p. 224| isbn=1853263109]

Legend

In different accounts, Heitsi-eibib is born from either a girl or—more often—a cow, who got pregnant by eating a magical grass. [cite book| title=Primitive Paternity Or the Myth of Supernatural Birth in Relation to the History of the Family| author=Edwin Sidney Hartland| year=1909| pages=p. 4| isbn=0766167100] He had a role in creation, impressing specific characteristics into different species. For example, he cursed the lion to walk on ground instead of nesting on a tree. [cite book| title=Myth, Ritual and Religion vol. 1| author=Andrew Lang| year=1901| pages=p. 172] Heitsi-eibib was also a legendary hunter, sorcerer and warrior.

One particular legend involves Heitsi-eibib's fight with the Ga-gorib (he who throws down), a beast who lived on the edge of a pit. The Ga-gorib would trick people into throwing stones at it, but the stones would always bounce back from the creature's hide, and the thrower would fall into the pit. When Heitsi-eibib met the beast, he refused to throw stones until Ga-gorib turned away from him, whereupon he cast a stone that fell Ga-gorib into its own pit. In another version of the same story, Heitsi-eibib wrestled with the Ga-gorib and was thrown to the pit repeatedly, but could not be kept down. In the end, the Ga-gorib is again thrown to his own pit by Heitsi-eibib. [cite book| title=Tsuni-Goam: The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi | first=Theophilus| last=Hahn| published=Routledge| year=1881| pages=p. 64-67]

References

External links

* [http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/african-mythology.php?deity=HEITSI-EIBIB Heitsi-Eibib] at godchecker.com