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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sekhemu" data-source="post: 451071" data-attributes="member: 2680">According to the legends inherited from the Ewe tro (ancient ancestors) the universe is equated to the sacred calabash, it is described as an enormous calabash, in which the top is the heavens, covered by the skies and the bottom is the earth, thus splitting the world into two opposite polarities. The sky is viewed as the masculine aspect of the universe where as the earth is viewed as the feminine aspect of the universe because of it association with fertility, nurturing and nourishment. The Ewe understood that all life is born from the active insemination of the sky because it fertilizes the earth via the issuance of the rain. The earth acts as the receptor of the rain, gladly receives the water and nourishes the seeds which germinate the plants which create a process of metamorphasis of both animals and men. The ancient Ewe also believed that the world itself was a huge feminine organic body made up of the four very basic but extremely important elements: Earth, Fire, Sky and Water. They also believed that water was formed or generated from the interplay of the spirits of the sky and that fire gushed from the earth. For them, the absolute essential impulse central to the release of these elements was lightning, it was theorized that the contact of these two polarities provoked the lightning, thus triggering the basic impulse of all cosmic and earthly transformation, including the process of copulation and birth. Additionally, the fire that the Ewe ancestors learned to make from rock and drywood is viewed as merely an extension of this divine force manifested from thunder "with the knowledge of fire," the ancestors were able to transform laterite into iron and thus master this element in order to forge tools for agriculture, weaponry, hunting and war. These cosmological concepts were often traditionally expressed in the traditional design of the royal branch. Constructed from a single block of wood in which it cuts into two base parts, supported by five legs/columns. One base representing the earth, the other representing the sky. The two front columns representing fire and water and the central column representing lightning. This same cosmological theme plays itself out in understanding the concept behind the Ewe's belief that it is a major force that also regulates fertility, the seasons, and even time itself. Ancient origans of the solar system. According to the ancient Ewe, the cosmic concentration point for each year is situated in the sky. It consists of sixteen starts grouped like twins to form the constellation of the pleiades. During this time of year, when the constellation is not visible to the human eye ( time for a period of sixteen days, after the birth of the first ancestors occurred, all of nature loses its vigor. It is considered useless to plant, gather medicinal leaves or to perform any vodun ceremony during this time. Most Ewe withdraw from the world and all life rests to what is considered suspended lethargy, until the constellation reappears to commence the new year. However, this new year is immediately celebrated, for the pleides still remain relatively hidden from physical view. Though the ancient Ewe would dutifully go about tending to the daily chores of the day, they worked with much vigor and anticipation of this joyful even, when it would manifest itself during the winter solstice. There, this celestial phenomena would rise majestically in the eastern horizon at midnight. Traversing the entire sky before early dawn, it was at this point when all would joyfully celebrate the new year.</blockquote>

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