THE HAUSA

A Myth according to the online dictionary (www.dictionary.com) is defined as

“a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature”.

We Africans are well known for our tales which are some of the things that make Africa, Africa. African myths and legends are some of the building blocks of culture, tradition and religion in the region. African myths as I’ve said could be aimed at different things. Firstly African myths could be aimed at teaching some moral stories to people and secondly to teach about a religion. African myths on the other hand can be aimed at bringing out the history of a particular place or people/tribe. For example, in my reading titled, “THE HAUSA” the story was all about how the city of Kano came about. It gives a brief history of “Bayajida” a great man from Baghdad who came to Daura and from him came many sons who gave birth to children who populated the north. This story is an educative piece. African stories like this could be said to be educative (aimed at teaching morals) but generally in my own point of view, I will say that the role of myths in our societies is to teach moral lessons to people in life. More so, myths are intended to teach history of a place or people or even a religion. For example, the Yoruba in Nigeria have their own story of creation which focused on Oduduwa; the Chinese also have theirs which was based on Panku as the creator of the earth; the Christians also have a story in the Bible which mentioned that there is one God who created the earth in seven days. These were all creation stories with different views aimed at making people know and believe in one god. Therefore I will say that myths and legends have only one role in our societies and that’s to educate.

The story doesn’t actually give a clear record of the time all the events occurred but has a bit more of the geographical locations and places. It mentions the origin of Bayajida, Baghdad, how he had planned to leave his home to another place, the story made mention of Bayajida travelling towards the north to the city of Daura but never made mention of the time these events took place. The myth I will say, is lacking specifications that is, it does not specify the time during which all these events took place, but it does make mention of the places like Daura, Kano and Bornu. Myths are good ways of teaching but should not be mistaken for parables. The modern society lacks such myths as those of our forefathers; this I’ll say is because the people of these modern days do not focus much on moral teachings as our ancestors did. Well maybe these myths do exist in other forms in some places, but there’s none that I know of presently. Myths are also taken to be “stories of those days” in the modern world today and so no one gives such attention to writing such stories. Some say cartoons and some other forms of entertainment are also myths in the modern days, well everyone is free to make an opinion but I’ll rather say they are mere fictional forms of entertainment, because according to the definition, myths are stories that have to do with reality and not fiction.

The myth tells many things about the kind of society the city of Kano is; from the myth you’ll know that the people that stay in Kano are The Hausas and they are ruled by a king. These myth also shows that leadership was owned by violence, as in the story Bagauda overpowered the people of Kano with his men. This myth has no similarities with those which I have read in the past as those were basically myths on religion but I know that definitely this myth also has some others which may be similar to it. A myth again should not be mistaken for a parable as they are two different things altogether. A parable is an earthly story which has a heavenly meaning and so definitely from this definition you’ll see that a myth has nothing to do with a parable and otherwise. Finally, myths and legends are good stories which are actually some of the factors holding up some African communities even in these modern days.