THE HAUSA

THE HAUSA
The myth about the Hausa origin and the formation of the Hausa states plays an important role in human society today. It makes us as individual to know more about our past, our religious belief and culture etc. The Hausa people believed that their founder was Bayajidda who was the son of Baghdad that came from Egypt in an effort to escape the king. As he escaped, he landed in Daura and there he killed an oppressive snake that guided the well of the inhabitants of the city and prevented them from drawing water from the well. The queen was happy with him and gave herself to Bayajida in marriage.
The information the story conveyed to us was that the Hausas were the people that settled in the territory between the Niger, as it flows south out of the desert and the Benue flowing west from the mandara Cameroon Mountains. It also conveys information on how Kano was founded. That before Bagauda came from Daura, that Kano was occupied by hunters whose leader was Barbushe, the grandson of Dala an elephant hunter. The hunters worshipped at a shrine which was dedicated to a great deity CHUNBURBURAI. Barbushe foretold that a man would take over power from descendants of Dala. That the tree which was believed to be CHUNBURBURAI house will be uprooted so will the shrine be destroyed also and a mosque shall be built at that spot. The story that the myth also convey about the place was that the states in Hausa were named after Bayajidas children.
Our modern societies lack such myth and I don’t think they exist in any form again.
The myth about the Hausas has a similarity with some stories i heard years back about the origin of Yoruba’s. The myth about the origin of Yoruba is similar to this story. The Yoruba’s believed that their founder was Oduduwa. That Oduduwa was the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba People. They believed that their primary ancestor Oduduwa came from Egypt likewise Bayajida who ran away from Egypt. Even though there are various variation on how the Yoruba people came to be, this particular story is similar to the Hausa Myth of origin. The Yoruba’s believed that Obatala was given a task to do by Olodumare. But on his way to earth, he got drunk and fell asleep. After awhile Olodumare sent Oduduwa to check on Obatala when he did not return. When Oduduwa went he found Obatala drunk but he simply took over the task and completed it. The Yoruba’s say that the spot on which he landed from Heaven and which he redeemed from water to become land is a sacred and spiritual home of the Yorubas , the place is called ILE -IFE now. The sixteen kingdoms of the Yoruba people were named after Oduduwa’s son and grandsons.
The myth tells us that structure of the society is flexibly by one act of heroism. According to the myth about the Hausa people, Bayajida became a king by conquering what the people are afraid of which is the snake that prevented them from drawing water from the well. It shows that in this our modern day societies, if you boldly face what people fear, you will be made a hero.
A myth is not a parable because parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings whereas myths are untrue stories that are accepted as a reality/ truth themselves. myth are intended to teach values on some level, they are not parable. A myth is used as a lesson to emphasise on some untrue stories told by our ancestors. They are used as a teaching tool, to teach the new generation.