Owuo

deity underworld Akan single tradition · 5

Owuo is death, created by Odomankoma. Owuo killed Odomankoma, but Odomankoma defeated Owuo by being able to withstand Owuo's venom. Odomankoma managed to achieve a total triumph over Death, as stated in the maxim "Odomankoma na orna owuo di akane", which means it was none but Odomankoma who made Death eat poison.

↻ synthesized from 5 sources

When

Relationships

created by
Odomankoma
child of
Odomankoma
sibling of
Ananse
served by
Obayifo, Obansam, Asanbonsam
manifested by
Bonsam

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Sources

Source passages

“Odomankoma boo owuo na owuo kum no", which means Odomankoma created death (Owuo) and death killed him. Odomankoma accommodates the contraries of life and death within his being. As the creator of both life and death, he transcends both experiences. The story of Odomankoma does not end with Owuo killing him as after his death.”

#2505 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Owuo”

#2667 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“It is said in some Akan myths that Ananse becomes the creator, so it could be either roles changing similar to Bobowissi becoming the God of Lightning after Tano Akora's role is changed from the God of Lightning to the God of War after fighting with Owuo, or Odomankoma's sunsum being reincarnated inside of Ananse after Owuo kills him, supported by how sunsum works (via the father).”

#3370 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Owuo, Akan God of Death and Destruction, and the Personification of death. Name means death in the Akan language.”

#12205 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“Owuo also has a few myths involving and/or about him, specifically linking to the Origin of Death, which differ from one person to another.”

#13684 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5