Kopé Tiatie Cac (also Koh and Koope; Dupire, Marguerite, "Totems sereer et contrôle rituel de l'environnement", p 39 in Ndut language, meaning god grandfather or god the grandfather) is the Supreme Creator of the Ndut. Ndiaye, Ousmane Sémou, "Diversité et unicité sérères : l’exemple de la région de Thiès", Éthiopiques, no. 54, vol. 7, 2e semestre 1991 Éthiopiques, "Issues 55-56", Fondation Léopold Sédar Senghor, (1991), p 124 Kopé Tiatie Cac is the name used by the Ndut people to refer to the Supreme being. Among the Ndut and followers of Serer religion, Kopé Tiatie Cac is associated with death and plague (pisti). Echenberg, Myron J., "Black death, white medicine: bubonic plague and the politics of public health in colonial Senegal, 1914-1945", Heinemann (2002), pp 139, 160-161,
Ndut cosmogony
The Ndut people who adhere to the tenets of Serer religion refer to the supreme god as Kopé Tiatie Cac in Cangin-Ndut. The name Kopé Tiatie Cac probably derived from the god Koox (var : Kooh). Ndut cosmogony posits that, the first humans did not die. The human species were not meant to die following the initial creation. The dog was the first to die at that primordial time. Having witnessed the death of the animal, the Ndut people gave the animal a sacred burial at the foot of a baobab tree, and mourned its death. The women crying and wailing in sadness for the departed dog, attracted the attention of Kopé Tiatie Cac (or Koh) God of death. The god angered by the mourning women unleashed death to human kind in the following terms:
Worship
The deity is worshiped through Serer ancestral spirits and saints. Various matrilineages (both on the paternal and maternal line) play a key role in its invocation. The name koh a variant of the god's' name, is the feminine form. The masculine form is ala. Dupire, Marguerite, "Sagesse sereer: Essais sur la pensée sereer ndut", p 61
See also
The people Serer people Saafi people Palor people Ndut people Laalaa people Serer-Noon Niominka people Languages Cangin languages Saafi language Palor language Ndut language Lehar language Noon language Serer language
Serer religious articles Serer religion Roog (Serer deity) Koox Serer creation myth Lamane States headed by ancient Serer Lamanes Saltigue Ndut initiation rite Timeline of Serer history
Related articles Faro (mythology) Nommo Traditional African religion List of African deities
References
Bibliography Dupire, Marguerite, "Sagesse sereer: Essais sur la pensée sereer ndut", KARTHALA Editions, (1994), pp 61–86, Ndiaye, Ousmane Sémou, "Diversité et unicité sérères : l’exemple de la région de Thiès", Éthiopiques, no. 54, vol. 7, 2e semestre 1991 Éthiopiques, "Issues 55-56", Fondation Léopold Sédar Senghor, (1991), p 124 Echenberg, Myron J., "Black death, white medicine: bubonic plague and the politics of public health in colonial Senegal, 1914-1945", Heinemann (2002), pp 139, 160-161, Dupire, Marguerite, "Totems sereer et contrôle rituel de l'environnement", p 39
Further reading Faye, Louis Diène, "Mort et Naissance le monde Sereer", Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines (1983), Dione, Salif, "L'APPEL du Ndut. ou l'initiation des garcons Seereer", Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, Cheikh Anta Diop (2004)