page_title: Serer creation myth
section_title: Fertility tree
hierarchical_section_title: Serer creation myth / Cosmogony / Creation of the Universe / Creation of trees and vegetation / Saas / Fertility tree
caption_attribution_description: English: Graves of the Sereres Français&#160;: Sépultures sérères
context_page_description: The Serer creation myth is the traditional creation myth of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. Many Serers who adhere to the tenets of the Serer religion believe these narratives to be sacred. Some aspects of Serer religious and Ndut traditions are included in the narratives contained herein but are not limited to them.
  The Serer people have many gods, goddesses and Pangool, but one supreme deity and creator called Roog.
  Serer creation myth developed from Serer oral traditions, Serer religion, legends, cosmogonies. The specifics of the myth are also found in two main Serer sources: A nax and A leep. The former is a short narrative for a short myth or proverbial expression, whilst the later is for a more developed myth. Broadly, they are equivalent to verbs and logos respectively, especially when communicating fundamental religious education such as the supreme being and the creation of the Universe. In addition to being fixed-Serer sources, they set the structure of the myth.
  The creation myth of the Serer people is intricately linked to the first trees created on Planet Earth by Roog. Earth's formation began with a swamp.
context_section_description: The Saas is believed to possess fertilizing qualities which is concentrated in its green branches and moisture. These fertilizing components may only be abstracted by the use of its own symbol, communicated through prayer. At the birth of a child, a branch of Saas was deposited at the top of an enclosure where the child and his/her mother remains in seclusion for eight days (the Bat ceremony).  The ritual was to ward of evil spirits and as such, a small Saas from a crossroad was chosen. The ritual demands the branch to be placed at the top of the enclosure when the child is asleep, whilst the person performing the ritual cite the appropriate prayers. A small stick of Saas is also worn on the waist by young boys and girls in order to preserve their future fertility. At weddings, a stick of the plant is deposited under the bed of the newlywed in order to improve the fertility of the couple.
  Saas also played a major role in ancient Serer funerals. As well as accompanying the dead with grave goods, a stick of Saas was placed inside the tomb of a dead Serer.  The purpose of this ritual was to help the dead move on to Jaaniiw (the abode of souls).  If this ritual was not performed, the souls of the dead are believed to remain in the living world to the dismay of the living. A stick of Saas (with the Serer-viaticum) in their tomb helps them in their journey to the next life. When Serer men finish off burying the dead, they used to wash their hands in a calabash placed at the entrance of the house. This calabash contained branches of Saas soaked in water. Unlike the trees of the savannah that lose their leaves during the dry season, the Saas is green throughout the dry and rainy seasons. In effect, the Saas was and still is considered by the Serers as a tree of life.
  The Saas tree has an economic value to the Serers.  Its dual economic role benefits both the agricultural and pastoral Serers. A Saas tree in a field of millets increases millet production. The leaves fertilize the soil, the branches and fruit act as a sort of meadow which saves air thereby preventing Serer herds from starvation. There is also a relationship between Saas density per hectare and the demographic pressure per hectare. An abundant Saas allows crop rotation and intensive farming such as the triangular Diohine-Ngayokhem-Ñakhar (parts of Serer country). In spite of the allegations levied against it by the ancients, many Serers still believe Saas to be the tree of life, the sacred and the transcendence.
caption: A Serer graveyard with Serer grave diggers (1821)
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