Nzambici

Nzambici is a Kongo goddess described in tradition as the female counterpart to Nzambi a Mpungu, the Kongo supreme creator god, and is honored as 'the god on earth, the great princess, the mother of all the animals.' Where Nzambi a Mpungu is often associated with the distant, heavenly aspect of divinity in Kongo cosmology, Nzambici represents the earthly, nurturing complement to that supreme power. Her title as mother of all the animals reflects the Kongo religious understanding of the earth as a living, generative female principle standing beside the sky father.