Fantasy Friday: Abuk

Happy Friday Everyone! Once again we are back with another Fantasy Friday, this time featuring the mythology behind "Abuk".

In the central swamps of the Nile basin, primarily in South Sudan. They speak a Nilotic language classified within the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan languages and are closely related to the Nuer. Numbering some 4,500,000 in the early 21st century, the Dinka form many independent groups of 1,000 to 30,000 persons. Those groups are organized on a regional, linguistic, and cultural basis into clusters, of which the best-known are the Agar, Aliab, Bor, Rek, Twic (Tuic, Twi), and Malual.

Abuk is a feminine divinity of the Dinka peoples, originating from the Sudan area of northeast Africa. In ancient myths, she and Garang are the first woman and the first man, similar to the couple represented by Adam and Eve in the biblical tradition. They lived in vase like statues made of terracotta, and after the opening of the vase, they came to life. The creator God of the universe gave Abuk and Garang just a grain of millet or corn each day. One day, overcome with hunger, Abuk decided to free herself from this not so generous god, and she began to cultivate the land. The Creator, who was offended, stopped feeding her and caring for her.

Abuk is the primordial woman, the first woman, and she is the only important feminine figure of the Dinka peoples, as if to emphasize that her characteristics are those of all women.