African Mythology: The Ugandan god Ruhanga

What up African family and welcome back to another video of African History, Culture, and Worldview. And welcome back to my series African Myth and Legend 101 where I tell various stories from African myth and legend. Today we're going to tell the Ugandan myth of Uhanga, the creator god. And as always don't forget to support the home team on Patreon.com and go to Afrographics.com, a website where you can get helpful illustrative infographics on African history. Links to Patreon and Afrographics are in the description box below. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. In the beginning there was Uhanga, the creator and his brother Nkaya. Nkaya complained that it was dull and Uhanga had done nothing of what he promised. So Uhanga separated heaven and earth. Then he made the sun from a stone. When Nkaya was frightened by the sun's brightness and feared burning, Uhanga made the clouds to cover the sun. Then he made the moon to lighten the darkness. And the two of them lived on earth. Earth and heaven were close in those days. Heaven was held up by a tree, a pole, and an iron bar. Nkaya complained to his brother that the sun was too hot and so Uhanga made plants and trees for shade. Then Uhanga went up to heaven to see how things were. When he washed himself and threw out the water, it fell on the earth and caused rain. Nkaya complained that the rain made him cold and so Uhanga devised a shelter for him and then made him tools with which to cut branches and do the other work for building homes. Uhanga then filled the world with animals and other living things and he gave his brother Nkaya domestic animals to live with him. Later, he gave Nkaya cattle to provide milk and when Nkaya asked for more solid food, Uhanga supplied gourds and other fruits and showed him how to cook them. But Uhanga warned his brother that the stomach would rule humans. Nkaya had four sons, of whom the first Uhanga said he should send the three nameless sons across the valley to visit him and he would give them names. They came to his house in which they found food, tools, strips of oxide, and the ox's head. The eldest immediately began to eat but the two brothers rebuked him and so he took the The second brother took the strips of oxide and the third took the ox's head. They came home and told their father what they had done and he too rebuked the eldest for eating other people's food. Uhanga then appeared and told the boys to guard their milk pots during the night and not to drink it as they had eaten his food. So they settled down with their pots. In the middle of the night, the youngest jostled his pot slightly and some spilled out. He begged his brothers and they replaced most of it. Before dawn, the eldest turned in his sleep and spilled his pot and all the milk ran out. Although he entreated his brothers, they refused to help him because he would need too much milk. At daybreak, Uhanga came to the three sons and examined their pots. He asked what had happened to the milk and they explained why the first was empty, why there was some milk missing from the second pot, and why the third was almost full. And then Uhanga told Nkaya that he had found names for the three boys. The first he named Servant because he had taken food and eaten it on the open road and because he could not keep the milk so he should have a master to watch him. The second he named Herdsman because he had taken the tools of the cattle herder and had spilled no milk. The third he named King because he had taken the ox head and he had the most milk. When their elder brother Kantu heard this, he was very angry because Uhanga had not considered him when assigning places in society and so he said he would oppose the order that Uhanga had set up and bring destruction and strife into the world. Hearing that, Uhanga told Nkaya to come with him and they left the earth which had become corrupt and withdrew to heaven. Pushing away the tree and the poles which had joined the two, the iron bar fell and broke into many small pieces. So what is now spread over the world to be used as tools? If you like these videos and want more, you can support the home team on Patreon.com. No less out, remember your ancestors. Peace.