Abuk

Abuk, in Dinka religion, the first woman. Abuk is represented as a snake, which is also her favourite animal.

The Dinka believe that the Creator made both Abuk and Garang, the first man, out of the rich clay of the Sudan. After making them, the Creator placed Abuk and Garang in a huge pot. When the Creator opened the pot, the man and woman were fully formed human beings, except that Abuk was much smaller than the Creator desired. Abuk was placed in a container full of water and left there for a time. When she had absorbed enough water and had swelled up to the size of a regular human being, the Creator was pleased.

According to Dinka legend, Abuk and Garang were given only one grain a day for food, and they were always hungry. Abuk made the one grain a day into a paste to make it last longer. She also decided that she would take one grain on alternate days and save it so that she could plant it in order to grow her own. She is thus credited with being the first person to cultivate grain.

Abuk is responsible for looking after all women and children and ensuring fertility, the growth of trees and plants, and the productivity of the harvest. She is also responsible for the supply of water. Hence, women are known as keepers of the water, and it is their typical role to supply their families with water from the rivers.

Abuk once decided that she wanted to plant more crops in order to have more food to eat. She accidentally struck the Creator with the long-handled hoe that she used to till the earth. Because of the offense, the Creator withdrew from the lives of human beings and sent a small blue-colored bird, the atoc, to cut the rope that humans had used to climb up to the sky. Abuk is thus indirectly the cause of illness, death, and trouble in the world.