Kaang

Kaang (aka Cagn or Kaggen) is the the Creator of All Things in African folklore and San religion. The story says that Kaang is a very important deity in African folklore.

Kaang's People
A long time ago, all the humans and animals lived peacefully together with the great god Kaang. First, there was no sun; instead, there was light for people to live in comfort and harmony. During his blissful time, Kaang plans to create a world where all animals would live. He created a very magnificent tree, whose branches spread over the entire surface of the country. Kaang created wonders and was satisfied for what he created.

He dug a deep hole to where the humans and animals live. He took a man by grabbing his hand and led him up to above land. He sat by the man he recruited and waited for a woman who wandered up through and the couple explored their new world in the above land. This causes all animals and people to get out of the hole and explore the created tree. Kaang said to all the creatures and animals: "I will tell you the laws of this new world. You are to live together and peace and harmony. You will walk together and listen to each other. But this is a new world and very fragile."

To the humans, Kaang said again: "Under no circumstances must you make fire; to do such a thing would be to bring great evil upon this beautiful world." The people and animals promise not to use fire, as this element is a symbol of inferno. Kaang let the humans and animals enjoy their new world and went away to look for a secret. Suddenly, it was very dark, making the world very cold.

All the people and animal were unable to see at dark, so they started to use fire as light. "Yes, yes!" agreed the people. Everyone forgets the words of Kaang, lighting the fire to keep everyone warm. Kaang was very upset about the people breaking his promise; also breaking the understanding of humans and animals forever. Kaang was sad about his world.