Hello One and All!
The folklore of the San of southern Africa is rich. One particular story, told by ||kabbo and written down in 1873 by Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd, details how the Milky Way and all the stars in it came to be.
The Girl Who Made The Stars
One evening, long ago, a girl of the ancient race sat beside an extinct fire. Above her stretched utter darkness and she thought of all of the travellers who must be stumbling without the use of their sight. She submerged her hands in the wood ashes, threw it up into the sky, and said:
"Wood ash, become the Milky Way, so that light stands out and help people that are travelling."
The ashes spread out, knitted together and as it settled across the sky it formed the Milky Way.
The Milky Way continued to glow gently, because it remembered it was wood ash;it gave its light freely because it recalled how the girl had tasked it with helping people on their way home. Where there was utter blackness before, there was now light. Still, it was not enough.
The girl became ill and confined to her hut, whereupon she became angry when she noticed that there weren't any roots left in her hut for her to eat. Her mother went out and dug up more roots and took it back to the girl. The girl chewed the !huing roots (porcupines and baboons are particularly fond of these edible roots) and threw it into the sky, where it became affixed to the new Milky Way - old roots would transform into red stars and the young roots would take the form of white stars. She chewed and threw portions up, until the sky became populated with a panoply of stars. Ever since, countless travellers would find their way back to their homes, all because of the luminescence that girl had created all those years ago.
Thank you for reading!
The folklore of the San of southern Africa is rich. One particular story, told by ||kabbo and written down in 1873 by Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd, details how the Milky Way and all the stars in it came to be.
The Girl Who Made The Stars
One evening, long ago, a girl of the ancient race sat beside an extinct fire. Above her stretched utter darkness and she thought of all of the travellers who must be stumbling without the use of their sight. She submerged her hands in the wood ashes, threw it up into the sky, and said:
"Wood ash, become the Milky Way, so that light stands out and help people that are travelling."
The ashes spread out, knitted together and as it settled across the sky it formed the Milky Way.
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| San Rock Paintings at Nsangwini, Swaziland. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bushman_Paintings,_Nsangwini,_Swaziland.jpg) |
The Milky Way continued to glow gently, because it remembered it was wood ash;it gave its light freely because it recalled how the girl had tasked it with helping people on their way home. Where there was utter blackness before, there was now light. Still, it was not enough.
 |
| Rock Art at Nelspoort - Central Karoo, South Africa. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rock_Art_Nelspoort_-_Central_Karoo,_South_Africa_(3883087983).jpg) |
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The girl became ill and confined to her hut, whereupon she became angry when she noticed that there weren't any roots left in her hut for her to eat. Her mother went out and dug up more roots and took it back to the girl. The girl chewed the !huing roots (porcupines and baboons are particularly fond of these edible roots) and threw it into the sky, where it became affixed to the new Milky Way - old roots would transform into red stars and the young roots would take the form of white stars. She chewed and threw portions up, until the sky became populated with a panoply of stars. Ever since, countless travellers would find their way back to their homes, all because of the luminescence that girl had created all those years ago.
Thank you for reading!
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