Nhialic is the supreme creator god of the Dinka pantheon, whose

people A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

now dwell in

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

. When used in the context of Dinka language, the term also can refer to the entirety of the gods within the Dinka pantheon. In some accounts, Nhialic is also known as Deng Dit.

Representation

As a separate entity, Nhialic is a supreme

creator god A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatris ...

who dwells in the skies. Nhialic is referred to as male, although he does not have physical manifestations. Nhialic created the first humans as well as the universe and everything in it. In Dinka people's daily lives,

natural phenomena Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

that appear from the sky, such as

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

and

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

, are considered a sign of Nhialic's presence on

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. Nhialic is considered the leader of the Dinka pantheon, yet, at the same time, the term “Nhialic” is often used to describe the influence of the Dinka pantheon as a whole.

Family

According to Robert Tordiff Johnston (1934), many gods and goddesses of the Dinka pantheon are considered Nhialic's offsprings, with the following as the most notable: * Ayum, goddess of the

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

. She is often referred to as a force that prevents rain from falling. * Alwet, goddess of the rain. * Aja. * Nyanngol, also known as Nyanwol or Nyancar, a female goddess. * Gerrang, also known as Garang. Johnston (1934) described him as a malicious god who often leads humans to commit sins, while Lienhardt (1961) portrays him as a healer deity, though Lienhardt also confirms that the Dinka people tend to attribute misfortunes to Gerrang. * Ayak, counterpart to Ayum, a female goddess. Johnston's account slightly differs from Godfrey Lienhardt (1961), who views familial interpretation between the members of the Dinka pantheon as largely arbitrary when used by Western Dinka people. At the same time, however, he found that certain Dinka tribes living east of the Nile River had portrayed Gerrang as the son of Nhialic, and Deng as Gerrang's son.

Myths

Creation of the first humans

It is said that Nhialic created the first humans from clay; the first man, Garang (different from Gerrang the deity), and

Abuk Abuk is the first woman in the myths of the Dinka people of South Sudan and the Nuer of South Sudan and Ethiopia, who call her Buk or Acol. She is the only well-known female deity of the Dinka. She is also the patron goddess of women as well as ...

, the first woman. They were originally a miniaturized form of present-day humans until Nhialic put them in pots and left them for quite some time. When they emerged from the pots, they became fully-grown humans.

Origin of death

Across all Dinka tribes, it is agreed that the heavens—represented by the sky—and earth used to be connected by a rope. However, this link was cut off due to the actions of the first humans, Garang and Abuk. To feed themselves, each day, Garang and Abuk were told by Nhialic to pound a certain amount of grain. They were not allowed to exceed this amount, since if they did so, the pounded grains will be thrown towards Nhialic. One day, Abuk, driven by her greed, chose to pound more grains than she was told to. As have been forewarned by Nhialic, these grains ended up hitting him in the face, which he took offense at. In response, Nhialic sent out a blue bird to cut the rope that connected the heavens and earth. Since then, humans became mortal and had to feed themselves continuously to survive.

References