Buk – the daughter of the Fireflies = Nuer of Sudan River Goddess
Buk – the daughter of the Fireflies
Classified as a goddess or guardian spirit.
Culture : Nuer of the Sudan
Associated: River
A guardian against attack by crocodiles. Her protection is invoked by the ritual sacrifice
of a goat,
She is typically
depicted as beautiful woman with
She’s the mother of Deng, who is the creator god in this
mythology. As well as Candit and Nyaliep, both of whom are river deities.
The role of a river of water goddess is very important in
its role in creation. AS the mother of the creator god the water is thus the source
of the creation of life.
The river its self if of particular important inn the
foundation of human settlements and essentially human civilization.
But with the benefits of the river come the danger.
The West African crocodile inhabits much of West and Central
Africa, ranging east to South Sudan and Uganda, and south to Democratic
Republic of the Congo (Other countries where found include Mauritania, Benin,
Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Sierra Leone, Central
African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Burkina
Faso, Ghana, Gabon, Togo, Ivory Coast and Republic of Congo.
Mauritanian traditional peoples who live in close proximity
to West African crocodiles revere them and protect them from harm. This is due
to their belief that, just as water is essential to crocodiles, so crocodiles are
essential to the water, which would permanently disappear if they were not
there to inhabit it.
