Dinka mythology

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The Dinka, or Jieng/Muonyjang, are a Nilotic ethnic group in the south of Sudan.

The supreme, creator god is Nhialic (also Jaak, Juong, Dyokin other Nilotic groups such as the Nuer and Shilluk); he is present in all of creation, and controls the destinies of every human, plant and animal on Earth. The term "Jok" also refers to a group of ancestral spirits.

Deng, or Dengdit, is the sky god of rain and fertility empowered by Nhialic who is the supreme being of all gods. Deng's mother is Abuk, the patron goddess of gardening and all women, represented by a snake. Garang is believed or assumed by some Dinka as the suppressed god below Deng, whose spirits can influent mostly Dinka women and seldom men to scream.

Nhialic is the god of the sky and rain, and the ruler of all the spirits. On the other hand, the Dinka people respect African puff adders because of divinities found in the snakes. The commonly respected snakes are Atemyath, Biar keroor, and Maluang. These snakes are given local made molten cheese attracted from the cow to make them happy and appeased. They are released into the forest after being appeased. In fact, killing these snakes is believed to cause bad omens for the community or the person. With assumption that the spirits may strike the killer. The word yath in Dinka, is respects to objects of divine qualities that can be worshipped. In Dinka Bor, for instance Atemyath is widely beliefs by Tich section. Moreover, some of the snakes are names derived basically due to influences on some sections. The shrines are mostly for ritual sacrifices and are known as Luek ke yath. Some Luek remains in the heartland south of Wangklei, and likely destroyed during the war and coming of Christianity. However, the Dinka people beliefs in snakes can be linked to snakes divines found in Abuk goddess represented by snake.