KAANG

[African] The creator god of the African Bushmen, Kaang is said to have made all things, but met with such opposition in the world that he went away. He is regarded as the god of natural phenomena, present in all things, but especially the mantis and caterpillar. Receiving disobedience from the first men he had created, Kaang sent fire and destruction to Earth, and removed his abode into the top of the sky. Kaang has many myths attached to him, and is almost figured as an epic hero himself. One of the myths concerns his being eaten by an ogre, who then vomited him back up. Another relates to the occasion that he was killed by thorns. The ants picked his bones clean, but Kaang reassembled his skeleton and rose again. The Bushmen say he created the moon from an old shoe. With his wife Coti he had two sons: Cogaz and Gewi.