22
by marks such as /, indicating
a dental click rather like a tut of
disapproval), are thought to survive
from humankind’s earliest speech.
Levels of the cosmos
The mythology of all San peoples
is modeled closely on their local
environment and on the idea
that there are both natural and
supernatural realms that are deeply
intertwined. In their three-tiered
world, spirit realms lie both above
and below the middle, or natural,
world in which humans live; each is
accessible to the other, and
whatever happens in one directly
affects what happens in the other.
Humans with special powers could
visit the upper or sky realm, and
travel underwater and underground
in the lower spirit realm.
For the /Xam San, the world
above was inhabited by the creator
and trickster deity /Kaggen (also
known as Mantis) and his family.
They shared this world with an
abundance of game animals,
and with the spirits of the dead,
including the spirits of the Early
Race—a community of hybrid
animal-humans, with powers to
shape, transform, and create. The
/Xam believed that these beings
were the first to inhabit the earth.Elemental forces
In /Xam myth, elements of the
natural environment were given
supernatural significance or
personified as spirits. Supernatural
figures could take the form of the
animals they shared their lands
with, such as the eland (a type of
antelope), the meerkat, and the
praying mantis. The creator
/Kaggen, who dreamed the world
into being, usually took human
form but could transform into
almost anything, most often a
praying mantis or an eland. While
he was the protector of game
animals, he would sometimes
transform himself into one in order
to be killed and feed the people.
The people of the Early Race
were regarded with awe and
respect, but not worshipped. Not
even /Kaggen the Mantis was
prayed to, although a San shaman
such as //Kabbo (see box, facing
page) might hope to intercede with
/Kaggen to ensure a successful
hunt. Because /Kaggen is aMAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD
Natural phenomena such as eclipses,
possibly never before seen by any living
member of the San, might be explained
through tales passed down in their rich
oral tradition.trickster, many of the myths
surrounding him and his family are
comic rather than reverent; even
the key myth of the creation of the
first eland includes a scene in
which an ineffectual /Kaggen is
beaten up by a family of meerkats.
Important elemental forces
and celestial bodies also became
characters in stories that explained
how they came to be, and why
they behave in the way that they
do. The children of the Early Race,
for example, threw the sleeping sun
up into the sky, so that the light
that shone from his armpit would
illuminate the world. It was a girl
from the Early Race who made the
stars by throwing the ashes of a fire
into the sky of the Milky Way. Rain
was not thought of as a natural
phenomenon, but as a large animal.
A fierce thunderstorm was a
rain-bull, and a gentle rain was
a rain-cow. Special people who had
the power to summon the rain,
such as //Kabbo, would make a
supernatural journey to a fullMy mother told me that the
girl [of the Early Race] put
her hands in the wood ash
and threw it into the sky, to
become the Milky Way.
African fable