READING 0.2.2 TAT ROOG ORIGIN STORY Macquarie University Big History School: Core Lexile® measure: 650L MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 0.2.2. ORIGIN STORY: TAT ROOG - 650L 2 In the lands of West Africa, stretching across the Senegambia region, are the Serer people. The name Serer comes from the Wolof for “misplaced” or “lost” because these people refused to convert to Islam, which swept across the region in the Middle Ages. TAT ROOG ORIGIN STORY By David Baker The Serer people held on to their more ancient religion. It is called “The Way of God” or the Tat Roog. Even for those Serer who later converted to Islam or Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries, the traditions of the Tat Roog still have a huge influence. The Tat Roog originated thousands of years ago and worships the Supreme Creator, Roog, and a pantheon of other gods, goddesses, and genies. The Serer believe in a creation story that is complex and speaks to the very heart of West Africa. Before the Universe, there was nothing but Roog, the Supreme Creator. All was quiet. Roog was both the Universe’s mother and father. Roog bore all creation in a womb. Then Roog uttered the first words ever to be spoken, “Water, Air, Earth.” The words travelled through the void of space. The sea appeared on Roog’s head. The air appeared on Roog’s shoulders. The Earth appeared in Roog’s hands. These were the elements of creation. A group of three in Serer culture is considered feminine, and it is thus how Roog made the world feminine in nature. The world produces and nurtures things just like a mother produces and nurtures a child. Roog took the water and created the oceans and the deep underworld which exists at its depths. Roog took the air and created the blue sky, and the Moon and Sun above it. Roog’s own movements made the Universe swirl and spin. MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 0.2.2. ORIGIN STORY: TAT ROOG - 650L 3 The Earth was meanwhile mixed with the water. In the earliest moments, the Earth was a swamp. Rain fell in torrents, floods appeared everywhere. From this swamp grew the first tree. It was the first living thing on Earth. And that is why trees are sacred. Trees are the essence of life and provide medicine for many sicknesses. The tree let off a seed, and from that seed grew all the plants on Earth. The planet became covered in grasses, bushes, and endless forests. From Roog’s womb came the jackal. Roog sent the jackal to Earth to be its first animal. A fallen soul to dwell in the forests, rejected by other animals. Roog then gave birth to a giant egg. Within this egg was contained the eggs of all the other animals that exist on Earth, aside from the fallen jackal. The giant egg arrived on Earth. It absorbed energy from water and plants. Then the giant egg burst open and the eggs of all the animals hatched within its shell. The animals spread into the seas and across the land. An ostrich laid its own eggs in a valley. A mighty beast confronted it, trying to steal the ostrich’s eggs. The ostrich cried out to Roog to protect her children. So Roog created the stars in the sky which protected the ostrich’s eggs. No other animal could ever confront the ostrich thanks to this protection. Roog then gave birth to a female human named Yaab. Then Roog gave birth to a male human named Yop. They moved down from the heavens to the Earth in a ship. Yaab was the first to arrive and she slept on the hard ground at night. She was bitten by insects and could not sleep. Yop arrived found Yaab hungry and tired. Yaab introduced herself and left him. Yaab wandered the world for several years but Yop followed her. Then they forged tools to work the Earth and produce crops. They had children and created the human race. Many years passed. Humans lived in harmony with the animals. Then a lion mated with a human girl. She gave birth to the first monkey, a man covered in fur. The humans were angry. They called a meeting with all animals to find out who impregnated the girl. The lion feared punishment and remained quiet. A dog pointed out that the lion did it. This is why the dog is man’s best friend. A war broke out between the humans and nature. The humans won. But Roog was angry and punished them all. The humans, Roog made frail and weak. The animals, Roog made wild and insane. The trees, Roog made voiceless and blind. But the trees could still listen. And the trees still do. MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 0.2.2. ORIGIN STORY: TAT ROOG - 650L 4 REFERENCES Asante, Molefi Kete. “Serer” Encyclopedia of African Religion. eds. Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama. vol. 2. London: Sage Publications, 2009. Gravrand, Henri. La Civilisation Sereer: Cosaan, les origins. Dakar: Nouvelles editions africaines, 1983. Thiaw, Issa Laye. “La religiosite des Sereer, avant et pendant leur Islamisation” Ethiopiques. vol. 7. no. 54. (1991) Available from http://ethiopiques.refer.sn/spip.php?article1248 IMAGE CREDITS ‘Wassu stone circles’ Credit: shaunamullally https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Wassu_Stone_Cirles_shaunamullally_02.jpg CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en ‘Panthera Leo’ Credit: Winfried Bruenken https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panthera_ leoP1040181.JPG CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en ‘Ostriches in a dry river bed, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park’ Credit: Hansm https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ostriches_Kgalagadi_Transfrontier_Park.jpeg CC BY-SA 3.0 https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en THE LEXILE FRAMEWORK® FOR READING The Lexile Framework® for Reading evaluates reading ability and text complexity on the same developmental scale. Unlike other measurement systems, the Lexile Framework determines reading ability based on actual assessments, rather than generalized age or grade levels. Recognized as the standard for matching readers with texts, tens of millions of students worldwide receive a Lexile® measure that helps them find targeted readings from the more than 100 million articles, books and websites that have been measured. Lexile measures connect learners of all ages with resources at the right level of challenge and monitors their progress toward state and national proficiency standards. More information about the Lexile Framework can be found at lexile.com © 2018 Macquarie University.