In The Beginning: Recent Episodes
Fun Kids
Why are we here, how did we get here and who are we anyway?
These profound questions have given rise to creation stories, shared across cultures and societies to help us humans make sense of the world and there are many commonalities between these stories.
In the Beginning brings ten of these ancestral tales to life.
These stories transport us through the cosmos, into dreamtime, down a golden chain and through nature’s arc where we meet animals, gods and spirits - the makers, shapers and creators.
There’s a summer storm and it’s been raining all day, on and off, then on again. The children are inside with Hawa, our storyteller. She has been gathering creation stories since the beginning of time, from every corner of the earth. Where will she take us today?
Introduced by Chizzy Akudolu and narrated by Nicole Davis
Written and produced by Hawa Khan and Lucia Scazzocchio.
A Sonomatopoeia / Social Broadcasts production for Fun Kids, supported by The Audio Content Fund.
This story from the Fang people is about the creation of the first human Fam who was given absolute power. This power went to his head as he destroyed the earth and disrespected the other animals that have been created.
In the beginning Membere (who is 3 gods in one) creates elephant, leopard and monkey and then decides to create man to rule over them, the first man is called Fam and he is given ultimate power over the animals as well as being immortal. He starts building, burning and destroying the earth and treating the animals badly. He refuses to worship Member when he is invited by the animals and just caries on building dams, developments and tearing up the place. The animals are in despair. Membere decides to flood the earth and Fam is made to wander alone forever.
This story reflects the importance of looking after our environment, especially the equatorial rainforests where the Fang live that are abundant in natural resources such as timber, diamonds, oil and calton (used in phones) as well as palm oil plantations which are also a growing threat.
The Fang people were victims of the large transatlantic and trans-Saharan slave trade between the 16th and 19th century. They were stereotyped as cannibals by slave traders and missionaries possibly because of the human skulls and bones kept in open or in wooden boxes near their villages. Later, anthropologists discovered that the Fang people were not cannibalistic, the human bones in open and wooden boxes were of their ancestors, and were a method of routine remembrance and religious reverence for their dead loved ones.
The Fang people also known as Fãn or Pahouin are a Bantu ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, Norther Gabon and Southern Cameroon in West Central Africa. They speak a Bantu language known as Fang.
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This story from the Maya people explains how humans were created out of corn after several attempts using different materials and how the creator gods Tepeu and Gucumatz made sure that humans did not have the constant access to supernatural vision.
Gucamatz (The Maker and Tapeau (The Feathered spirt) imagine the world, plants and animas into being. As supreme beings they need to be worshiped so they try to get the animals to praise them but that doesn’t work. They then create clay people but they just crack and break. They make wooden people but when they are asked to worship it’s wooden and without feeling so they throw them in the river and they turn into monkeys. Then the animals bring them corn to make people out of. This works! These people praise them but they also have extra vision and can see and know as much as the gods which is problematic as this should be reserved for supreme beings. They swiftly have their third eye removed so they can praise the gods appropriately.
Ancient Maya culture once stretched from central Mexico to Honduras and included parts of what is now Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador. More than 40 cities were founded on the Yucátan Peninsula in Mexico and in this area where they have now become tourist attractions. Most of what we know about Maya religion, myth and history comes from a sacred book called The Popol Vuh (Book of Community) which is the most important book of the K’iche Maya of the Guatemalan highlands. It is presented in three parts. The first talks about the creation of the world and its first inhabitants, the second narrates the story of the Hero Twins, a couple of semi-gods; and the third part is the story of the Quiché noble family dynasties.
In Maya mythology, Tepeu (The Maker) and Gucumatz (The Feathered Spirit also known as Kukulkan, and as the Aztec's Quetzalcoatl) are referred to as the Creators, the Makers, and the Forefathers. They were two of the first beings to exist although there were around 150 other gods.
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Hawa takes us to Cuba with a story from the Taino first nation people.
There are caves, raves and shining stars.
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Hawa takes us to Nigeria with a story from the Yoruba people.
There’s a golden chain, some palm wine and a goddess with something to say.
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Hawa takes us to Estonia with a story from the Baltic people.
There are tweeting birds and suitable suitors in a star-studded line up.
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Hawa takes us to Aotearoa (New Zealand) with a story from Maori people.
There’s a loving mother, a doting father and a band of squabbling siblings.
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Hawa takes us to China with an ancient Chinese story
There’s a cosmic egg, an old tortoise and a talented goddess.
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Hawa takes us to North America with a story from the Miwok first nation people.
There’s a singing fox, a hungry coyote and a shower of pine nuts.
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Hawa takes us to Ceram in Indonesia with a story from the Alifuru people.
There are gods, a dog and a girl with a gift.
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Hawa takes us to Australia with a story from the Gunai/Kurnai Aboriginal people.
There’s a drought, a frog and a contest.
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Why are we here, how did we get here and who are we anyway?
These profound questions have given rise to creation stories, shared across cultures and societies to help us humans make sense of the world and there are many commonalities between these stories.
In the Beginning brings ten of these ancestral tales to life.
These stories transport us through the cosmos, into dreamtime, down a golden chain and through nature’s arc where we meet animals, gods and spirits - the makers, shapers and creators.
There’s a summer storm and it’s been raining all day, on and off, then on again. The children are inside with Hawa, our storyteller. She has been gathering creation stories since the beginning of time, from every corner of the earth. Where will she take us today?
Introduced by Chizzy Akudolu and narrated by Nicole Davis
Written and produced by Hawa Khan and Lucia Scazzocchio.
A Sonomatopoeia / Social Broadcasts production for Fun Kids, supported by The Audio Content Fund.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.