(African mythology)
God of the Ugandan Banyoro tribes. Ruhanga's providence is personified in a spirit of plenty and fertility, supplying the Banyoro with children, animals, and harvest. Though his concern for the happiness of men is evident in another spirit, the guardian of health, Ruhanga is also the author of disease, sickness, and death. Formerly the dead came back to life, except for the animals. All that was required to accomplish this resurrection was the expression of joy among the living. However, one woman refused to dress up in her best clothes and meet the newly risen, because her pet dog had died. ‘Why should I go’, she asked, ‘when my dog is gone?’ Ruhanga heard this and said: ‘So people don't care what becomes of the dead. They shall no longer rise again, for death will terminate their lives.’
