Mami Wata (African myth)

Author: Traditional

Time Period: 5000 BCE–2500 BCE

Country or Culture: Africa

Genre: Myth

Overview

Mami Wata is an African and Afro-Caribbean mythological deity who was popularized in the twentieth century but whose roots stretch back to the ancient legends of the Igbo ethnic group in West Africa. Modern depictions of Mami Wata have been heavily influenced by European aesthetic and mythological characteristics that blended with native African culture during Atlantic slave trade between the sixteenth and nineteenth century. Mami Wata is generally depicted as having the upper body of a woman, while her lower body is that of a fish or snake. In African and Afro-Caribbean myth, Mami Wata has been rendered as a savior figure and a symbol of fortune, but also as a destructive and often dangerous entity responsible for death and disease.

The name Mami Wata does not precisely refer to a single deity or mythological figure but more accurately refers to a family of water spirits, collectively known as mami wata, found in both modern Africa and in the art and artifacts of ancient African civilization from at least 4500 BCE. Through the Atlantic slave trade, descendants of the Igbo, Ibibio, and other African tribes spread throughout the globe, resulting in an African diaspora. The tradition of honoring the ancient water spirits, often in the form of Mami Wata as a single deity, was carried to the New World by enslaved Africans and now occurs in many locations around the globe, including parts of South America and the Caribbean.

The modern figure of Mami Wata emerged in the twentieth century, with the advent of Mami Wata cults in Africa and the Caribbean. As this occurred, many of the earlier myths associated with various water spirits became associated with Mami Wata as a single, feminine deity, which resulted in a diverse and dichotomous mythology taken from many cultural sources. Mami Wata is an important part of the modern Vodun religion, a West African spiritual tradition that has spread around the world with the African diaspora. Many modern Vodun groups have incorporated Mami Wata as a prominent household spirit, with families and priestesses offering tribute in an attempt to increase the prosperity of the family. Mami Wata worship takes a variety of forms and anthropologists have noted that there is tremendous variety in the construction of Mami Wata shrines and the specific rituals used to honor the figure around the world. However, worship of Mami Wata is primarily carried on as a matrilineal tradition and the figure is viewed as a symbol of feminine power among modern adherents.

“They say that Mammy Water sits on top of rocks by the water side. . . . If she has interest to really help you, to give you money, then you will see her in dreams and you and she will have to make a certain compact. If you are a man, you must not marry any woman. If you keep to this promise, she brings you money every time she visits you.”

“Mammy Water,” Voices of the Poor in Africa

Manifestations of Mami Wata in art and literature have been the subject of detailed analysis by twentieth century art historians and scholars, but much of the ancient mythology surrounding the figure is unknown and significant disagreement exists regarding the figure’s origin. For instance, many Western and European scholars have suggested that the name Mami Wata (also spelled Mammy Wata or Mami Wota, among other variations) derives from the pidgin pronunciation of the phrase “mother of water” (Drewal, “Santa Marta” 193); however, other sources claim that the name derives from the Egyptian words mama, meaning “truth” or “wisdom,” and uat-ur, meaning “ocean” (Alexander 138). The basic imagery and characteristics of the modern Mami Wata are also reflected in a pantheon of Igbo and other African deities including Ezenwaanyi (queen of women), Nnekwunwenyi (honored or honorable woman), Ezebelamiri (queen of the waters) and Nwaanyi mara mma (more than beautiful woman) (Jenkins 75–77).

Summary

No single myth or set of myths is characteristic of Mami Wata, but rather the figure appears in a wide variety of forms and in thousands of fables, myths, songs, and artistic manifestations, each associated with a unique set of social and cultural inspirations. Mami Wata is best described as a water spirit, and her various myths are often linked to fishing or mariner culture. Mami Wata may appear as fully human, but most often appears as a half-human, half-fish mermaid entity. She is also commonly depicted with snakes, often wearing them on her body as jewelry. In some depictions, her body is part snake or is covered with scales. While depictions of Mami Wata vary across cultures, her associations with the sea, fish, and snakes are common threads found in a majority of modern portrayals.

In numerous myths, Mami Wata abducts men, women, or children traveling in or near the ocean or other waters. In some cases, Mami Wata steals men as consorts, determining whether they are worthy of being with her and then taking them to her underwater world or to a spirit plane of existence, where they live with her. In other instances, Mami Wata abducts individuals for the purposes of passing judgment on their relative moral or social merit. Those she deems worthy may then be returned to the surface and undergo a kind of spiritual enlightenment that can lead their lives in new directions, helping them to achieve wealth or increased status within their society. Individuals returned to their lives after a visit with Mami Wata not only gain increased wealth, but also undergo a physical transformation, often appearing more beautiful as a result of the experience.

Mami Wata is often shown or described as having incomparable beauty, and many stories reference her long, captivating hair as one of her most striking attributes. Though the myth is of African design, in many modern fables Mami Wata is depicted as having “fair” skin and features. In addition, Mami Wata holds considerable wealth, as evinced by her collection of valuables, including golden combs and mirrors. In many versions of the story, Mami Wata is described as possessing clothing and valuables of incomparable worth and beauty, far beyond any that could be produced by human effort.

Mami Wata’s possessions—especially the objects of her vanity, such as combs and mirrors—often play an important role in myths. In one story, Mami Wata appears by a river or the ocean, combing her hair and looking at herself in a mirror. As she is approached, she flees leaving the comb and/or mirror behind. An individual who takes possession of these objects is visited by Mami Wata, often in a dream, in which she asks for the return of her stolen treasures. An individual who returns the treasures and agrees to be faithful to Mami Wata is granted luck and fortune. However, Mami Wata punishes those who refuse to honor her or to return her items.

In some Nigerian folktales, Mami Wata lures men with the promise of sexual favors, appearing in the form of a beautiful prostitute. The men are then expected to be faithful to their affair with Mami Wata, while keeping the affair secret from other members of the community. The rewards to her consorts include wealth and social power, while men who refuse her advances may experience social and financial ruin. In other instances, Mami Wata lures men with her sexual charms, only to inflict venereal diseases on those who are morally lax enough to respond to her sexual appeal.

Mami Wata is often linked to a family or individual’s ability to have children. Though she may be described as barren, she can cure this affliction in women, and many women pray to Mami Wata for fertility. In some stories, Mami Wata curses women or men, leaving them sterile. In many myths, Mami Wata’s ability to grant financial gain is linked to fertility or virility. She often grants a man wealth—in return for his promise to abstain from marriage and to keep her as his only consort. Similarly, Mami Wata may give wealth or prosperity to a woman, but then demands that the woman abstain from taking a husband or getting pregnant. Those who disobey Mami Wata after she has granted them wealth may find themselves subject to violent retribution:

Was it true that she had made a pact with the river goddess, Mami-Wota, and had given up marriage and child bearing in return for success in trade? Is it true that Mami-Wota had killed her husband and yanked the fetus out of her womb . . . ? (Echewa 123)

In many West African fables, Mami Wata is responsible for both great and small tragedies affecting a community or certain individuals. For instance, in the tradition of the Sudanese tribes, Mami Wata is synonymous with the demonic spirit Lufulakari, who destroys ships sailing the ocean. She has also been linked to destructive floods and the destruction of houses and communities along the water’s edge. In other cases, Mami Wata has been depicted as having caused illness. In one set of West African myths, it is said that Mami Wata hibernates in a cocoon that maybe located within a vase. If an individual opens the vase and awakens Mami Wata, she infects the individual with a form of dementia that leads them to lose all reason.

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