Mami Wata

For this week's episode, we're heading over to the great continent of Africa for a wonderful mermaid goddess, Mami Wata! How does she relate to the slave trade? How can you bargain with her for cash? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

If you’re listening to this on release day, thanks so much firstly, but also I’m off on my holidays and this is a massively in the past recorded episode, which is all good fun. 

I’m probably crying at a firework show or screaming at the top of my lungs on Velocicoaster at the moment, so think of me believing I’m going to die on a rollercoaster whilst you listen to this I guess.

DESCRIPTION:

This week though, we’re far away from Orlando’s theme parks, deep into Africa looking at a wonderful water goddess, Mami Wata in this episode. 

Mami Wata is typically described as a water spirit and deity who can bring great blessings and terrible destruction, from across all of Africa, and I literally mean almost every part - Central, East, West and South all have myths around her. 

She is generally described as a beautiful light-skinned woman with very long, light-coloured hair. She is known for being a standard humanoid, but with a fish lower half, much like a typical mermaid and she loves her hair more than anything. She is often depicted as a black woman, or a light-skinned black woman - however within the myths, she is more commonly mentioned as being white.

Mami Wata may appear as fully human, but most often appears as this half-human, half-fish mermaid. She is also commonly depicted with snakes, as she is often wearing them on her body as a kind of jewellery. In some depictions, her body is sometimes even part snake or is covered with scales itself. 

She is known for her incomparable beauty, and many stories reference her long, captivating hair as one of her most striking features. And she’s also super rich because she mostly likes to collect valuables, including golden combs and mirrors. In many myths, Mami Wata is described as having clothing and valuables of incomparable worth and beauty, far beyond any that could be produced by human effort.

These combs, mirrors and other bits are really important to her as a mythical figure though, as this is usually how humans interact with her. She would usually appear by a river or the ocean, combing her hair and looking at herself in a mirror, then as she is approached, she flees leaving the comb or mirror behind. 

The person who takes these is then visited by Mami Wata, usually in a dream, where she asks them to return her stolen things. If the person returns them and agrees to be faithful to Mami Wata, they are granted luck and fortune. However, if not, she punishes those who refuse to honour her or to return her items with terrible bad luck or curses.

In regards to powers, she has a load, including shapeshifting, healing the sick, increasing female fertility by blessing women with baby girls and blessing with physical wealth. On the other hand, she can also cause sickness and bad luck, which ranges from generally failing at hopes and dreams to just instant or painful death. 

As she is known as a fertility goddess, she is known to dish out babies, but she’s also known for cursing people with infertility too, which is interesting as she is also known to be a barren goddess - which is super unique for a fertility god in any mythology.

Mami Wata favours women and seeks them out to bless or influence them to worship her. Her priests are also commonly women and as she is associated with good luck, fertility, beauty, wealth, success, she is said to bestow these to her followers. However, as a goddess, she is described as jealous with a potentially fatal wrath when angered - so there’s that too.

She also sometimes abducts men, women or children travelling in or around the water, where she would steal 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 legends, she abducts people for the purposes of passing judgment on their morals or reputation. Those she deems worthy are returned to the surface and undergo a spiritual enlightenment that leads to wealth, beauty, success and status. Those who fail just don’t come back.

She has also been known to lure 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 are wealth and social power, and men who refuse her advances get social and financial problems. In other instances, Mami Wata lures dodgy men, only to inflict STD's on them as a punishment to their lax sexual morals.

In the long term, she would ask her male consorts to promise to never marry and only stay with her for the promise of riches. With women, she would ask them to never marry or get pregnant in exchange for this, and those who disobeyed her after she has granted them this wealth are punished violently.

ORIGIN:

Onto etymology, you would think this one is obvious and English, but it’s actually not in English. Mami Wata derives from the English mother and water, however, it actually comes from the Creole language in Africa, Krio and Naija. It does mean mother of the water though, so that part is boring.

Mamba Muntu is the Central African variant of the water spirit that exists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo instead, so you may see this thrown about - she is described differently though, as a mermaid, crocodile and snake combination.

But her history is much more interesting, and we know she’s been around since at least 4500BC, which was in the African Humid Period. During this time, Africans were transitioning from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to settled farming and early civilizations, especially in North Africa in places like Egypt but faith was a really important part of life, and these deities of nature were pivotal to that. 

Mami Wata’s roots go back to the Igbo people, mostly from Nigeria in West Africa from this time, but there are myths from all over the continent about her. Unfortunately, due to tribal culture and how long ago this was, we don’t have a lot of information bar what I’ve already told you about her during this time.

However, the modern figure of Mami Wata came about in the 20th century, with cults in her name in Africa and the Caribbean popping up. Interestingly, with this the myths actually changed - as many of the earlier myths associated her with various water spirits became instead, associated with her as a single, feminine deity, which is how we know her today.

Modern depictions of Mami Wata have of course, been heavily influenced by European ideals and typical mythological tropes that blended with native African culture during Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th century. Because of this too, the myth spread from Africa to the wider world because of the slave trade, where Africans were displaced from their homes - so the myth travelled and created on its own stories in the Caribbean and the US.

She is also still an important part of the modern Vodun religion, or Voodoo, which is a West African spiritual tradition that has spread with the African diaspora. Many modern Vodun groups have incorporated Mami Wata as a powerful household spirit, with families and priestesses offering tribute to try and improve finances with her blessing.

Worship of her is widely done today outside of this though, and there is a huge variety in shrines and rituals used to honour her around the world. What I like to see is that worship of Mami Wata is usually passed down from mother to daughter, and she is now viewed as a symbol of feminine power among modern worshippers, which I think is pretty neat.

Under slavery, African religions were demonized as devilish, and practices were carried out in secret or under cover of Christian ritual, due to the constant threat of punishment by deportation to other colonies or even death in the Caribbean and US. Colonial laws, such as Jamaica’s Obeah Act, which are yet to be repealed to this day, continue to criminalize African spiritual traditions but it seems that Mami Wata is living on through these groups, which I really love to see.

Now onto mythical comparisons, of course you know what I’m going to say - yes, it’s Mermaids, Sirens and Melusine. These three half-lady, half-fish women of the deep are the natural comparisons to this one, with the Mermaids from Europe, the Sirens from Greece and the Melusine from France all having their own nuances. I’ve covered the first two in their own episodes, and Melusine is coming soon if you want to learn more about these ladies of the deep.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, I’ve got a few bits for Mami Wata herself, but I’ve filled this up with watery goddess media, which was an odd search term, I know.

For art, have a look at independent art of Mami Wata this week, because there have been some beautiful pieces made by independent artists. 

In movies, we have; Nkiru, Mami Wata, Song of the Sea, The Lady in the Water, The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, The Little Mermaid & Clash of the Titans. 

For TV, we have; Avatar: The Last Airbender, Siren, Jackie Chan Adventures, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Power Rangers, Encantadia, Steven Universe, Merlin, Captain Planet & The Planeteers, Ninjago, H2O: Just Add Water, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Miraculous Ladybug, Super Sentai, Disney Fairies, The Little Mermaid, MeteoHeroes, Tidelands, Mermaid, Shaolin Wuzang & The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

In video games, we have ones such as; Genshin Impact, Jet Force Gemini, Fire Emblem, Have a Nice Death, Pokemon, Golden Sun, Battleborn, Kingdom Hearts, Zork Nemesis, Bravely Default II, The First Descendant, Fireboy and Watergirl, Indivisible, Mega Man, Quest for Glory, Fate/Grand Order, Tomba! 2, The Legend of Dragoon, Gacha Life, Stella Glow, Resident Evil: Revelations, MARDEK, Super Robot Wars, Temtem, Final Fantasy, Age of Wushu, Tales of Destiny, Date Everything & The Legend of Zelda.

My book recommendation this week is for The Watkins Book of African Folklore by Helen Nde, African Myths & Tales: Epic Tales by Dr Kwadwo Osei-Nyame Jnr and African Myths & Legends: Tales of Heroes, Gods & Monsters by JK Jackson for a great summary of African mythology, gods and monsters.

I also have some recommendations for fiction this week, with Flora Nwapa's novels Efuru, Idu, Never Again, and The Lake Goddess and for Helen Oyeyemi’s in Opposite House for African water goddess fiction based on Mami Wata.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure about this one. I could go on about my rule of what’s in the ocean that we don’t know about, but I would just bore you with repeating that. With this one too, it’s not massively relevant as she is more of a goddess - so of course I’m not expecting to see her around. 

What I really like about this one is the focus on women, and the power she gives to women to this day within these groups. I like the classic fertility goddess as much as I like the vengeful sea goddess version of her, but also add in that she’s a mermaid-type creature who can be bargained with? She’s the perfect mythical madam, and I don’t want to call her a monster by any means just mainly so I don’t get cursed myself. 

I have always had a soft spot for fertility goddesses because they give women hope in something that they are held to such a high standard for - and if she comforts them in their time of need, that’s all I care about. I do think it’s harsh to curse them with infertility, but what do I know I guess. 

I’ve really enjoyed covering this one, and I really love learning about African folklore as a wider subject because I just don’t know very much about it - so I really hope you’ve enjoyed this one, and I look forward to covering more of them.

Also, importantly I want to share a note from BLAM, who are a UK Charity, committed to ensuring the Black diaspora thrive in the UK and beyond, and they wrote about Mami Wata, so I’ll just read it here because I think it’s important;

The mermaid is a universal cultural staple – it features in several cultures around the world, particularly those in countries with coastlines. Mermaids do not have a default appearance, and they do not all have features commonly associated with white Europeans. The mermaid myth in Black countries is ancient, rich, and complex. Mermaids, particularly Mami Wata, are venerated as well as feared. Her lore and status was transported during the Transatlantic Slave Trade and spread across communities of people of African descent. Although the image of mermaids that is mainstream and widely popularised in film and other media does not resemble Black people, Black people have always had mermaid myths and legends which are rich, layered, and longstanding.

But what do you think? Did Mami Wata bless and curse the women of Africa? Let me know on social media!

OUTRO: 

What a fun one this week, and I actually hesitate to call her a monster in any way - I really enjoy covering African myths, and I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did.

Next week, we’re heading over to the Slavic countries in Europe for another god and household spirit. You may remember him from our Kikimora episode, but make sure you leave out some bread for the Domovoy next week!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got loads of social media for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, YouTube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, twitter is mythmonsterspod and BlueSky is mythmonsters. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, and you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.