Mami Wata
- Origin
- Honoured by worshippers and priestesses in parts of West, Central, East and Southern Africa, (Wikipedia), and carried to the Americas by enslaved Africans (Smithsonian National Museum of African Art). The museum says her persona took shape from the 1400s to the 1900s as trade grew; Wikipedia says scholars trace her to encounters between West Africans and Europeans in the 1400s and to European mermaid images. First written record: not identified in these sources.
- How we treat it
- Covers Mami Wata as a spirit honoured by living worshippers and priestesses. It makes no claim that she exists, and it does not cover every mermaid or water-spirit story.
- Routes out
- No source written by a devotee was found. The Franklin & Marshall anthropology page comes first because it records a priestess and her standing in her community, then the Smithsonian museum's exhibition text, Smithsonian Magazine's account of worship, CNN on C.J. Obasi's film, and Wikipedia.
A water spirit honoured by worshippers and priestesses in much of Africa, and carried to the Americas by enslaved Africans. Her name is pidgin English and can be read as Mother Water.
Mami Wata is a water spirit honoured across much of Africa. Wikipedia describes her as a mermaid, water spirit or goddess in parts of West, Central, East and Southern Africa, also known as Mammy Water, and as Mami Muntu or Mamba Muntu in Bantu languages. The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art's 2009 exhibition text says her name is pidgin English, a trade language, and can be read as Mother Water.
The museum presents her as a deity bound up with trade, whose persona took shape from the 1400s to the 1900s as Africa's trade with the wider world grew. Wikipedia says scholars date her origins to meetings between West Africans and Europeans in the 1400s and to pictures of mermaids from Europe, after which she went on to join local pantheons of gods and spirits. The museum also notes that Africans enslaved and taken by force to the Americas carried their beliefs, practices and art for water spirits, Mami Wata among them.
Joseph Caputo writes in Smithsonian Magazine (2009) that her favour goes to those who are clean and fragrant inside and out. Before they approach her altar, worshippers wash and drink talcum powder. The altar is laid out with fruit, shells, porcelain, a mirror and combs, and the air smells of perfume. A Franklin & Marshall College anthropology page describes a Mami Wata priestess whose bond with the spirit brought her no children. That bond gave her high standing in her community, where she is respected as someone who can speak with the spirit.
The feature film Mami Wata, by the Nigerian director C.J. "Fiery" Obasi, won at Sundance, CNN reported in 2023. Obasi told CNN he had the idea in 2016, drawing on the women around him and on Mami Wata's historic links to matriarchal societies, and that he always pictured it in black and white.
"Mami Wata[1] (also called Mammy Water and Bantu: Mami Muntu, Mamba Muntu[2]) or similar is a mermaid, water spirit, and/or goddess in the folklore of parts of Western Africa, Central Africa, Eastern Africa, and Southern Africa. Historically, scholars trace her origins to early encounters between Europeans and West Africans in the 15th century, where Mami Wata developed from depictions of European mermaids. Mami Wata subsequently joined native pantheons of deities and spirits in parts of Africa."
- Introduction, Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and its Diasporas, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (2009 exhibition site), via Wayback Machine
- The Many Faces of Mami Wata, Joseph Caputo, Smithsonian Magazine (2009)
- Nwaanyi Mara Mma: Mami Wata, the More Than Beautiful Woman, Franklin & Marshall College, Department of Anthropology (web page, c. 2005), via Wayback Machine
- With Sundance winner 'Mami Wata,' CJ 'Fiery' Obasi is redefining what it means to be a Nigerian filmmaker, CNN (2023)