Thread by @Evie_Calling

Woman Gods They Don’t Want You to Know About
tajimag.com/woman-gods/
Chela Noldon
July 16, 2017
(continued 2)

Hyrax -The wife of the creator god I Kaggen (praying mantis) revered by men of the western bush.

Ilankaka – The sun goddess of the Nkundo of Zaire was trapped by a man who was hunting during the night.

She begged to be released and promised him much wealth for doing so, but the only wealth he wanted was her, so she agreed to marry him.

Soon pregnant, she refused to eat anything but forest rats.

Because it was known that a man had to provide for any whim of a pregnant woman, the man was kept very busy trapping for her.

One night, however, she awakened to realize she was no longer pregnant.

Shocked, she discovered the baby had slipped out of the womb and was already eating meat.

He grew up to be the hero Itonde, who captured the heart of the Elephant Girl Mbombe.

Inkosazana – A female spirit of the Zulus who makes the maize grow.

The deity of agriculture, she is venerated in springtime.

Lissa – The Dahomey mother goddess. Mother of the Sun god Maou and the Moon god Gou. Her totem was the chameleon.

Mami Wata – A water-spirit, sometimes described as a mermaid figure,

who can found throughout the western coastal regions and into central Africa.

Mami Wata is described as having long dark hair, very fair skin and compelling eyes.

Although she may appear in dreams and visions to her devotees as a beautiful mermaid,

she is also said to walk the streets of modern African cities in the guise of a gorgeous but elusive woman.

She is interested in all things contemporary: some of her favorite offerings include sweet, imported perfumes, sunglasses and Coca-Cola.

Nonetheless, the spirit appears to be related to other water spirits (known in Igbo, a language of southeastern Nigeria, as ‘ndi mmili) who have a much longer history on the continent.

Mami Wata’s colors are red and white. Those she afflicts with visions and temptations,

and who experience her as an obsession or an illness, may wear the red of sickness and dangerous heat.

Others who have a more positive orientation towards the spirit may show their blessings by wearing white.

Most devotees wear a combination of red and white clothing.

Mami Wata is also said to have a number of avatars on earth- mortal women who have the same look as the deity and who act as her “daughters.”

Mami Wata may give wealth to her devotees, her “daughters” or to her (male) spouses, but she is never known to give fertility.

Some Igbo stories suggest that the fish under the waters are her children, and that she uses them as firewood.

Mami Wata is sometimes seen as a metaphor for modern African conditions — having the knowledge of global wealth and the desire for large-scale consumption,

but lacking the actual wealth or access to the world’s wealth that would enable Africans to participate in that system.

Mamlambo – The Zulu goddess of rivers.

Marwe – A Chaga folktale heroine.

Massassi – The maiden created for Mwuetsi, in the mythology

of the Makoni tribe of Zimbabwe. She bore to her husband grasses, bushes and trees.

Mawu – Mawu is the Creator/Moon Goddess known among the people from the Dahomey region of West Africa, the female aspect of the divinity Mawu-Lisa.

She is associated with the moon, night, fertility, motherhood, gentleness, forgiveness, rest and joy.

The cosmology of the Fon has the Earth as floating on the water, while above circle the heavenly bodies on the inner surface of a gourd.

The son of Mawu-Lisa, Da (Danh) the cosmic serpent, helps in ordering the universe; he had 3500 coils above the earth, and the same number below.

Together these coils support Mawu-Lisa’s creation. After creating the earth and all life and everything else on it,

she became concerned that it might be too heavy, so she asked the primeval serpent, Aido Hwedo, to curl up beneath the earth and hold it up in the sky.

When she asked Awe, a monkey she had also created, to help out and make some more animals out of clay,

he boasted to the other animals and challenged Mawu.

Gbadu, the first woman Mawu had created, saw all the chaos on earth and told her children to go out among the people and remind them that only Mawu can give Sekpoli – the breath of life. Gbadu instructed her daughter,

Minona, to go out among the people and teach them about the use of palm kernels as omens from Mawu.

When Awe, the arrogant monkey climbed up to the heavens to try to show Mawu that he too could give life, he failed miserably.

Mawu made him a bowl of porridge with the seed of death in it and reminded him that only she could give life and that she could also take it away.

Mbaba Mwana Waresa – A beloved goddess of the Zulu people of Southern Africa, primarily because she gave them the gift of beer.

She is the goddess of the rainbow, rain, harvest, and agriculture. The story of her search for a husband is well known, and recently appeared in a beautifully illustrated children’s book.

Mboze – Mother of the Woyo people of Zaire, and mother of Bunzi.

When her husband found out he was not the father of Bunzi, he killed Mboze.

Mebeli – In Congo, she is the mother of the race of man (given life by Massim Biambe) with god Phebele.

Moombi – She is the creator goddess of the Kikuyu who mothered nine daughters by Gikuyu.

Mujaji – The rain queen of the Lovedu people of the Transvaal.

Musso Koroni – The goddess of disorder among the Bambara of Africa and the first woman to be created. She is the daughter of the Voice of the Void, and wife of Pemba.

She planted Pemba in the soil, but disliked his thorns and so forswore the god. Now she wanders the earth, causing sadness and disorder among mankind.

Nambi – (Buganda) The first woman.

Nana-Bouclou – (Benin) Primal god of the Ewe people of the Dahomey, both male and female,

who created the twins from whom all the Voodoo gods descended.