In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
A Simbi is a Central African water and nature spirit in traditional Kongo religion, as well as in African diaspora spiritual traditions, such as Hoodoo in the southern United States and Palo in Cuba. Simbi have been historically identified as water people, or mermaids, pottery, snakes, gourds, and fire. Due to the forced removal of Bantu peoples from Africa to the Americas, the veneration of simbi exists today in countries, such as the United States, Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti.
Dreadlocks, also known as dreads or locs, are a hairstyle made of rope-like strands of hair. Dreadlocks are created by either manually twisting the hair or by allowing it to mat naturally. Over time, the hair will form tight braids or ringlets.
A mammy is a U.S. historical stereotype depicting Black women, usually enslaved, who did domestic work, among nursing children. The fictionalized mammy character is often visualized as a dark-skinned woman with a motherly personality. The origin of the mammy figure stereotype is rooted in the history of slavery in the United States, as enslaved women were often tasked with domestic and childcare work in American slave-holding households. The mammy caricature was used to create a narrative of Black women being content within the institution of slavery among domestic servitude. The mammy stereotype associates Black women with domestic roles, and it has been argued that it, alongside segregation and discrimination, limited job opportunities for Black women during the Jim Crow era.
A jengu is a water spirit in the traditional beliefs of the Sawabantu groups of Cameroon, like the Duala, Bakweri, Malimba, Subu, Bakoko, Oroko people. Among the Bakweri, the term used is liengu. Miengu are similar to bisimbi in the Bakongo spirituality and Mami Wata. The Bakoko people use the term Bisima.
In Slavic folklore, the rusalka is a female entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, it has counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melusine and the Germanic Nixie. Folklorists have proposed a variety of origins for the entity, including that they may originally stem from Slavic paganism, where they may have been seen as benevolent spirits. Rusalki appear in a variety of media in modern popular culture, particularly in Slavic language-speaking countries, where they frequently resemble the concept of the mermaid.
Rani Ki Vav is a stepwell situated in the town of Patan in Gujarat, India. It is located on the banks of the Saraswati River. Its construction is attributed to Udayamati, the spouse of the 11th-century Chaulukya king Bhima I. Silted over, it was rediscovered in the 1940s and restored in the 1980s by the Archaeological Survey of India. It has been listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India since 2014. This stepwell is designed as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water. It is divided into seven levels of stairs with sculptural panels. These panels have more than 500 principal sculptures and over 1000 minor ones combining religious, secular, and symbolic imagery.
A water spirit is a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures:
Mama D'Leau, also known as Mama Dlo and Mama Glo, is the protector and healer of all river animals, according to the folklore of islands such as Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica. She is usually depicted as a beautiful woman with long hair, who sits on upper body and arms and from her waist downwards twists into coils. Her tongue becomes forked and she holds a golden comb which she passes through her snaky hair.
West African mythology is the body of myths of the people of West Africa. It consists of tales of various deities, beings, legendary creatures, heroes and folktales from various ethnic groups. Some of these myths traveled across the Atlantic during the period of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to become part of Caribbean, African-American and Brazilian mythology.
Nala Damajanti was the stage name of a late 19th-century snake charmer who toured with P.T. Barnum's circus and performed at the famed Folies Bergère in Paris. French sources identify her as Emilie Poupon (1861–1944), born in Nantey, Jura Department, France. Promotional posters of Nala Damajanti have been widely reproduced and are thought to have inspired one of the popular folk images of the African water spirit Mami Wata. Similar acts performing under slightly variant names such as Mala Damajaute, Nata Damajaute, and Nala Damajante are thought to have been the same person.
In hip hop music, the term mami refers to an attractive Latina woman, typically of Puerto Rican or Dominican descent. There is also the emergence of the mami video vixen, who is the glamorized, hyper-sexualized version of an attractive Latina woman that is seen in rap videos. The image of mami that is the most popular in rap culture is the butta pecan mami, a term coined by Raquel Z. Rivera, which refers to a Latina woman who has light golden colored skin and "good" (European-type) hair.
Yemọja is the major water spirit from the Yoruba religion. She is the mother of all Orishas. She is also the mother of humanity. She is an orisha, in this case patron spirit of rivers, particularly the Ogun River in Nigeria, and oceans in Cuban and Brazilian orisa religions. She is often syncretized with either Our Lady of Regla in the Afro-Cuban diaspora or various other Virgin Mary figures of the Catholic Church, a practice that emerged during the era of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Yemọja is said to be motherly and strongly protective, and to care deeply for all her children, comforting them and cleansing them of sorrow. She is said to be able to cure infertility in women, and cowrie shells represent her wealth. She does not easily lose her temper, but when angered she can be quite destructive and violent, as the flood waters of turbulent rivers. Some of the priests of Yemọja believe that she used her fresh water to help Ọbàtálá in the molding of human beings out of clay.
Joseph Kossivi Ahiator is an African politician and Ghanaian artist known for his temple mural paintings in Bénin, Ghana, and Togo. He is a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a former Member of Parliament for the Ketu South Constituency in the Volta Region of Ghana.
Ato Malinda, also known as Alex Mawimbi is a multidisciplinary performance artist.
Evelyn Alcide is a Haitian drapo Vodou artist. Alcide studied under compatriot Myrlande Constant. Alcide often focuses her work on important Vodou religious figures. Her drapo are heavily beaded and have satin borders. Two of her flags depicting Lasirène were included in Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas a traveling exhibition originated at the Fowler Museum at UCLA that travelled to several venues including National Museum of African Art.
Comfa or Komfa is a folk religion in Guyana also known as Spiritualism or Faithism. The word "Comfa" is used by non-practitioners as a generic term for spirit possession in Guyana. However, the word "Comfa" is also a term to define the greater folk religion involving spirit possession originating in Guyana.
Skin of the Sea is a 2021 young adult fantasy novel by Nigerian Welsh writer Natasha Bowen. Bowen's debut novel follows Simi, a mami wata who travels across sea and land in search of the Supreme Creator after breaking a law that threatens the existence of all mami wata.
Natasha Bowen is a Nigerian-Welsh writer and teacher. She writes fantasy books for young adults. She is best known for her New York Times Bestselling novel Skin of the Sea.
Ten-Cent Daisy: A Lost Mermaid Tale is a 2021 American fantasy drama film by Lisbon Okafor. It follows three sisters who are summoned back to their home in the West Indies, but must first reconcile with each other and protect vulnerable youngest sister Daisy, who is secretly a mermaid.
