The Concept of Mammy Water

The Concept of Mammywater in Flora Nwapa's NovelsAuthor(s): Sabine Jell-BahlsenSource: Research in African Literatures, Vol. 26, No. 2, Flora Nwapa (Summer, 1995), pp. 30-41Published by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3820269 .Accessed: 14/06/2011 08:31

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The Concept of Mammywater in Flora Nwapa's Novels

Sabine Jell-Bahlsen

Flora Nwapa's home town Oguta, a market and an administrative center, is located on Oguta Lake in Imo State of Southeastern Nigeria.' I have spent much time there since 1978, involved in ethnographic field research focusing on women, African religion, and in particular on the ever present goddess of Oguta Lake, Uhammiri, and her women worshippers.

From my conversations with Flora Nwapa, my field research in and around Oguta, and also from reading other Nigerian novels, poems, and texts, I arrived at several conclusions:

1. Mammywater and the local goddess, Ogbuide, or Uhammiri, are identical. 2. The term "Mammywater" transcends gender. It is equally applied to male and

female water deities, and also to divine pairs. 3. There are many local water goddesses in Igboland besides Ogbuide or Uham-

miri: e.g., the river goddesses Ava and Idemmili.2 4. These water goddesses represent a universal theme of the supreme "mother

water" goddess in Igbo cosmology. According to Chinwe Achebe, the generic Igbo term for this supreme water goddess is nne mmiri, "mother water," while her pidgin English name is Mammywater, spelled in a multitude of ways (15).

5. The concept of the "mother water" goddess, Mammywater, is more than of a divinity. She also embodies and manifests important aspects of womanhood in pre-colonial Igbo culture and society. Some of these aspects are still visible today, despite the assaults of missionaries, colonial conquest, and post-colonial impoverishment (Jell-Bahlsen "Female Power"). In local beliefs, the divine woman is thought to govern fertility. In many parts

of Igboland, both men and women pray to her for children. An Ukanna woman explained in pidgin English why women come from afar to Ukanna to pray to the river goddess Ava:

This is Ava, the big water.... Some women, where they find child, they will come to this place, come stay for over three months. They go fetch that water. They drink and bath. Within three months, then comes their picin [child].... They will carry cow, bring goat and yams, and give the thing.... If they bor picin, they will come and worship the Ava. (Jell- Bahlsen Ava) In Oguta both men and women pray to the divine pair of water deities, Uham-

miri and Urashi. In pidgin English they are known as Mammywater, both individu- ally and as a divine pair. They give children.3 This is evident from the many statements and oral histories I collected during my field research in and around Oguta. For example, when a man, Aguriaboria, had four daughters, he prayed and

Sabine Jell-Bahlsen 31

made a pledge to Uhammiri. When his wife finally gave birth to a son, they offered Uhammiri a white ram. Aguriaboria told the goddess's priest at her shrine:

"Greetings to you Obiadinbugha [the priest]! Well, you see, all these things I have assembled here, because when my wife was pregnant, I came to Uhammiri and offered a chicken, and begged her that she should assist me; I pledged that if my wife delivers a male child that I should come and thank Uhammiri and offer a ram to her...." (Jell-Bahlsen and Jell Divine Earth) When the father of a newly born baby boy consulted a diviner to determine who

reincarnated his son, the diviner told him:

"Ogbuide is a beautiful lake. A woman with mighty hair on her head.4 She is also very kind.... The riches have already come out. See the Uhammiri lake is bringing you something good. She is giving you two things.... It is a gift to you from Uhammiri. It is double clear: yourfather has re-incar- nated as a son to you." (Jell-Bahlsen, "Names" 201; emphasis added)

According to Chinwe Achebe , the Igbo "mother water" goddess Nne Mmiri/ Mammywater/Idemili/Uhammiri/Ogbuide/Ava controls the entry and exit into and from this world (14-25). She is the goddess of the crossroads (Chinua Achebe "Sac- rificial Egg"). Before one is born, he or she must cross a river. There, the individual is confronted by the water goddess (Chinwe Achebe 14-25). She challenges the pact of destiny, akara aka, made between one's body, ahu, and one's soul, chi, wit- nessed by the supreme god Chi-Ukwu. One's destiny can be changed with the help of the goddess. But if the goddess helps a person to change his or her destiny on earth, e.g., to become wealthy or successful in life, rather than merely a housewife and mother, then that person must be the goddess's worshipper. If this is not recog- nized on time, or if the person so assisted by the goddess before birth later refuses her calling, then the goddess can cause madness, misfortune, or premature death, either of the individual or beloved ones (Chinwe Achebe; Jell-Bahlsen and Jell Eze Nwata).

Flora Nwapa's early novels, Efuru (1966), Idu (1970), Never Again (1975), and also her last book, The Lake Goddess (1995), are all set in Oguta. The goddess of Oguta Lake, what she stands for, and what she means especially to women is a prominent theme in all of Nwapa's novels. The goddess's husband is the river god, Urashi. In Efuru, Idu, NeverAgain, and The Lake Goddess, we read about Uhamiri6, or Ogbuide, and Urashi. In 1979, Nwapa published a children's book, entitled Mammywater. The story revolves around two children, a brother and sister from Oguta, and their encounters with the "woman of the lake" who, in this book, is called "Mammywater," her local pidgin English name.

Initially, I wondered about the different names, Mammywater and Uhamiri, used by Flora Nwapa in her different books. Moreover, I was deeply irritated by for- eign publications contrasting what they assume to be older, local water spirits and deities, on the one hand, and what they see as a "modem" figure and cult called "Mami Wata," or "Mammy Water," on the other.7 When I finally met Flora Nwapa in 1988, the question burning in my mind was: "Is the spirit described in Nwapa's children's book, Mammywater, identical with the goddess Uhamiri, about whom we read in Efuru, Idu, and Never Again? Or are these different spirits and deities?" Flora Nwapa plainly told me that these concepts and deities are one and the same goddess.

32 Research in African Literatures

Locally, the goddess of Oguta Lake is known as Uhammiri. Another name for Uhammiri is Ogbuide. The goddess has many names and titles. So do the people who worship her (Jell-Bahlsen "Names").8 In Oguta, as in other parts of Igboland, names change and are accumulated. People, places, and deities can all have more than one name, title, and identity (Mbabuike). To the outside world, the spirit is Mammywater. Internally, she is Uhammiri, or Ogbuide, the goddess of Oguta Lake. The day dedicated to the goddess is Orie day.9

Why did Flora Nwapa use the local name, Uhamiri, in one book and "Mammy- water" in another? Flora Nwapa's reply was simple. She wanted to sell her book not only in Oguta, but also in Lagos, and even abroad. People there don't know Uham- miri. But they do know the English name, Mammywater, which is understood in Europe and America as well. The Mammywater myth is known in all of Igboland and all over Nigeria. A true daughter of Oguta, Flora Nwapa also had a keen sense of business. She wanted her books to sell, be read, and known by as many people as possible, including local people, Nigerians, foreigners, men, women, and children alike. Through her books, she wanted all these people to know about the goddess and the great women of her country, their strengths, problems, beliefs, and feelings that unite them with other women the world over.

The lake goddess, Uhamiri, is an important and recurrent theme in Nwapa's novels, Efuru, Idu, Never Again, and The Lake Goddess, and in her children's book Mammywater. However, while inspired by local Oguta beliefs and lore, Nwapa also deconstructs the myth of the goddess. ' In the old days, wealth and children were considered identical. Children were more valued than money. This is expressed in the Igbo name Nwa ka ego, meaning "child is more valuable than money." In her novels, Nwapa emphazises the notion of the goddess's power to give money (Efuru 192), but rejects the idea that the goddess gives children (203,208, 281). Instead of merging wealth and children, Nwapa separates these issues. She even suggests that Mammywater, albeit wealthy and beautiful, takes children away (Mammywater), is herself barren, and therefore unable to give children to humans (Efuru 208, 281). These assumptions starkly contrast local beliefs and ideology, where the water goddess is neither childless, nor forbids or destroys children. Moreover, while the divine pair, Uhammiri and Urashi, is ideally conceived of as balanced and comple- mentary, Nwapa's lake goddess always quarrels with her husband, and the pair is not on good terms (Efuru 156, Mammywater). The goddess is Nwapa's source of inspiration. However, Nwapa also re-constructs the myth of the idealized divine woman and voices her own concerns and ideals of womanhood. In many respects, Nwapa's heroine is an ideal woman, but she also has serious flaws that contradict customary ideals and norms.

The water goddess is as elusive and slippery as the liquid element itself and can assume any shape or "gestalt." She is kaleidoscopic, sparkling, and colorful like the rainbow." Like the Igbo supreme God, Chi-ukwu, the water goddess is not to be confined to one icon. She is a spirit that may temporarily take on a human form and appear in the form of a local woman or a stranger, old or young. We may catch a glimpse of Uhammiri in Oguta's market where she is always present. In Mammy- water, during his underwater exploration, the little boy, Deke, converses with Mammywater:

"Do you often go away from here?" "Yes, I go out every market day to buy things."


"But I have never seen you in the market." "No children don't see me. Only adults do. Your mother sees me every market day." (27)

Held every four days, Oguta's market is dominated by women. Both women and men dream of the goddess Uhammiri, whispering her name. They sing her praises and dance for her. They dedicate themselves to the goddess on Orie, her sacred day. They do not eat or kill her favorite animals, the aquatic tortoise (Nwapa, Idu 180-82), the crocodile, or the python.'2

Furthermore, woman, as the goddess's daughter, is at once her embodiment and her worshipper. The attributes of the goddess and her worshipper mix. Their qualities are interchangeable. The notion of Uhammiri merges with that of the woman as goddess. The divine woman is at once mysterious and awesome. A truly unusual Oguta woman, she is fired by divine inspiration, and is the focus of Nwa- pa's novels. Efuru, Idu, Kate, Amaka, Dora, Rose, and Agnes are remarkable women. Each one is beautiful, has thick hair, is charming, and is admired by all. A strong, self-willed, and independent character, she does not always conform to the norms. This woman may have only one child, as Efuru and Idu, or twins,'3 as Amaka. She is a distinguished and powerful woman who is mobile, travels and trades, is enterprising and successful. She is self-confident, fearless, even bold, and her business flourishes. This woman attracts men, women, and children. People love her; some are envious. The good woman easily adapts herself to different peo- ples and situations, is gentle and nurturing. The woman is loving and caring, warm and honest. She is smart but generous, and she attracts money. Doing well, she always copes when life plays tricks on her, and she meets difficulties, even tragedy. She is confronted with antagonistic circumstances, inferior men, matrimonial and marital problems, jealousy, and hardship. Efuru loses not only her husband but also her only child. The woman suffers, but persists. The goddess is always with her. She consoles, compensates and encourages her. Mammywater and the woman blend, as the goddess is the embodiment of womanhood, a beautiful daughter, a mother, a sister, a lover, and a friend. Like the goddess, woman is mysterious, sought for children, and gives riches. Admired and feared, the goddess is kind, but also demanding and awesome. The goddess can cause madness and destroy those who do not meet their vows (Chinwe Achebe; Jell-Bahlsen Mammy Water; Jell-Bahlsen and Jell Eze Nwata). Some fear that Uhammiri takes away children, but others believe that she helps those who cannot conceive (Jell-Bahlsen and Jell Divine Earth; Jell-Bahlsen "Names"). The goddess compensates for losses and infuses women with power. She encourages, inspires, and is medicine, for she heals. The women of Oguta who worship Ogbuide sing this song to praise her14:

Iyanuma, lyanuma Iya-numa, Iya-numa My mother, Iyanuma Nne mu, Iya-numa Iyanuma is medicine, Iya-numa na obuogwu, lyanuma Iya-numa Ogbuide water mother Iya-numa Ogbuide

anwani, Iya-numa It is medicine, lyanuma Iya-numa na obu ogwu My royal husband, Aku Obi, come Eze di mu, Aku obi bia Ogbuide resembles Iyi Anwani Ogbuide yini Iyi

Anwani


Everybody says it is wonderful Obuna na odi egwu Water is wonderful and awesome Mmiri di egwu, di mu

ujo Iya-numa Iya-numa... Aku Obi, it is a Aku obi na obu ije,

journey Iya-numa Iya-numa na obu ogwu

Iya-numa it is medicine Iya-numa na obu ogwu Iya-numa it is wealth (money) Iya-numa na obu ego

Distinguished woman Odogwu nwanyi Ogbuide the water monarch Ogbuide, eze iyi It has reached all of Igbo land Ogara Igbo onu You feed the poor Okpara umu mgberyi Woman of thick hair Nwanyi ishi ajakaja The goddess herself is respectfully greeted: "Eze Mmiri di Egwu!" that is, "The

Queen of the Water / Water Monarch is great / awesome!" Her priestesses are greeted and addressed the same way. Her worshippers shout: "Miri di ewu!" that is, "Water is great / power!" The goddess's esoteric power can extend to the profane world. In Never Again, we read about her power to beat an invading army, a belief maintained up till this day by local people claiming that the goddess drowned the enemy's gunboat during the Biafran civil war (Jell-Bahlsen Mammy Water).'5

Customary life in Oguta is based on Omenala, the ancestral rules of the land, the laws of the earth goddess, Anil Ala, and of the water goddess, Uhammiri. The lake goddess's rules are especially important to women,16 who uphold the goddess's sacred demands. In return, the goddess endows women with greatness and wealth. A diviner tells Efuru and her father:

You are a great woman. Nwashike Ogene, your daughter is a great woman. The goddess of the lake has chosen her to be one of her worshippers. It is a great honour. She is going to protect you and shower riches on you. But you must keep her laws. Look around this town, nearly all the storey build- ings you find are built by women who one time or another have been worshippers of Uhamiri. Many of them had dreams similar to yours.... Uhamiri is a great woman. She is our goddess and above all she is very kind to women. If you are to worship her you must keep her taboos. Orie day is her great day. (192; emphasis added)

All of the central characters in Nwapa's novels-Efuru, Idu, Amaka, Kate, Dora, Rose, and Agnes-are women guided and influenced by the water goddess. This association stands for a divine and superhuman notion of womanhood expressed in several ways. Despite their different individual life histories, Nwapa's heroines, besides being successful in their careers, have several characteristics in common. Each is an extraordinary and, to some degree, non-conformist woman. Although generally abiding by the norms set by local custom, this woman also transcends the norms. Amaka has twins whom she keeps and adores. Traditionally this was an offense against Igbo custom (Uchendu), but even by moder standards Amaka is bold, because the man who fathered her children is a Roman Catholic priest. Efuru challenges society's norms in subtle ways, as she prefers romantic love to arranged


marriage and elopes with her lover, neglects her father's advice and family inquiries,'7 and marries a man who later turns out as worthless and irresponsible a man as his own father. Efuru suffers just as her mother-in-law did in her own day. Although Efuru reconciles with her father and makes sure the bride price is paid, her first marriage ends in disaster. When she marries again, the relationship with her second husband is unusually close, so governed by love that people gossip behind her back. Ajanupu, Efuru's aunt-in-law, a wise and highly respected woman, tells her, "It is only a bad woman who wants to have a man all to herself" (75). In a society where everything is supposed to be balanced and moderate and where the individual must forever be loyal to his or her own natal kingroup, too much open affection between husband and wife is not the norm.'8

The heroine is superior to men and dominates her spouse. Her husband cannot live up to her love, goodness, warmth, kindness, and industriousness. Efuru far sur- passes her first husband, Adiewere, in business skills and success. Compared to her, he is a ne'er do well. He proves unworthy of her, as he deserts Efuru for another woman. Again, it is Ajanupu, Efuru's aunt-in-law, who comments, "Men are such queer people. They are so weak that wheneverthey are under the thumb of a woman, she does whatever she likes with them" (85). Efuru's second husband is equally weak in character. When he listens to gossip and accuses Efuru of adultery, despite her loyalty, she refuses to take this insult and leaves him after proving her innocence.

She has a problem with conceiving/bearing/keeping children and is missing the most essential: having many/male children. Contrary to society's norms and expectations, and against her own wishes and needs, the heroine in Efuru, Idu, and One Is Enough does not have many children. She cannot help it, as this is beyond her control. She is physically unable to live up to society's expectations to produce many children or male offsprings that would perpetuate her husband's lineage. Her maternal condition exasperates her marital problems. She may be barren, or she has only one daughter, or all of her children die. Idu, Amaka, and Efuru lose their husbands. Efuru loses not only her husband, but also her only daughter. It is then that she begins to dream of the goddess of the lake, a sign of her religious calling. As her worshipper, she establishes her shrine in her bedroom and keeps the goddess's sacred day holy. Because of her devotion to the goddess, she abstains from sexual relations with her second husband every fourth day (207), thus reducing her chances of conception.

There is a basic contradiction in the mythical image of the water goddess herself: on the one hand, the goddess is thought to give children and is associated with thick hair, a sign of fertility; on the other hand, the goddess's requirement of absti- nence reduces the worshippers' chances of pregnancy. This basic ambiguity is expressed in both the local myth and in Nwapa's own ambivalence about the goddess.

How do losses of children or childlessness relate to the water goddess and her worship? When Efuru becomes a worshipper of Uhammiri, some women gossip behind her back:

Do I hear that she now has Uhamiri in her bedroom?,'9 Omirima sneered. That's what I hear. She and her husband plunged into it. I was not consulted.


She has spoilt everything. This is bad. How many women in this town who worship Uhamiri have children? Answer me, Amede, how many?... [Y]our daughter in law must be a foolish woman to go into that. (203)

Incidentally, Omirima, the woman who condemns Efuru for worshipping Uham- miri, is the same woman who later accuses Efuru of adultery and thereby destroys her second marriage. After the death of her child, this marriage was Efuru's last and only acceptable chance to conceive again. Moreover, the woman accuses Efuru of something she did not do. By implication, Omirima also wrongfully accuses the goddess of causing childlessness, or of killing children.

Flora Nwapa herself appears ambivalent about these charges and about the goddess's powers. Omirima comes across as an envious, grouchy, and mischievous character who is not highly regarded in her community. Nevertheless, Flora Nwapa ends Efuru with a powerful, provocative, and confusing statement about the goddess and childlessness:

Efuru slept soundly that night. She dreamt of the woman of the lake, her beauty, her long hair and her riches. She had lived for ages at the bottom of the lake. She was as old as the lake itself. She was happy, she was wealthy. She was beautiful. She gave women beauty and wealth but she had no child. She had never experienced the joy of motherhood. Why then did the women worship her? (281)

Does this imply that the goddess takes children away? Do women have to sacrifice the joys of motherhood in order to become followers of the goddess and achieve success and wealth? Could women without children live just as happily as mothers? Efuru begins dreaming of the goddess and becomes her worshipper after losing her only child, as is commonplace in Oguta with women who are similarly bereaved. Clearly, the goddess compensates women for their losses, as they turn to her for consolation.

But do women have to give up their children in order to follow the goddess? Does she request women to forfeit the joys of motherhood for other rewards? Flora Nwapa did not answer these questions. She said she did not know why she ended Efuru with these words.20 However, she has introduced a puzzle. Do her characters also express Nwapa's personal fears and wishes? She remarked that it is generally not easy for women of all places to combine the raising of small children with a successful business or career.2 In Efuru we witness the heroine's need and struggle for child care as well as the distracting presence of her aunt-in-law's children who keep their mother from concentrating on important conversations (39-41; 99-102).

Igbo men and women are expected to have children, particularly male children. In Oguta, a man's inability to procreate may drive him into suicide, as Amarajeme in Idu (143-50). A barren woman is pitied and regarded as a failure, as is Efuru in her second marriage (207) and Idu in the early stage of her marriage. As Oguta kinship is patrilineal,22 relatives of the husband of a barren wife or a woman who has only daughters or whose children have died encourage and expect the man to marry an additional wife, to ensure that his lineage continues. His wife would normally encourage him, because she too wants his line to continue.23 A childless woman is not directly ostracized. However, she is not appreciated as much as a mother is, since children are a person's life insurance and the focus of one's life. Above all, children are the greatest source of joy and, potentially, also of sorrow. As one


woman puts it inldu: "What we are all praying for is children. What else do we want if we have children?" (150)

The water deities, Uhammiri and Urashi/Mammywater, are both life-giving, nourishing, and destructive.24 They can cause the loss of one's senses, of one's own life and that of beloved ones. The water goddess can give children, but she may also deprive an ungrateful person, one who refuses or ignores her calling despite prena- tal dedication (Chinwe Achebe; Jell-Bahlsen and Jell Eze Nwata).

Flora Nwapa knew that ultimately all humans are Uhammiri's children, for she wrote: "Uhamiri, the most beautiful woman, your children have arrived safely, we are grateful to you" (Efuru 156). But then, she immediately introduces doubts, as this greeting offered by travellers is exclaimed in the wrong place, on the river Ura- shi, Uhammiri's husband with whom the goddess is not on friendly terms (156-57). Nwapa's ambivalence towards the goddess is clear when Efuru says: "She cannot give me children, because she has not got children herself' (208).

Was Flora Nwapa unaware that both Oguta men and women pray to the goddess of the lake, Uhammiri, and to Urashi and beg them for children? This is unlikely, as Nwapa must have known that the divine pair is locally venerated as a source of both children and wealth. However, contrary to the rural townsfolk, Nwapa differentiates between wealth and children by acknowledging their beliefs in the goddess's power to give wealth, while at the same time questioning her powers to give children. A highly educated Christian from a wealthy family, Nwapa may have purposely overlooked certain aspects of local religious beliefs and prac- tices. She was herself critically aware of the churches' undermining of local knowl- edge, customs, beliefs, and ethics, as she writes:

[Efuru] hadn't seen the man for years because his parents decided to send him to school when he was over sixteen years old. So he could not join his age-group to dance and to have their parties, because the Christians frowned at such associations. The church regarded it as pagan to continue dancing with your age-group when you were in school. When yourparents sent you to school, you automatically became a Christian. (103; emphasis added)

One woman in Efuru puts it bluntly: "But these church-goers have spoilt everything. They tell us our gods have no power, so our people continue to steal" (223).

Because of her high social standing, her high level of education, and her Church membership, Nwapa did not officially subscribe to the religious belief in the goddess.25 As a result, she excluded herself from certain parts of her own society, particularly from the religious activities of the Oru women who, even today, worship Uhammiri.26 However, despite her church membership, Nwapa disassociated herself from the accusations and defamations made against the goddess and her worshipers by fanatic church members.27 Nwapa's Western education may be a part of her ambivalent attitude towards Uhammiri, the goddess. In addition, she was aware and familiar with local beliefs and ambiguities. Nwapa was loved and respected by her people. She herself loved not only her people but also their goddess. This is one reason that the lake goddess, Uhammiri, or Mammywater, and the type of woman who embodies and who worships her feature so prominently in Nwapa's novels. She knew the anxieties of her fellow Oguta women, their greatest fear to die childless, and their obsession with children. She also knew of the many emotional conflicts that childraising and infant mortality can create. Children may


interfere with a woman's business activities and threaten her financial indepen- dence, her success, and her career. Since with patrilineality children always belong to their father's lineage, a woman who leaves her husband must leave her children behind. Although loved and desired, children can trap a mother in an unhappy marriage. Despite, or because of, a mother's love, a difficult marriage can create an ambiguous attitude towards one's children, and by extension towards the goddess who grants children. Mammywater herself tells her husband, Urashi:

I told this boy's mother that her husband had let me down and I must take her daughter, Urashi the great one. She wept and wept. Women, how they love children. But I had to do it to save my people from a certain death. (42)

Flora Nwapa knew that for some women the only way out means leaving their children behind and turning to the goddess for consolation. When she wrote-contrary to local beliefs-that the goddess neither has nor gives children, Nwapa may have been expressing more than her own ambivalence towards this deity. She knew the local Oguta belief that people are the goddess'children, and that the lake goddess has the power to both give and take children and life. Flora Nwapa died too soon. As we are still mourning her premature death, we can only speculate on why she chose to focus on the goddess's abilty to compensate women for their suffering, and why she emphazised one particular aspect of Mammywater/Ogbuide/Uhammiri over others.

NOTES

1. Oguta is a town in Imo State of Southeastern Nigeria. The people of Oguta, Orsu-Obodo, Nkwesi, Mgbelle, and some smaller towns are the Oru Igbo. Together with Onitsha and Omoko, the Oru are known as riverine Igbo. Igbo is a language spoken by a nation/ people/ethnic group of about 20 million, the Igbo. During the Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s, this part of Nigeria was known as Biafra. During the early times of European trading companies and also during the colonial period, Oguta prospered, as it became an important trading center for palm oil, especially for John Holt. The Oru Igbo trace their ancestry to Benin, saying that they migrated to their present location approximately 10 generations ago. The Oru speak a distinctive dialect of Igbo; they share important cultural traits with the Igbo, while also distinguishing themselves from other Igbo sub-groups.

2. The goddess Idemilli features prominently in Chinua Achebe's novels. 3. Both water deities, Uhammiri and Urashi, give children and both are called "Mammy-

water" in pidgin English. I am focusing on Uhammiri here because of the goddess' prom- inence in Nwapa's novels.

4. Long, strong hair is associated with growth, female fertility, and the power to give children.

5. This theme is prevalent in oral histories from Oguta and also in Nigerian novels and poems set within the Igbo cultural frame of reference. See Amadi; Akwanya; Okigbo.

6. There are different Igbo spellings for the goddess' names. Locally, she is known as Uhammiri, containing "uha" and "mmiri" 'water.' This is the spelling I am using today, while Nwapa spelled "Uhamiri" with one "m," in 1966. This may be on purpose to differ- entiate her notion of the lake goddess from customary beliefs. It may also be an older


spelling that does not account for the phonetics as much as "Uhammiri" does with its "mm." A similar contrast is found in the different spellings for the language/ethnic group: e.g., "Igbo" by Uchendu and "Ibo" in the older colonial literature.

7. See, for example, Salmons; Jenkins; Paxon; Drewal; Fabian; Ogrizek; Wendl and Wiese; and Wintrob. In my view, these interpretations are Eurocentric because they are focusing on explanations and origins of Mammywater outside of Africa, rather than examining her centrality, origins, and meaning within the African context, particularly for women.

8. The goddess' local names are Uhammiri or Ogbuide. Her title and proper form of address is Eze Mmiri (water monarch/qUeen), or Eze Nwanyi (Queen), or Eze Mmiri di egwu, that is "The awesome water monarch! "Her husband, the river god Urashi, also has many names. His most poular local name is Urashi. But he is also known as Okodi. His title and proper form of address is Eze Ugo (king crowned with an eagle feather). In Efuru, Nwapa largely refers to this river god as Okodi. In Mammywater, he is Urashi. See also Jell-Bahlsen "Names and Naming" and Jell-Bahlsen and Jell Eze-Nwata.

9. The Igbo market week consists of four days: Nkwo, Eke, Orie, and Afo. Different towns hold their markets on different market days. All local deities have special days that are sacred to them.

10. This de-construction may be one of the reasons that Nwapa spells the goddess's name "Uhamiri" rather than "Uhammiri" as in contemporary local usage.

11. According to Twins Seven Seven, the same concept of the water goddess exists in Yor- uba. There, she also has many local names, and in addition is known as "The Rainbow Goddess," a title given to one of Twins' paintings (Personal communication 1984).

12. The python is believed sacred in many parts of Igboland and beyond, in many parts of West Africa. If accidentally killed, the python must be buried like a human being. The python is a manifestation of the supreme god, Chi-Ukwu, and also of the water deities. In one of its forms, the zig-zag line, the python represents the divine power of creation, pro- creation, and the dualism of male and female. In another form, the circle, the python sym- bolizes death, rebirth, and the eternal cycle of time. The python can also act as a messenger of deities. According to one Oguta myth, a man who had killed the river goddess Abia's favorite animal, the crocodile, in her sacred grove, was instantly killed by a python, for in Oguta the crocodile is another sacred animal that must not be killed or eaten. As in many other parts of West Africa, it is asociated with female fertility. See also Achebe Anthills and Things FallApart; Parrinder; and Jell-Bahlsen "Social Integration."

13. In pre-Christian times, people were not supposed to give birth to twins, because in Igbo cosmology twins births belong to the animal world. Twins were abandoned and left to die and even women who frequently gave birth to twins were punished because they had offended omenala, that is, custom, or the laws of the earth goddess, Ani/Ala (Uchendu).

14. I recorded this song at the house of the Eze Mmiri, Ogbuefi, the priestess of Ogbuide/ Uhammiri and Urashi, in Orsu-Obodo, Oguta II, on Orie day 15 Oct. 1988. Translation: Francis Ebiri and Augustine Onowu.

15. In my documentary film, Mammy Water, an elderly woman from Oguta speaks about the goddess's drowning of a gunboat on camera (Jell-Bahlsen Mammy Water). A similar story is told in the Yoruba town of Oshogbo. There it is said that the river goddess Oshun stopped the Islamic invasion, during the 19th-century Jihad.

16. There are both female and male priests and priestesses as well as worshipers of the goddess Uhammiri and her husband the river god, Urashi. However, it appears that far more women than men are involved in the worship of the water deities. See also Jell-Bahlsen's film Mammy Water and "Female Power."

17. In Oguta, arranging a marriage involves in-depth inquiries by both families of the pro- spective couple. They inquire into their future in-law's family to find out if there is madness or certain other diseases in the family, if they are criminals, have flaws of character, or have sold off family members into slavery, to learn their status, etc. Some of these traits are believed to be hereditary. Because marriages involve notjust a couple but rather


two entire kindreds and mutual rights and obligations, the goal is to make sure the part- ners are responsible in order to avoid future marital problems with potentially negative consequences for a large number of people.

18. Too much love is regarded as unusual. In this respect, Idu is as unusual as Efuru. They both are so close to their respective husbands that they seem to control them. Idu so entan- gles and ties up her husband that he is glad to see his junior wife leave, even before he finds out about Idu's pregnancy.

19. Worshipers of Uhammiri place a clay pot with water from the lake in their room as a shrine. The priestesses also keep pots for those who cannot do this because they live in the city or abroad. See also Jell-Bahlsen Mammy Water.

20. Personal communication/interview 11 Apr. 1988. Also in a talk followed by a question and answer session at Rutgers University in 1992.

21. Personal communication/interview 11 Apr. 1988. 22. In a patrilinear or patrilineal society, kinship is primarily traced in the male line. In

Oguta, every individual belongs to a group of people, the Umunna. This group defines itself through common descendance from one ancestor/father. He may have lived ten generations ago, but all group members, both men and women, are related to this man in the paternal line. See also Uchendu and Jell-Bahlsen "Social Integration."

23. Both Efuru and Idu not only encourage their husbands to get additional wives, they also take an active part in finding and choosing a junior co-wife for him. Until recently, this was a common practice in most of Igboland. See also Amadiume and Jell-Bahlsen "Female Power."

24. This belief is echoed in similarly ambivalent ideas about water spirits described by Horton among the Kalabari.

25. Personal communication, New York, 1992. 26. Personal communication with Flora Nwapa during her visit to New York, in October

1992. This is the more surprising, as her husband built a public temple for Urashi at his shrine in his sacred grove on the river bank, in acknowledgement and appreciation of his help, while a man from Omoko recently built a public temple for Uhammiri in her sacred grove at the lake shore. See also Jell-Bahlsen Mammy Water, where we see the two modem temples, and an elderly ferrywoman tells us on camera that "a man from Okoko built a house for her [Uhammiri]."

27. The attacks and accusations by fanatic church groups and educators against the water deities, particularly against the water goddesses inspire fear and terror especially in children. As a result, a reported sighting of Mammywater caused a stampede among Enugu school children in which five students were trampeled to death in 1987. In a more physi- cal attack, the shrine sculptures of the water goddess Ava were beheaded by fanatic church members (Jell-Bahlsen Ava). There are some indications that these types of attacks and bad-mouthing are predominantly directed against female deities and priestesses.

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Documents

The Concept of Mammy Water