This Deity Transcends Folklore To Reflect Spirit
She lives in deep, black river waters. Her rumbling laughter can incite both joy or fear depending on how you’ve treated her. Like us, she too is a child of God. And she’s ready to help us drown out anti-Blackness for good. Like a river after a storm, it’s time to rise up.
They prayed to her whenever they raised their sails to ensure safe passage in her waters. They expressed gratitude each evening they returned home.
Looking out at Senegal’s black river waters, they remembered that they were at her mercy. But because they honored her, she always guided them home.
Mame Coumba Bang is a Senegalese river spirit. Historically, Senegalese fishermen paid homage to her, asking her for safe passage.
Now they ask for something else.
With the fishing market being so competitive, anti-Black capitalist corporations are hoarding fish from Senegalese waters. Distraught, fishermen are turning to Mame Coumba Bang.
Now they pray for both their safety and an abundance of fish. And Mame will do what she can to answer their call.
Often traditional African spirit guides are presented as folklore. Part of this is because anti-Blackness has programmed us to believe in the written text versus oral history.
But stories about spirits like Mame Coumba Bang aren’t just stories. They’re proof our ancestors had spiritual guidance long before Western influences colonized and enslaved them.
We can be children of God and work with traditional spirits. God is merely the universal higher power, who goes by many names, who created ALL spirit guides.
Like the Senegalese fishermen, we can work with traditional spirit guides as we fuel our spiritual resistance against anti-Blackness.
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