Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa - Nwando Achebe Ohio Short Histories of Africa

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is believed to be the daughter of fireflies and guardian against crocodile attacks. Her presence is invoked by the sacrifice of a goat. Among the Dinka of the Sudan, buk is known as abuk or acol. Abuk or acol is a patron goddess of Dinka women as well as gardens. Her emblems are a small snake, the moon, and sheep.29

      In the western part of the continent, the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria worship a river and fertility goddess called oshun. She lives in a shrine in Oshogbo, Yorubaland, under which the Oshun River runs.30 Oshun controls the Oshun River, which gives fertility to barren women who bathe in its water and pray to her. The goddess is celebrated annually in a nine-day festival.31 In neighboring Benin, among the Fon, the goddess most closely identified with motherhood and childbearing is minona or fa. She exists in a paradoxical space: on the one hand, she is constructed as a goddess of mothering, birth, and nurturance; on the other hand, she is constructed as a goddess of witchcraft and death.32 In her latter role, she is the patron goddess of witches, to whom she gives power.33

      Among the Baga people of Guinea, nimba is the goddess of fertility, mother of the earth, and protector of pregnant women. She is the most important deity of the Baga.34 Nimba is represented by a mask, which is also called d’mba.35 She is powerful and beautiful and presides over all agricultural ceremonies. Nimba represents the joy of living. She is the promise of an abundant harvest. Nimba’s presence is exemplified in all aspects of Baga life. She is present at weddings and showers and blesses new unions. She is present at harvest time to celebrate the fertility of crops. She is also present at funerals to usher the dead into the world of the ancestors.36

      On the southern tip of the continent reigns mbaba mwana waresa, a Zulu goddess of the harvest, rain, and agriculture. She governs storm clouds, lightning, and thunder. The Zulus attribute the invention of beer to her. She also reigns over rainbows, which are a symbol of the connection between heaven and earth. The Zulu call on mbaba mwana waresa when they want guidance in making important decisions.37 South Africa’s neighbor, Zimbabwe, has a goddess called dzivaguru. She is the earth goddess of the Korekore people. A powerful deity who ruled both heaven and earth, she is the oldest of all Korekore deities, and the goddess of great wealth and medicinal power. She is depicted wearing goatskins and bearing many medicinal substances. Her sacred creatures are golden sunbirds.38

      All these African goddesses, to varying degrees, served centrally important leadership roles in their societies. Their counsel was sought in everyday life, and they acted to enforce morality and build cooperation among societal groups. Most goddesses were highly complex and influential forces with particular functions, like protection and fertility, and met the needs of the peoples who worshiped them. As supernatural and authoritative forces, these goddesses influenced human life and reflected the values and traditions of their societies. They manifested their supernatural power to provide meaning, order, and ethics. In short, they were influential and authoritative leaders in the African spiritual political constituency.

       Great God’s Helpers: Oracles

      Oracles are forces that predict the future and explain the past. They also, through their priests and priestesses, adjudicate and settle cases, and take care of other societal needs. In Arochukwu, eastern Nigeria, existed an all-powerful female oracle called ibiniukpabi (in Ibibio, “Drum of the Creator God”). She was known to the British as the Long Juju. The oracle originally belonged to the Ibibio and Efik peoples of the neighboring region. However, in the sixteenth century, the Aro seized control of the oracle, transforming it into a dreaded and powerful institution, whose power, authority, and influence were felt all over Igboland and beyond.

      One of the reasons for ibiniukpabi’s success was the fact that the new Aro custodians of the oracle were careful not to pit ibiniukpabi against the most powerful of all Igbo deities, ani, the earth goddess and creator of law or omenani (that which the goddess ani decrees to be right or wrong). Being a female oracle, ibiniukpabi’s mouthpieces were men, who served her ably as priests. Ibiniukpabi served as the supreme court of the Aro people. She heard and settled cases, particularly murder, witchcraft, poisoning, and family cases. Her pronouncements were final. Offenders received their judgment by walking into ibiniukpabi’s tunnel, otherwise known as the “tunnel of disappearance.” If the accused was guilty, he or she would never be seen again. The offender would be “eaten up” by the “Red River,” which would turn red as an indication to the offender’s family that the said offender had been found guilty and ibiniukpabi had “eaten” him or her.

      However, ibiniukpabi’s priests became corrupted during the height of the transatlantic slave trade, and would, instead of carrying out her decrees, clandestinely redirect offenders to be carried away into slave networks.39

       Great God’s Helpers: Female Medicines

      Medicines can be private or public, protective or aggressive. They can also be manipulated by the diviners and priests who prepare them for the community. Some medicines are believed to derive their power from God. They are also believed to be able to act from a distance without direct contact. These medicines range from personal amulets or crossroad medicines to great, powerful shrine-type medicines that enjoy widespread high reputation.

      The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade had a transformative effect on indigenous societies of western Africa. In fact, internal “slavery” continued unabated for many years, thus shepherding in a period of great instability in the West African interior. Even after the so-called destruction of ibiniukpabi between November 1901 and March 1903, Aro slave activity soared in the Igbo interior, wreaking incalculable havoc and destruction on the communities the Aro confronted.

      In the mid- to late nineteenth century in the northern Igbo town of Alor-Uno, a great medicine, adoro, emerged in response to the incessant slave-raiding activities of the Aro and Nike. The people of Alor-Uno desired protection, a worthy protector from their neighbors’ slave raiding. Thus, the community pooled its resources and engaged the services of the most powerful medicine-making family in the region. The medicine makers concocted a powerful protective female medicine called adoro, meaning ka fa donata (may they return), to both safeguard Alor-Uno’s citizens from further devastation and appeal to the exiled Alor-Uno populace “to return home.” And protect them she did. With adoro in place, no longer were the people of Alor-Uno cowed by the action of their enemy slavers. The Alor-Uno people were therefore able to remain in their present place.

      In the course of her life, Alor-Uno people would elevate adoro from a medicine, which was merely venerated, to a universally respected and worshipped female deity who married wives in a process called igo mma ogo (becoming the in-law of a deity), therefore fulfilling the “birthing” responsibilities of the mother goddess. In fact, adoro remains one of the most powerful expressions of female religious and political power in Igboland. She is believed to be so powerful that as many as five male attamas (priests) are needed to minister to her, one in each of the Alor-Uno villages. The most senior attama serves as the onyishi (head) of all the attamas.40

       Female Spiritual Monarchs: The Lovedu Rain Queens

      Droughts are common in southern Africa and are a threat to the well-being of the nations of the region. Thus, Sotho-speaking people routinely practice rain rituals that are directed to the ancestors of their past rulers, asking that they intercede on their behalf. The Lovedu believe that if these rain rituals are not performed drought will occur.

      Rain is essential for survival in the arid area the Lovedu inhabit. It is necessary for drinking water and subsistence farming. The Lovedu rain queen (modjadji) is the only one endowed with the power and authority to perform rituals and evoke the necessary medicine to bring forth rain. Rain queens also have the power to control and transform clouds into rain. They are therefore referred to as khifidola-maru-a-daja (transformer of clouds). Their power and authority also allow them to send rainstorms and hurricanes; and withhold rain from Lovedu enemies.

      The rainmaking ceremony is one of most important rituals of the Lovedu. The ceremony is held annually at the beginning of the rainy or wet season.

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