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Meet the African goddess

Published:Monday | May 10, 2010 | 12:00 AM
D-Empress

May brings us Africa Month, a time to focus and reflect on Africa's development, achievements and growth opportunities. This year marks 46 years after Africa Day - May 25 - was proclaimed by the founding fathers at the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union) as a public holiday created to celebrate liberation from colonial powers.

Now, we know the founding fathers had founding partners next to them, not to mention ancestral mothers who also planted seeds and created fertile ground for the expression of freedom.

From where I sit, women in the African diaspora have a rich history of accomplishments to note. There is much to inspire us. From the celebrated Harriet Tubman, Yaa Asantewaa and other notable women in our rich history, I see Africa Month as a time where we can reflect from a deeper dimension.

Let's look back to 46 years ago, 460 years ago and how about 4,600 years ago. Which women would we find? Probably those who existed in folklore, mythology - characters who existed in the imagination, vividly kept alive through storytelling, ritual ceremonies and carvings.

There are many beautiful goddess figures in various cultures across the world. We know and hear so often about the much-touted Venus and Aphrodite. Hush! Enter the African goddess figures. Some were real-life queens - take the Queen of Sheba of Kush, Modjadji, the Rain Queen of South Africa (still reigning today) and many more.

Many others are mythical creations of indigenous tradition such as the Yoruba goddess Oshun - goddess of beauty, fertility and prosperity, Isis of Egypt and Muso Koroni of Mali.

The African goddesses are ancient, powerful and still live on today in many cultures from Africa and the African diaspora triangle. Goddess Oshun is celebrated in an annual festive pilgrimage in Nigeria, at the river Oshun in the south-western town of Oshogbo in August.

For a week, Oshun devotees, men, women and children bring gifts, bathe in her nourishing waters and pay homage to her for a prosperous life.

Through the middle passage, Oshun's strength and power lives on in present day as similar ritual celebrations are held in her honour in Brazil, Haiti and other Caribbean islands.

So where does the African goddess stand in our minds as we reflect on the meaning of Africa Month in 2010? The impact of colonial experiences in some countries across Africa and the diaspora minimised if not deleted African mythical deities, naming them as pagan and heathen practices.

Traditional rites

I sat with a sister, Bibi from Cameroon, last week as she lamented the fact that her father refused to allow his daughters to go through traditional rites of passage to womanhood because of his Christian beliefs. Now nearly 50, Bibi is contemplating going back to her village of origin, to undertake the rites of passage. She believes it is never too late to receive the goddess wisdom, which is taught and nurtured by the female elders, the matriarchs.

So, as we reflect on 46 years of liberation from colonial power and its longer-lasting bedfellow, influence, how about decolonising our minds and embracing the goddess within?

The African goddesses are a power-source that lives on, in spirit, mind and body. They live through story, tradition and in contemporary spaces, through our daily devotion to expressing that which lies deeply within us - our innate goddess nature.

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