imagine a world without water at the center pre-
cisely because of the profound impact of water on
their lives and so on their worldview.
It is likely that this fundamental role of water in
the cosmology and cosmogony of Kemet was at
least a contributory factor to the Kemetyu under-
standing of pure water as a sacred substance,
a view enhanced by the mystique of fertility and
power attributed to water because of the annual
rejuvenatory role of the Nile in the agricultural
cycle and therefore in the entire society indeed.
Water from a certain part of the Nile was regarded
as pure and so the best for Libation. It is therefore
scarce wonder that the Kemetyu called water a
neter, meaning “a divinity,” and referred to the Nile
River as “the water of life.” It was also believed
that objects could be purified with water and that
water that had been poured over statues and other
sacred objects was considered to have thus been
imbued with magical and healing properties. This
idea of sanctification through running water is one
of the fundamental ideas in African spirituality.
In Kemet, water was universally recognized as
the supreme agent of both spiritual and physical
purification. The latter is a practical necessity
for proper human hygiene and therefore of
tremendous daily importance. All humans, by the
act of living, accumulate impurities: sweat, dirt,
and other pollutants obtained through work, play,
and the basic biological fact of constant respira-
tion. Therefore, everyone needs periodic physical
purification. It is a necessary part of the forever
alternating cycle of pollution and purification,
which is an intimate aspect of the human reality.
Water is fundamental for respiration; water is also
fundamental for getting rid of the pollutants built
up during respiration, work, and play. The impor-
tance of water in Kemet appears to have been fur-
ther emphasized in medicine: Water was the base of
the majority of medical remedies in Kemet, certainly
of most of those known to the modern world. The
African people in Kemet knew the tremendous
importance of water and other liquids. They recog-
nized that to drink water is a sacred act.
These understandings and beliefs, widespread
in Kemet, constitute the foundation of the great
importance of water in contemporary African
spirituality. The waters of the Niger, Senegal,
Kongo-Ubangi, and Zambezi River systems serve
the same cosmic, social, economic, and other
functions today as those of the Nile did yesterday.
Water figures prominently in the creation stories
of most contemporary African people. Examples
include the Yoruba, Dogon, Bambara, Akan, and Edo
in West Africa and the Bapedi, Venda, and other
Bantu Africans in Central, Eastern, and Southern
Africa. There is also great reverence for designated
portions of naturally occurring running water in
rain, rivers, creeks, falls, lakes, and seas. Water is
the agent for cleansing persons of physical and
spiritual impurities. Water is important to African
religion in a number of other ways.
Water divinities populate the spiritual system of
people all aver Africa and, naturally, in African
communities abroad. Such divinities abound in
West Africa. Tano or Ta Kora is a major river
divinity in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Ta Gbu is
the sea divinity of the Ga people in Ghana. Ta Tale
is the Ga female lagoon divinity. To Nu or Ta
Nu is an Egun river divinity. Otaomi is a Yoruba
river divinity. Yewa and Oshun are Yoruba female
river divinities. Yemoja (Ye.mo.nja) is the Yoruba
female sea divinity; Olokun is the male. O.ta Miri
is an important male water divinity in Igboland;
Nne Mmiri is the female, the mother of a number
of female water divinities with different names in
varying Igbo localities. Mami Water covers a
number of water divinities of both genders in
Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean.
In Brazil, Candomblé initiates worship two
female water divinities: Yemanjá (Ye.mo.nja) and
Oshun. Yemanjá is Orisha of the Sea and patroness
of fishermen. Oshun was originally a divinity of a
river of the same name in Nigeria. Today, Oshun
is the Orisha of sweet waters; she symbolizes love
and fertility. These divinities are also worshipped
in Santería and Shango in many areas of the
Western Hemisphere. In Guyana and other places,
Water Mamma or Water Mumma, the female
divinity of water, is an important divinity.
The use of water in many rituals is common all
over Africa. As in Kemet long ago, water is the
supreme agent and symbol of both physical and
spiritual cleansing and purification. A major use of
water in African spiritual practice is to rid a person
of mystical impurities that may be contracted
through breaking taboos, commitment of crime,
or contamination by evil, whether magic or curse.
When used in these ways, water transcends its
normal utility as a quencher of thirst, a physical708 Water