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omnipoetics:copenhagen_p.115 [2025/02/12 20:17] – [Background on Author] mahrukhomnipoetics:copenhagen_p.115 [2025/04/24 00:49] (current) – holly
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 +<WRAP center round info 60%>
 +//The Serpent and the Fire// (p. 115) \\
 +</WRAP>
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 ====== Copenhagen ====== ====== Copenhagen ======
 Written by: Trefossa Written by: Trefossa
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 Watramama became a type of dance that the enslaved would perform, despite it being prohibited by their owners. Colonists used the word to stand for an ideal in which they were able to physically enslave the Africans, but that they would never be able to enslave their minds.  Watramama became a type of dance that the enslaved would perform, despite it being prohibited by their owners. Colonists used the word to stand for an ideal in which they were able to physically enslave the Africans, but that they would never be able to enslave their minds. 
 It is also, very likely that Watramama and the cult-like following she'd gathered were starting to form a socio-religious culture referred to as the Winti. For more information about Watramama click [[https://https://www.academia.edu/45092596/The_Ever_changing_Face_of_Watramama_in_Suriname_A_Water_Goddess_in_Creolization_Since_the_Seventeenth_Century|here]]. It is also, very likely that Watramama and the cult-like following she'd gathered were starting to form a socio-religious culture referred to as the Winti. For more information about Watramama click [[https://https://www.academia.edu/45092596/The_Ever_changing_Face_of_Watramama_in_Suriname_A_Water_Goddess_in_Creolization_Since_the_Seventeenth_Century|here]].
 +
 +==== Depictions ====
 +
 +An exhibition preview article on //Mami Wata Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diaspora// explains the "beautiful, protective, seductive, and potentially deadly, the water spirit Mami Wata (Mother Water)" significance on shaping ideas and lives of people, communities, and spirits through the richness of arts surrounding her and other aquatic deities that honor the sacredness of water. The article also traces the water spirit's origins overseas through influences by representations in "ancient, indigenous African water spirits, European mermaids and snake charmers, Hindu gods and goddesses, and Christian and Muslim saints." (60) In some she is depicted as a wish granting creature, shown with her prized gold comb, who brings about luck and fortune - in others a seductress, or a dangerous spirit that has destructive potential. "She inspires a vast array of emotions, attitudes, and actions among those who worship her, those who fear her, those who study her, and those who create works of art about her. What the Yoruba peoples say about their culture is also applicable to the histories and significances of Mami Wata: She is like a 'river that never rests.'" (63)
  
 For more description on the folk beliefs on Watramama - also known as Mami Wata or Mammy Water, click [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_Wata#Folk_belief|here]]. For more description on the folk beliefs on Watramama - also known as Mami Wata or Mammy Water, click [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_Wata#Folk_belief|here]].
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 In either case, since both could be just as likely, Watramama stands as a symbol of resistance, and the poem itself is a call to the goddess to keep her people strong and help them through the fight.  In either case, since both could be just as likely, Watramama stands as a symbol of resistance, and the poem itself is a call to the goddess to keep her people strong and help them through the fight. 
  
 +== References ==
 +
 +Drewal, Henry John, et al. //Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas//. Fowler Museum at UCLA, 2008.

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