Copenhagen

Written by: Trefossa

Real name: Henri Frans de Ziel (1916-1975) He is from Suriname, in northern South America, which is sometimes considered a part of the Caribbean and West Indies. He is most known for his work with the Suriname National Anthem. Where he most notably took the second stanza and turned it into a positive message instead of the negative message everyone perceived it to be. Click here for more information on the author.

This is the national language of Suriname, however, it is less respected than the official language of Dutch. It is an English-based Creole language that has been developed from a pidgin used between a Master and a Slave that do not speak the same language.

For more information about the language's history, uses, and translations click Here.

Watramama is the water goddess, which came from a creolized version of West African culture that had been supplanted and brought to the Americas by the enslaved. 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 here.

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.” 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.'”

For more description on the folk beliefs on Watramama - also known as Mami Wata or Mammy Water, click here.

Located in the Netherlands/Scandinavia. During Terfossa's lifetime, Copenhagen was, at one point, occupied by Nazi Germany for three to four years during WWII. It is worth noting that Terfossa did not live in the Netherlands during the occupation. Instead, he lived there from 1953 to 1956. During the 1950s, there was not a whole lot going on. For the rest of the timeline of Copenhagen click here.

Watramama was a symbol used by the enslaved as a form of resistance in Suriname, which went from being a British colony to a Dutch colony during the exchange of New Amsterdam, now known as New York.

By the time the author was alive, slavery had died out and what remained of any colonies, were being dismantled and replaced with governments led by the people of the lands. This poem could very well be about colonization and colonial rule, due to this fact.

There's also the Nazi Regime to keep in mind. Terfossa lived through WWII and the Nazi's occupied what would later be another home for him. That kind of a stain doesn't wash out overnight, meaning that he probably saw first-hand, a community trying to rebuild.

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.