Simbi: Difference between revisions
It's an Igbo statue. Tags: Reverted Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
This page is not about a culture. It's about bisimbi, which also exist in other African cultures beyond the Bakongo people. Mami Wata is a simbi/lwa in the Americas. The art is valid and relevant. Undid revision 1233906681 by JustSomeone08 (talk) |
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| type = Kongo |
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| name = Simbi |
| name = Simbi |
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| image = Mami Wata Figure MIA.jpg |
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| caption = West-Central African water spirit [[Minneapolis Institute of Art|MIA]] |
| caption = West-Central African water spirit [[Minneapolis Institute of Art|MIA]] |
Revision as of 23:22, 11 July 2024
Simbi | |
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Bakongo Water Spirit | |
West-Central African water spirit MIA | |
Affiliation | |
Abode | Sea, River (Nzadi), Forest (Mfinda) |
Ethnic group | |
Equivalents | |
Sawabantu equivalent | Jengu |
Haitian equivalent | Lwa |
A Simbi (also Cymbee, Sim'bi, pl. Bisimbi) is a water and nature spirit in traditional Kongo spirituality, as well as in Hoodoo.
Etymology
While there is little written historical record of the word simbi, there is consensus that it originated within Kongo-speaking communities and almost certainly began as a means for the Bakongo people to understand the spiritual nature of the world around them.[1] Some believe the word simbi derives from simba, a Kikongo word that means "to hold, keep, preserve."[1] The similar phrase, isimba ia nsi, which translates to "a distinguished person in the community," was recorded in an early Kikongo dictionary in the seventeenth century. This phrase and others, such as kisímbi kinsí, which translates to "the very old person who does not die," are a few of the earliest evidences of the spiritual connection of bisimbi to the land of the living and the land of the dead.[1] The word basimbi also translates to "guardians" with the phrase isimba ia nsi later becoming "guardians of the land."[1]
Kongo spirituality
The Bakongo people traditionally believe that bisimbi are magically water spirits (in kikongo: nkisi mia mamba) that can appear as a person, a snake, pottery, a calabash vine, or Kalûnga, a spark of fire, similar to the spark that begot the universe in Kongo creation mythology.[2] There have also been claims of bisimbi appearing as birds, twisted trees and mermaid-like beings.[1] They are seen as the guardians of nature and the intermediaries who travel the Kalûnga Line between Ku Seke, the physical world of the living, and Ku Mpémba, the spiritual world of the ancestors. Bisimbi are also believed to be spiritual guides, using storytelling and oral tradition to connect the living to the ancestors and their history.[2] The likening of the living elders to the bisimbi in the phrase kisímbi kinsí highlights the importance of Bakongo elders to the spiritual well-being of the community and the passing of their beliefs from one generation to the next.[1]
Hoodoo
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The belief that bisimbi "inhabit rocks, gullies, streams, and pools, and are able to influence the fertility and well being of those living in the area"[2] was translocated to the United States by enslaved Bakongo and Mbundu peoples.[1] Because forty percent of Africans taken during the trans-atlantic slave trade[3] came from Central Africa's Congo Basin, and bisimbi became revered in the United States in Black American communities in Hoodoo tradition across the American South.[2][4] Some Black churches prayed to Kongo-derived simbi spirits during Baptism and it was believed that simbi spirits were present when congregants were dipped into the water and washed clean. This belief highlighted the Central African influence on Christian baptism, the fusion of both traditional African and new Black American spiritual practices, and the evolving nature of Black spirituality in the Americas.[5][6]
Sightings
Academic research on the Pooshee Plantation and Woodboo Plantation in South Carolina, showed a continued belief of African water spirits among enslaved African Americans. Both plantations are "now under the waters of Lake Moultrie."[2] The earliest known record of simbi spirits was recorded in the nineteenth century by Edmund Ruffin who was a wealthy slaveholder from Virginia, and traveled to South Carolina "to keep the slave economic system viable through agricultural reform." In Ruffin's records he spelled simbi, cymbee, because he did not know the original spelling of the word.
"At Pooshee plantation on the Santee Canal not too far from Woodboo, Ruffin stated that a young slave boy went to a fountain for water late at night and was very frightened by a cymbee (Simbi water spirit) who was running around and around the fountain. Although few witnesses to the appearance of cymbees were found by Ruffin, he stated that they are generally believed by the slaves to be frequent and numerous. Part of the superstition was that it was bad luck for anyone who saw one to 'tell of the occurrence, or refer to it; and that his death would be the certain penalty, if he told of the meeting for some weeks afterwards." Another occurrence from an enslaved man said simbi spirits have long hair.[2]
Sukey and The Mermaid
In Black American folklore, the Gullah Geechee people in the Carolina Lowcountry have a children's story called Sukey and the Mermaid about a girl named Sukey meeting a mermaid named Mama Jo. Mama Jo in the story helps and protects Sukey and financially supported her by giving her gold coins. This story comes from the belief in Simbi spirits in Central Africa that came to the United States during the Atlantic slave trade. In Africa, Simbi nature spirits protect and provide riches to their followers. In Central Africa, there are folk stories of people meeting mermaids.[7]
Palo
In an Afro-Cuban religion called Palo, bisimbi are called Nkitas. They are deities of all aspects of nature, such as lakes, forests or mountains.[8]
In culture
- Governor General Michaëlle Jean of Canada, who was born in Haiti, bears two simbi serpents as supporters on her coat of arms.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Brown, Ras Michael (2012). African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry (1st ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge. pp. 1, 2, 111–113, 122–124. ISBN 9781107668829.
- ^ a b c d e f Adams, Natalie P. "The "Cymbee" Water Spirits of St. John's Berkeley" (PDF). The African Diaspora Archeology Network. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
- ^ "Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade - Database". www.slavevoyages.org. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ^ Young, Jason R. (2011). Rituals of Resistance: African Atlantic Religion in Kongo and the Lowcountry South in the Era of Slavery. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807137192.
- ^ Anderson, Jeffrey E. (2008). Hoodoo, Voodoo, and Conjure: A Handbook. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 114. ISBN 9780313342226.
- ^ Manigault-Bryant, LeRhonda S. (2014). Talking to the Dead: Religion, Music, and Lived Memory among Gullah/Geechee Women. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822376705.
- ^ Connolly (2021). "Breaking the Surface: Mermaids and the Middle Passage". Marvels and Tales. 35 (1): 79–83, 83–85. doi:10.13110/marvelstales.35.1.0079. JSTOR 10.13110/marvelstales.35.1.0079. S2CID 236647533. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- ^ MacGaffey, Wyatt (2000). Kongo Political Culture: The Conceptual Challenge of the Particular. Indiana University Press. pp. 141–142. ISBN 0253336988.
Further reading
- The Haitian Vodou Handbook: Protocols for Riding with the Lwa by Kenaz Filan, Inner Traditions (2006)
- Voodoo and Afro-Caribbean Paganism by Lilith Dorsey, Kensington Publishing (2005)
- The drum and the hoe: Life and lore of the Haitian people by Harold Courlander, University of California Press (1960)
- African mythology
- African deities
- Ancestors
- Fairies
- Kongo
- Kongo culture
- Kongo religion
- Magic gods
- Mermaids
- Mythological creatures
- Nature deities
- Nature goddesses
- Sea and river deities
- Sea and river goddesses
- Tutelary deities
- Tutelary goddesses
- Water spirits
- Water goddesses
- Central African legendary creatures
- American legendary creatures