Fertility and Wealth

"In Ghana, she is notorious for her jealousy.  She is said either to drive a man's wives out of the house or to kill them.  In Zaire, she demands total sexual abstinence in return for riches--profits in exchange for progeny (Fabian: 1978: 319).  Likewise, the benefit she brings monetary wealth, is acquired rather than inherited and is therefore outside the kinship system (Article 2).

Mami Wata's long dada-Rasta hair represents unrestrained fertility, creativity and spirituality and cowries shells denote wealth and fertility (Book 3). 

In the Lagoon region of the Ivory Coast, the traditional water divinities,  who were the guardians of fertility, were thought to have become ineffective against the power of witchcraft to cause sterility.  Sterility was regarded as a significant problem in the community because it reduced the power of families to produce heirs to inherit family property.  At the same time, they thought of Mami Water as the earth of god.  Together the responsibilities for fertility and the prosperity of the community came together (Book 1).

Educated and non-educated informants, male and female, from cities or small villages continually emphasize that children–lots of children–are more important than any amount of worldly goods.  Mamy Wata's reputation for insuring fertility is widespread and acknowledged, and some of the iconography found in her shrines reflects this emphasis: photographs of mothers holding babies attest to her powers.  Wooden 'babies' and plastic dolls are essential ritual accoutrements, and sculptures of mother and child can be found in her shrines.  Sometimes special marks, attributes and/or names are given to children brought by Mamy Wata (Book 1).