Simbi

Simbi (also Sim'bi) is a large and diverse family of serpents also known as loa in Haitian Vodou. Some names for the Simbi loa include Simbi Dlo (also Simbi d'l'eau - Simbi of the water), Simbi Makaya, Simbi Andezo (Simbi of two waters), and Gran Simba. Traditionally in their Kongo context, they are all associated with water, but in the Haitian Vodoun context they have wide-ranging associations. For example, Simbi Makaya is a great sorcerer and served in particular in the Sanpwel secret societies. Simbi Anpaka is a loa of plants, leaves, and poisons.[1][2]

For other uses, see Simbi (disambiguation).
Simbi
1880s, poster which gave rise to the common image of the loa Mami Wata
AffiliationVodou
AnimalsSerpents
Ethnic groupHaitian

Vodou

Vodou traditions were practiced by Haitians who came from Africa: the religious traditions were handed down. The Vodou religion believes in a creator who cannot be easily reached, so Vodou worshipers contact spirits which act as go-betweens between the creator and the worshiper.[3] Simbi is a loa which represents magic. Simbi is portrayed as a snake. This loa is used to contact the dead.[4]

Hoodoo

Simbi (Bisimbi, plural) spirits are also revered in the United States in the African American community in the practice of Hoodoo. Academic historians conducted research in the Gullah Geechee Nation and have found continued Central and West African spiritual practices. For example, some African American churches in the Southeast prayed to Kongo-derived simbi spirits during Baptism. "Baptism also had a distinctly African side to it. The nineteenth century Georgia practice of praying to Kongo-derived simbi spirits before immersion demonstrates this aspect of an other wise Christian rite."[5][6]

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."[7] 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. In Central Africa's Kongo region, "...bisimbi inhabit rocks, gullies, streams, and pools, and are able to influence the fertility and well being of those living in the area." "What are bisimbi? They have other names, too. Some are called python, lightning gourd or calabash, mortar or a sort of pot. The explanation of their names is that they are water spirits (nkisi mia mamba). The names of some of these minkisi are: Na Kongo, Ma Nzanza, Nkondi and Londa. There is a significant amount of Kongo culture that continues today in the African American community, because 40 percentage of Africans taken during the transatlantic slave trade came from Central Africa's Congo Basin.[8][9]

Sukey and The Mermaid

In African-American folklore there is a story 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 West-Central Africa that came to the United States during the trans-atlantic slave trade. In Africa, Simbi nature spirits protect and provide riches to their followers. In West-Central Africa, there are folk stories of people meeting mermaids. Among the Gullah Geechee people in the Carolina Lowcountry, there is a children's story called Sukey and the Mermaid. In the African Diaspora, there are Afro-American folk stories of a little girl meeting a mermaid.[10]

Palo

In this Afro-Cuban religion, Simbi are called Nkitas. They are gods of all aspects of nature : lakes, forests or mountains, for example.[11][12]

In culture

See also

References
  1. Rigaud, Milo (2001). Secrets of Voodoo. San Francisco, California: City Lights Publishers. p. 195–207. ISBN 978-0872861718.
  2. "Simbi Spirits". Occult World. Occult World. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  3. Katz, Jonathan M. "Explore the Timeless World of Vodou, Deep Within the Caves of Haiti". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 10 March 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "Voodoo History Basic Principles Background". white-magic. Marion Daghan-Malenky. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  5. Anderson, Jeffrey E. (2008). Hoodoo, Voodoo, and Conjure: A Handbook. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 114. ISBN 9780313342226.
  6. Manigault-Bryant, LeRhonda S. (2014). Talking to the Dead: Religion, Music, and Lived Memory among Gullah/Geechee Women. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822376705.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Connolly (2021). "Breaking the Surface: Mermaids and the Middle Passage". Marvels and Tales. 35 (1): 79–83, 83–85. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  11. MacGaffey, Wyatt (2000). Kongo Political Culture: The Conceptual Challenge of the Particular. Indiana University Press. pp. 141–142. ISBN 0253336988.
  12. Brown (27 August 2012). African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 9, 169, 173–179, 234, 243, 285. ISBN 9781107024090.

Further reading
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