In the 1970s and 1980s, Our Lady’s was a highly well-known bread brand in Anambra State. It was the priciest and highest quality. It was the most popular brand of bread for people traveling through Onitsha to or from their homes.
Then a rumor spread that the bread’s success was due to the owner wrecking luxury buses, sucking the passengers’ blood, and using it to flavor the bread and draw customers.
This spread like wildfire as a rumor. To be interviewed about the subject, some women went to Anambra State Broadcasting Service, Onitsha.
They claimed to have knowledge of the process of using human blood to produce bread because they worked in the bakery. They narrated a wide variety of tales involving Mamiwta abilities.
The bread brand then passed away. I’m not familiar with the founder. But considering that the gang-up was even supported by the state-run radio station, I can only imagine how crushed he or she must have felt.
The songs If You See Mamiwta and Mma Mamiwta by Patty Obasi and Victor Uwaifo were popular during that time. The Egedege troupe from Unubi was also popular during this time; rumor has it that the lead vocalist was also a prominent figure in the marine community.
At that time, Mamiwta and Ogbanje were hot topics of conversation. The majority of the women, especially the attractive ones, were referred to as “otù” members, or members of the female cult or aquatic world.
Any female with blue eyes was tagged ‘initiated into the underwater realm’. Any girl who was excessively silent belonged to the group. Any female with extremely fair skin was a member. Any female with attractive or seductive eyes was a member.
Numerous medicine women were skilled at performing the rites on these young women in order to gain permission from the aquatic world to marry, have children, focus on living, live a long time, not change their husband’s destiny, etc. These women typically have markings left by the medicine women on their hands.
Sometimes a lady’s parents would pick her up and take her to a medicine woman if she was having issues with stubbornness, waywardness, domestic disputes, childlessness, etc. in her marriage.
Depending on the initiate’s level, a cow and other commodities were occasionally used to appease the sea world or her cult so that she might enjoy her life and marriage.
It was claimed that by taking meals from other girls and women, females were introduced. Girls were cautioned not to accept meals from anyone, even their friends or other people, as a result.
Remember that Christianity was the vast majority-dominant religion in our area at the time this was happening. But even devout churchgoers would advise you to put religion aside if you insisted that such conversation was empty in order to keep your daughter.
When Nollywood first began, the women were portraying characters in films about the sea world who were destroying men and homes while the men acted in movies about men interested in money rituals.
I have examined Nigerians from all ethnic backgrounds and discovered that there is essentially no difference in the superstitious beliefs of animists, Christians, and Muslims.
In Nigeria, anything that is difficult to comprehend is the result of bad powers. The animists will look for a medinine man to assist with the solution. The Christians will look for a godly guy to resolve the issue. Muslims will look for an alfa to address the issue.
Nothing happens by accident in Nigeria.
Evil powers abound and must be exorcised or appeased through sacrifices or offerings.
We still rely on spiritual forces to solve our issues more than 150 years after the Europeans arrived to subjugate us with firearms built with brains, while our deities failed our predecessors, making us slaves to China, Europe, and America. We have fallen behind even much of Asia.
While they adhere to their respective religions, they look to science for the majority of their life’s difficulties, as opposed to us, who look almost exclusively to spirituality for answers. Unfortunately, we are not nearly as godly as we claim to be.
It is well, it is not my share, and I reject it, as we say here. Happy week!
Credit; Agunze Azuka Onwuka
