Nimm
Ekoi · deity · Ekoi traditional religion; continuing · deity
Nimm (Ejagham for 'spirit') is the great water-serpent goddess of the Ekoi, dwelling in the dark waters of the river Kwa and its lagoons. She is the focus of women's devotion and the patron of the powerful Nimm society, whose priestesses are said to rival even the leopard (Ekpe/Egbo) men's club. She manifests in three shapes — woman, huge snake and crocodile — and the python and crocodile guarding her sacred lake are her creatures; a snake is never driven from the house of a member of her cult. Smooth oval stones rounded by the water are revered as the 'eggs of Nimm' and kept to promote fertility. Terrible when offended, she destroys wrongdoers at the call of her worshippers. Ekoi tradition names her as the wife of the sky god Obassi Osaw.
Domains
- rivers and water
- fertility and women
- serpents and crocodiles
Powers
- to appear as a woman, a great snake, or a crocodile
- to destroy those who offend her worshippers
- to grant fertility to women
Epithets
- Nimm
Relations
- spouse: Obassi Osaw
Sources
- P. Amaury Talbot, In the Shadow of the Bush (London: William Heinemann, 1912).
- Wilfrid Dyson Hambly, Serpent Worship in Africa, Field Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Series, vol. 21, no. 1 (Chicago, 1931).
- Ute Röschenthaler, Purchasing Culture: The Dissemination of Associations in the Cross River Region of Cameroon and Nigeria (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2011).