River Mother of the Niger

Spirit-class figure (chief female Tooru) entered as a deity. The Niger is the Songhay 'isa'. Principal scholarship: Stoller (1989); Rouch (1960/1989).

Children

• Lightning
• Thunder

Domains

• river water
• motherhood fertility

Powers

• to rule the waters of the Niger and the beings within them
• mother and chief of the river-spirits (Tooru)
• command the Zin (water-genies) of the river

Epithets

• Harakoy Dikko latin · Harakoy Dikko · cultThe goddess of the Niger River waters, mother of the water-spiritsJean Rouch, La religion et la magie songhay (secondary)

Relations

• ancestor of: ThunderHarakoy Dikko, chief female Tooru and river-mother of the Niger, is the maternal source of the thunder-spirit Dongo, who already registers descent from her; mirrored as ancestor-of to preserve the deity tier.Stoller, P., 'Fusion of the Worlds: An Ethnography of Possession among the Songhay of Niger' (1989); Rouch, J., 'La religion et la magie songhay' (1960; 2nd ed. 1989) (secondary)
• ancestor of: LightningCirey ('red', the lightning-flash) is reckoned among the Tooru descended from the river-mother Harakoy Dikko and already registers her; mirrored as ancestor-of.Stoller, P., 'Fusion of the Worlds' (1989); Rouch, J., 'La religion et la magie songhay' (1960; 1989) (secondary)
• ancestor of: Master Smith of the HausaManda Hausakoy, the smith-spirit ('lord of the Hausa'), is numbered among the Tooru descended from Harakoy Dikko and already registers descent from her; mirrored as ancestor-of.Stoller, P., 'Fusion of the Worlds' (1989); Rouch, J., 'La religion et la magie songhay' (1960; 1989) (secondary)

Sources

• Harakoy Dikko is the Songhay/Zarma goddess of the Niger River and mother of the Tooru (the noble spirits), said to draw men and djinn into the river; her seven children, each by a man of a different stock, include the storm- and lightning-spirits of the pantheon.: Paul Stoller, Fusion of the Worlds (1989) (secondary); Jean Rouch, La religion et la magie songhay (1960/1989) (secondary)