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In the Senegal groups your probably talking about "Nyamo" which
is spiritual internal power similar to the Chinese concept of
chi..but much older..wrestlers andmanding warriors bath in water
infested with crocodiles to gain nyamo and be more powerful.."
Muslim kingdom whose population followed the traditional Manding
religion. One of the main features of this religion was the
conviction that everyone possessesa secret force or energy, the
nyamo, which can be controlled through what in Western thought is
called with its negative connotation sorcery. For the Manding, as
for many other peoples, sorcery in itself is neutral, hence the use
of the English word in this context is inadequate. Still, it will
be used here in the absence of a closer equivalent.
The Manding recognize good sorcery done for the bene?t of the
community, and negative sorcery turned against it. The men with the
highest concentration of nyamoand occult skills are the hunters,
the blacksmiths, the sorcerers and the rulers; and, speci?cally in
Kaabu, the nyancho, a hereditary warrior aristocracy. Themen said
to possess this force operate in the occult world by manipulating
theenergy, and by creating protective and offensive amulets. The
blacksmiths make the korte and the somo sama, magical powders used
to hurt at a distance through malediction. Some also work in the
physical world by using herbs and plants to cure or protect. The
relation of the Manding to the occult has been well describedby
Patrick R. McNaughton:
The Mande consider knowledge of all kinds to be important and
powerful, butthe instrumental knowledge of sorcery stands at the
pinnacle of potency. Thegreat epic poems that celebrate hunters,
heroes, and the founding of states alldevote major portions of the
texts to sorcerers exploits. In fact, epics stress theoccult
strategies and preparations that pre?gure major events, such as
militarycampaigns, rather than the events themselves. And, as
reflection of real life, theepics emphasize the need of leaders to
have access to sorcery, as a vitalcomponent of their capacity to
solve problems, address crises, subdueantagonists, and satisfy
their ambitions.
The most famous Manding epic is without a doubt that of Sunjata.
According to tradition, his father, Maghan Frako Kegni, belonged to
a lineage of hunter-kings,men well versed in magic; and his mother,
Songolo Conde, was a magician herself.Sunjata, who mixed Islam and
traditional Manding beliefs, has remained famous for his enormous
occult powers, and his epic is replete with supernatural acts. His
victory over the sorcerer-king of the Susu,Sumahuru Kante, the
powerful blacksmith, is explained in magical terms.
Once in the Americas, the Manding were confronted by an unknown,
hostile, evil and mysterious world that they needed to understand
and control. It became necessary for physical, mental and
psychological survival to keep the slaveholders beha
viour and power in check. In addition, the enslavers had plans
and spies; and the enslaved had traitors who had to be uncovered.
In the Americas, some of the early concrete expressions of Manding
opposition and resistance can be found in the creation of and
participation in maroon communities. In the sixteenth century,for
example, Antonio Mandinga was at the head of a group of 300 maroons
in Panama, and Mariano Mandinga was aleader of a maroon palenque
(settlement of escapedslaves) in Cuba.
However, it is their use of occult weapons that made the Manding
famous. According to Manding custom, the men who can master
invisible forces and divination hav
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e the responsibility to come to the rescue of their community.
They must use physical weapons, certainly, but also occult ones,
which are considered equally potent, if not more $0.23 In Kaabu,
Muslims were not allowed to ?ght in the army because, even if they
were good with physical weapons, they did not have the occult
knowledge necessary to control the nyamo, nor did they belong to
the secret societies, the Komo and Nama, that regulated power
through the use of magic.
The neologism mandinga, as devil and wicked, reveals that these
early Manding used their occult knowledge to counteract their
enslavers actions and toattack them. Their impact on white societys
imagination may be due to the fact that they resorted to the occult
more often than other communities, and/or their skills may have
been thought to be exceptionally ef?cient. Evidently they were
call-ed devils, sorcerers and malevolent by their intended victims;
but it is likely that theManding themselves considered they were
engaged in positive sorcery since it was done for the bene?t of
their community. Nevertheless, they were also involvedin the
negative type. The existence in French Creole of the word subawu
suggeststhat the subakha, men who use sorcery for evil
purposes,continued to practise this occult art throughout the
Caribbean. Some, who are born sorcerers, are said to kill through
the symbolic eating of ones organs;others make traps composed of
invisible force ?elds activated by kilisi secret speech that are
supposed to result in death.
- Manding In The Americas pg. 144 and 145
