Talk:River Mumma
Original definition was this, based on the description of River Mumma at Wikipedia's Jenny Greenteeth:
- An evil figure in Jamaican folklore, said to live at the fountainhead of large rivers, where she sits on a rock combing her hair. Terrible things will happen to anyone who sees her before she notices them.
Someone has changed it claiming it's "offensive" etc. Can anyone clarify? Should Wikipedia's article be changed? Equinox ◑ 19:49, 3 June 2020 (UTC)
Yes, the Jenny Greenteeth article should also be edited. It is offensive, because the River Mumma is not a grindylow. She's an attempt at African retention, meaning a lot of our folklore manifests from oral traditions passed down. There aren't many anthropological investigations into our mythical creatures, but one thing most Jamaicans are aware of, is that the River Mumma is not evil. She may kill people, but so do we. She is an anecdotal figure that we the people are supposed to take example from. Case in point, Lorna Goodison, our current Poet Laureate, published "The River Mumma Wants Out" in 2005; it takes points from the story of the River Mumma and the Golden Table, but also draws from the lore of her being a champion for the environment - an enigmatic figure who if you ever tried to catch her would result in the fish disappearing and the rivers sometimes drying up. That's a lesson in Greed.