The mystic story about Cape Verdean women

It is a country largely dependent on revenue derived from constant visits of foreigners, particularly the tourists and, of course, little from agriculture and fishing. Yet, this alluring country, characterized by people of humble disposition but with strict and at times hostile admittance policies towards fellow compatriots from the West African coast, appears to have […]

It is a country largely dependent on revenue derived from constant visits of foreigners, particularly the tourists and, of course, little from agriculture and fishing. Yet, this alluring country, characterized by people of humble disposition but with strict and at times hostile admittance policies towards fellow compatriots from the West African coast, appears to have disciplined its social order compared with prominent allies in the region.

About half of this population is female. According to a recent statistics, for every 100 men in Cape Verde, there are 105 women. It is also believed that half of these Cape Verdeans are young women of below 30 years old who compulsively add colour to the magnetic Cape Verde brand. You see them gaily dressed, frequently with knickers that expose almost all. Most of their girls you see around in Praia, the national capital and in most of the other nine beautiful islands that make up the country, are either pregnant or hanging over men at public places. This, by the way, is a way of life as the Europeans and Americans who heavily populate these islands do not mind to express their love life in public places.

But there is a popular belief among a large number of Africans and those in Diaspora that much of the people in this country have much to do with the world of Atlantic, particularly the womenfolk.

Why is this belief widespread and entrenched? It is doubtful that those with this entrenched belief can substantiate it convincingly.

Those who cling to this strange belief say they are aliens with feminine features from the sea that have come out to live in this place. They believe they most often come out from their original home to live among  the Cape Verdean population, adding that this is common place in most coastal regions of the world.

Consequently, the people who have this strong belief say that because the small island of Cape Verde which situates entirely in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa close to Senegal is largely populated by virgins from the sea who come out from it to live among  the human population of the country and they do this by wearing their skin pigmentation.

Assasu Inyang-Ibom, a renowned ‘professor’ of Mystical Science in the Esom Fraternity and Mystical Order, in one of his books, Beyond Prejudice, said   from their (he and his mystical colleagues from around the world) extensive research, they discovered that male and female virgins have since arrived the earth planet from the former continents of Lumeria and Atlantis which were submerged long ago and have thus increased the human population.

“They have not only arrived on earth, but have done so in their numbers. They come with strange ailments so that men that would not be able to resist their attraction and urge towards them because of their excessive beauty and sleep with them would be inflicted by incurable diseases that are meant to plague humankind,” said the late mystical professor.

He also mentioned that much of them would be virgins whose beauty would be irresistible and would mostly inundate the coastal regions of the world.

This book cannot be said to have influenced the thought of many when they believe that the womenfolk in Cape Verde might have come from the sea owing to their beauty! This belief has been long among the coastal people of Nigeria, for instance.

A Nigerian who has been a long time resident of Cape Verde, Ezekiel Matthew Udom from Akwa Ibom State also said the pattern of life of the people in that country and their idol worship not only have leaning with voodoo, but have much to do with mermaid.

According to Udom, who is a pastor of his church, the Rising Ministries of the Faithful in Praia, when he was much younger he was told that there were mermaids that came out from the sea in Ibeno in the present day Eket Local Government Area of the state and were living as human beings.  Their influence, he said, was much on the people, especially the women of the area, so that when it became overbearing, they became entrapped and kind of insane. The marine spirit would come to sleep with the women and sometimes if the spirit were female, they do so with their men. This, according to him, made them to sacrifice much to appease the water spirit.

“Most of the people who live in the coastal regions are mixed. People from the sea come out to live and impact them,” he said.

Robinson Awharitomah is from Benin, in Edo State, but arrived Cape Verde barely two years ago. He said it is not true that the Cape Verdean women are from the sea. “That’s bullshit,” he exclaimed. “The people are largely Catholic in faith although there are some of them who lean towards traditional practice of voodoo. How can people still have such belief in these modern times?” he asked.

He said  there are other sets of Africans who are as beautiful as the Cape Verdean women. “These people have much to do with white people if you can remember their history. Besides, many white tourists still prefer to visit this country in their numbers, and are investing heavily, and do have intimacy with them.”

“Anybody has the right to express his feelings and opinions in whichever way possible on any subjects under the sun, especially in countries that are free,” said an elderly Cape Verdean woman, Madam Cythiaro Alexandriano who lives in the growing town of Calabaceira near Praia, capital of the country.

Madam Alexandriano who is a neighbor to my host spoke through an interpreter and said it is funny the way people view and easily believe in fables and non-existing things.

“If they say because our women are shapely and beautiful and as a result of that they are believed to come from the sea, what about other lovely women in countries that are not close to the sea, could they also be said to have emerged from the sea?” she asked.

“If those who hold this viewpoint spare a moment or two to look back at our history, they would know the reason most of us in Cape Verde are fair-skinned,” she contended.

She said that according to history, the slave masters in the days of yore used the island as a trade post, and that in fact, they not only settled there, they also dumped many of the ‘stubborn’ African slaves on the island.

“These slave masters and their people slept with our women. Our strong men also slept with their girls and procreated. The results have been the admixture of racial colours, but of course, with strong presence of black gene in the population of Cape Verdeans,” she explained.

“We are not from the sea. We are Africans. That is why there is strong African influence in our language. Most of us speak Creole, a mixture of African languages and Portuguese although we have Portuguese as our official language,” she said.