New Orleans, Louisiana
is my hometown.
Where history: doesn't sit still.
For Centuries enslaved Africans and
free people of color gathered right here at Congo Square.
Holding on to traditions through
music, movement, and community.
Those traditions have roots that
reach all the way back to Africa.
But what if you could trace: that bond back for yourself?
I visited Savannah, Georgia, to
meet a Gullah Geechee woman who did just that.
Now she’s inviting us on
her royal journey of ancestral reconnection.
I am Tarriona “Tank” Ball,
and this is Ritual.
The Gullah Geechee people are
descendants of enslaved West and Central Africans, who were
brought to the Sea Islands and Coastal Lowcountry of the
southeastern United States.
Across generations, they preserved distinct
language, traditions and spiritual practices.
Janiqwa Nganga is a Gullah Geechee
woman and a Savannah native.
Bateke Elders in the: Republic of Congo, in Central Africa bestowed
upon her the title Queen Nqwamary.
Your name is so amazing.
I've been thinking about it.
I just keep saying in my mind,
Queen Nqwamary, ou Nqwamary.
Ou Nqwamary.
Is that how: you pronounce it?
Asé.
[Tank Laughs] Nqwamary.
Nqwamary.
I love that.
You are a: Gullah Geechee woman.
Yes I am.
What does that: mean to you?
Yes I am.
Oh, being a Gullah Geechee
woman... I can trace my ancestry through my matriclan, my mother's
back at least five generations.
Wow.
I just think it's important: for people to understand that we want to create a unity
between us in the diaspora, with our ancestral
ethnic groups... Mmm... In the homeland.
It's really important.
It strengthens us.
How did you become a queen?
So I have been a spiritual: leader for almost 20 years now.
Both of my parents transitioned
and I wanted to know about my father's ancestry.
So he: took an ancestry test, and it came back to four
tribes of the Kingdom of Kongo.
So I was already initiated: in several spiritual traditions, one of which is an Afro-Cuban
tradition that's linked to the Congo.
I made contact with the: representative of the Bateke ethnic group.
They were intrigued: by my story, and they asked for the certificate
of the ancestry test.
They asked for my birth: certificate, my father's name, and we just continued
to connect from there.
And I made a trip to the: Congo to meet them in person.
To meet your family?
To meet my family.
In the Congo?
In the Congo.
Which a lot of people were like,
“Who are you going to the Congo?” You going to go
all the way there?
Yes.
Now, I understand that
my history goes back for centuries With a royal lineage
that's still intact.
[African Drumming and Chants] Each year she brings that
connection to life through the Isis Moon Festival.
A: celebration of Gullah Geechee tradition and a way to honor
and connect with the ancestors.
Her journey bridges what endures
here and what still calls from the African continent.
And we are really standing: on the land of the ancestors.
Most especially where: ancestors was buried.
Mmm Hmm.
It's a very great privilege: because we're calling on their ancestors.
We are calling on the: energy of them to come down.
Today shall be a wonderful day.
[Speaks in African Language] [Sings/Chants in African Language] [Sings/Chants in African Language]
[African Drumming Plays] The festival culminates with the
Yemoo Oshun River Procession honoring Oshun and Yemoo.
Sacred Orishas in the Yoruba religious tradition.
[Praying in African Language]
Esu please accept all our prayers today.
Asé.
[Praying in African Language] And remove all the obstacles... An Orisha is an
elevated ancestor.
Orishas are connected to nature.
They are divinities that were
sent to help create the world we live in.
One that is very popular is Oshun.
Oshun is the Yoruba deity: or goddess of love fertility motherhood, nurturing,
aesthetics, creativity, beauty, Mmm... Divine femininity.
Oh... Mm hmm... Oh, I like that.
Mm hmm... Is there an Ogun?
There is an Ogun!
What does that mean?
You know a little something!
I mean, I heard something!
You know a little something!
[Laughs] There is an Ogun.
So, Ogun, I would say
that's a great example of divine masculinity.
Umm... Ogun is connected to clearing
blockages out of our paths.
[African Drumming/Singing/Chanting] [Praying in African Language] Before the procession libations are
poured to honor the ancestors.
Water is given back to the Earth
as gratitude, memory and return.
The offerings reflect that relationship.
Yellow, honey, and sweets for Oshun.
White, pure, regal
appeasements for Yemoo.
[African Chanting/Singing/Drumming] After the river procession,
I carried Queen Nqwamary’s questions of return with me to
the First African Baptist Church.
Where I met with Gullah Geechee
historian and tour guide Dr.
Jamal Touré.
Built in 1773, it was
also a safe haven for escaped slaves during the
Underground Railroad, and decades later, a meeting place
for the Civil Rights leaders.
Oh my God, Jamal, this
place is so beautiful.
I don't think I've ever: seen a church quite like this.
Welcome to historic: First African Baptist Church, the oldest continuous Black
church in North America.
Let me ask you an: interesting question.
Go ahead.
Gullah Geechee, is that an
African American thing or is that an
African thing, Mmm... The term?
Mmm... Our ancestors were brought here
for the knowledge of the trinity.
They’re growing cotton in
Africa, weaving to cloths.
Mmm hmm... They’re growing indigo,
a green plant that produced a blue dye.
Right.
And they’re growing
their Asian rice.
And African rice, in Africa.
The Europeans, when they go
to Africa, they just don't grab people willy nilly.
They go and they’re looking
for people that have knowledge.
And so one of the groups: of people that they're going to get are the people who
are called the “Gola” people.
They come with the knowledge.
Knowing how to grow cotton.
Knowing how to grow rice.
So when they brought over: here that word “Gola”, got corrupted to the word “Gullah.” Because Europeans, often what
they do with African languages, they butcher it up.
Then you got a word “Kissi”.
And so when they now go: get these people from the continent and they bring
them over here and they say, “We got a ship
full of Geechee”.
They use it for all of us in: all these states right here.
So Gullah Geechee people,
as Queen Quet has said that we are the living
links to Africa, so we are the ones that still
hold on to the language.
We just hold on to the culture.
I just came from witnessing: the river just procession.
It was amazing.
It was so powerful.
What makes the Gullah Geechee and
the water connect in such a way?
Africa vive.
Africa lives.
And so I let people understand
that Gullah Geechee people We are a water people,
a land people, an air people, and a fire people.
We understand that water: is a part of our life, but also part of the transition.
When those African women,
when they pass away, we don't go to Heaven,
we go back into the water, and the mothers, the women
become guardian angels.
Mami Wata.
Or they become, Mai De Agua.
Or Yaya Ndew.
Mothers of: the water guardian angels.
So for us it’s connected.
But don't let me get: into about baptisms.
For Gullah Geechee people: when we got baptized, we didn’t want to get
baptized inside a pool inside the church.
We'll get: baptized in the creek, the ocean, the bay, the river,
or the marsh, lake or pond.
Why is that?
Because our ancestors said when the ebb tide would flow
after the baptism, it was carrying
our sins away.
So we talk about washing: our sins away.
It’s not something symbolic
for us it’s literal.
So that procession that: you experienced, guess what?
That's Africa.
I love that.
So what are some of the: special rituals that the Gullah Geechee people
still practice today?
Whew.
Okay.
Well, we are
right now inside historic First African Baptist Church.
You see, the walls in
the church are painted light blue.
We would call: this Haint Blue or Haant Blue.
We paint the doors of: our churches red.
Of our homes red.
Mmm hmm.
That means we own the property.
Not I just got a red door!
Whoa.
[Laughs] And that's how I say,
it's still with us.
They say, “If the haint,
the hag, the witch or the evil spirits try
to come in the house... bam!” It serves as a repellent
because our ancestors say, “Anything evil cannot
handle anything heavenly”.
All these shades of blue: are symbolic of Heaven.
That's part of the ritual.
The rituals are about us: living, continuing the story.
[African Drumming & Singing] I thought of the
Egungun Masquerade.
I saw at the festival: a sacred Yoruba ritual where departed spirits
returned for a time to bless and advise the living.
Watching it made me wonder,
what if remembering our ancestors isn't one sided?
What if they're still: reaching back to us too?
I know just the fact: that you know that you can trace
your ancestry.
Doesn't that make: you feel so powerful?
Like I know myself?
Absolutely.
But it took a while.
You know, it took a
while to understand the beauty of our
culture growing up.
You don't understand: the greatness of it.
And I didn't embrace it.
Like a lot of people: in the area.
But now, as a woman,
as a queen, I understand.
This is valuable,
what we have.
I believe that leaving... A legacy.
As a Gullah Geechee woman: is what I'm doing now.
Yeah.
We kept a lot of: our ancestral ways.
We kept a lot of the food: ways, the spiritual ways.
Herbalism.
It’s a jewel,
and when you lose that, you lose it.
It: leaves with the ancestors.
So to keep it is very important.
It's like precious.
Our ancestors in this land: went through a lot.
They went through: a lot of trauma.
They worked hard to elevate us
as a people to get to a point.
And that circle is still coming around.
So, it's important for us
to understand our history and who we come from beyond
the land that we're on now.
Queen Nqwamary taught me: that some answers aren't found in words alone.
Remembrance isn't just: information we discover, and ancestral reconnection isn't
simply about returning to the past.
It's a continuation unfolding
through the people who choose to remember, practice,
and carry their traditions forward.
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