Yemọja (also: Yemaja, Yemanjá, Yemoyá, Yemayá; there are many different transliterations in other languages) is a major water deity in theYoruba religion.[1] She is an orisha, and the patron spirit of rivers, particularly theOgun River in Nigeria, and of oceans in Cuban and Brazilian Oriṣa religions. She is often syncretized with eitherOur Lady of Regla in theAfro-Cubandiaspora or various otherVirgin Mary figures of theCatholic Church, a practice that emerged during the era of theTrans-Atlantic slave trade. Yemọja is said to be motherly and strongly protective, and to care deeply for all her children, comforting them and cleansing them of sorrow. She is said to be able to cure infertility in women, and cowrie shells represent her wealth. She does not easily lose her temper, but when angered she can be quite destructive and violent, as the flood waters of turbulent rivers. This makes her sometimes associated with another major water deity,Olokun. Some of the priests of Yemọja believe that she used her fresh water to help Ọbàtálá in the molding of human beings out of clay.
Yemọja is often depicted as amermaid by a number of devotees, and is associated with water, feminine mysteries, and the moon in some diaspora communities. She is the protector of women. She governs everything pertaining to women; parenting, child safety, love, and healing. According to some beliefs, when her waters broke, it caused a great flood creating rivers and streams and the first mortal humans were created from her womb.
In traditional Yoruba culture and spirituality,Yemọja is amother spirit;patron spirit of women, especiallypregnant women; she is the patron deity of theOgun river (Odò Ògùn) but she has other rivers that are dedicated to her throughout Yorùbáland. In addition, she is also worshipped at almost any stream, creek, springs in addition to wells and run-offs.
Her name is a contraction of theYoruba wordsIye, a dialect variant of "ìyá" meaning "mother";ọmọ, meaning "child"; andẹja, meaning "fish"; roughly translated the term means "mother of fish children". This represents the vastness of her motherhood, her fecundity, and her reign over all living things.
The river deity Yemọja is often portrayed as a mermaid, even in West Africa, and she can visit all other bodies of water, but her home and the realm she owns are rivers and streams, especially the Ogun River in Nigeria.
River deities in Yorubaland include Yemo̩ja,Ọ̀ṣun (Oshun),Erinlè̩,Ọbà, Yewa, etc. It isOlókun that fills the role of sea deity in Yorubaland, while Yemọja is a leader of the other river deities.
InCandomblé andUmbanda, Yemanjá is one of the sevenOrixás. White roses are used as a ritual offering.[2] She is theQueen of the Ocean, the patron spirit of the fishermen and the survivors of shipwrecks, the feminine principle of creation, and the spirit of moonlight. Saturday is the consecrated day of Yemanjá.[4]
Guinea fowl, ducks, hens, she-goat are sacrificed ("orô") on festival days associated with Yemanjá in the Candomblé tradition. Animals sacrificed to Yemonja must be thrown in the water for their disposal.[4]
InSalvador, Bahia, Iemanjá is celebrated by Candomblé on the same day consecrated by the Catholic Church to Our Lady of Seafaring (Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes).[6] Every February 2, thousands of people line up at dawn to leave their offerings at her shrine inRio Vermelho. Gifts for Iemanjá include flowers and objects of female vanity (perfume, jewelry, combs, lipsticks, mirrors). These are gathered in large baskets and taken out to the sea by local fishermen. Afterwards a massive street party ensues.[2][7]
InPelotas,Rio Grande do Sul State, on February 2, the image of Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes is carried to the port of Pelotas. Before the closing of the Catholic feast, the boats stop and host the Umbanda followers that carry the image of Iemanjá, in a syncretic meeting that is watched by thousand of people on the shore.[8]
Iemanjá is also celebrated every December 8 inSalvador, Bahia. The Festa da Conceição da Praia (Feast to Our Lady of Conception of the church at the beach)[citation needed] is a city holiday dedicated to the Catholic saint and also to Iemanjá. Another feast occurs on this day in the Pedra Furada, Monte Serrat inSalvador, Bahia, called theGift to Iemanjá, when fishermen celebrate their devotion to the Queen of the Ocean.
InSão Paulo State, Iemanjá is celebrated in the two first weekends of December on the shores ofPraia Grande city. During these days many vehicles garnished with Iemanjá icons and colors (white and blue) roam from the São Paulo mountains to the sea littoral, some of them traveling hundreds of miles. Thousands of people rally near Iemanjá's statue in Praia Grande beach.
OnNew Year's Eve in Brazil, millions of Brazilians, of all religions, dressed in white gather on the beaches to greet the New Year, watch fireworks, and throw white flowers and other offerings into the sea for the goddess in the hopes that she will grant them their requests for the coming year. Some send their gifts to lemanjá in wooden toy boats. Jumping seven waves is also common. Paintings of lemanjá are sold in Rio shops next to paintings of Jesus and Catholic saints. They portray her as a woman rising out of the sea. Small offerings of flowers and floating candles are left in the sea on many nights at Copacabana.[2][9]
InSantería or regla de ocha, Yemayá is the mother of all living things as well as the owner of the oceans and seas.[10]
Colors: There are many roads to Yemayá, Okute, Asesú, Achabá and Mayelewo are some of them, and each one has a color combination having all blue as a common denominator.
Ritual garment color: Blue.
Ritual number: Seven.
Ritual jewelry or necklace: Seven blue beads followed by seven crystalline beads.
Ritual salutation: Omío Yemayá
A performer portraying Yemaya in Cuban dance.Symbols: Shells, sea stones, fish, fishnets, anchors, everything that pertains to the sea.
InHavana, Cuba, Yemayá is celebrated on 7 September. There is a procession in the municipality ofRegla, home of Our Lady of Regla Church, which takes place around that date, which is a tradition that was initiated by slavesCabildos and their descent, namely Susana Cantero -Omí Toké- and Pepa Herrera -Echu Bí-.[11][12]
It is common for regla de ocha initiated priests and priestess to keep a vigil for Yemayá on September 6 which is calledvísperas.[13]
InMontevideo, worshippers gather on Ramírez Beach in theParque Rodó neighborhood every February 2 to celebrate Iemanjá Day.[14] Hundreds of thousands sit waiting for the sunset before they launch small boats with offerings into the ocean.
In 2015, the Uruguayan government estimated that 100,000 people[15] had visited the beach for the celebrations.
In the CD by the Bobby Sanabria Big Band,Afro-Cuban Dream: Live & In Clave!!! (2000), the song "Olokun" is dedicated to the violent aspect of Yemaya who is chained down in the depths of the ocean and is suddenly awakened.
During theMiss Universe 2016 beauty pageant,Miss VenezuelaMariam Habach wore a national costume entitled "Reina encantada del mar", inspired by the myth of Yemayá.[16][17] The costume, which weighed more than 18 kilos and was made of 120 meters of organza with hundreds of pearls and crystals, was so huge that it hampered her movements and forced her to constantly kick her dress forward,[18][19] to the point that she got stuck in the fabric and had to be assisted off stage.[20]
In the song "Think of You" by French-Cuban musical duoIbeyi, the lyrics include mention of orishas Moyuba, Oshun, Shango and Yemaya. The song "Yemaya" by Alfredo Rodriguez and featuring Ibeyi is named after the spirit.
^abAdeoye, C. L. (1989).Ìgbàgbọ́ àti ẹ̀sìn Yorùba (in Yoruba). Ibadan: Evans Bros. Nigeria Publishers. pp. 220–227.ISBN9781675098.
^abcd"Iemanjá".Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience (2nd ed.). Oxford African American Studies Center: New York. 2008.
^Salamone, Frank A. (2004). Levinson, David (ed.).Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals, and Festivals. New York:Routledge. p. 24.ISBN0-415-94180-6.
^abcdefMagalhães, Elyette Guimarães de (2003).Orixás da Bahia (in Portuguese) (8a ed.). Salvador, Bahia: Secretaria da Cultura e Turismo. pp. 147–148.
^Lody, Raul (2003).Dicionário de arte sacra & técnicas afro-brasileiras (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Pallas. p. 237.ISBN9788534701877.
^"Mother of the Waters" (1988) a film by Elisa Mereghetti Tesser offers a poetic evocation of this ceremony with interviews in which devotees describe their relationship to the goddess and how she has appeared to them.
^Mason, P.H. (2016) Fight-dancing and the Festival: Tabuik in Pariaman, Indonesia, and Iemanjá in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. Martial Arts Studies Journal, 2, 71-90. DOI: 10.18573/j.2016.10065
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Media related toIemanjá at Wikimedia Commons
