Oyá
The Orisha of the whirlwind, the Mother who lives at the cemetery gates.
Epá é, Yansá!
Standing at the gates of the cemetery, between life and death, is the woman warrior, Oyá. The Orisha of the tornado, Oyá’s praise name, Yansa, means the mother of nine - her two surviving children Eleguá (chaos) and Egún (the ancestors). Though a beautiful and refined Orisha, she wears on her copper crown all the tools of Ogun - the machete, the hoe, the pick-axe - as well as her mask, the lightning, and the sickle.
This sometimes fearsome Orisha is the revolutionary, reminding us that the only constant in this life is change. She dances with the iruke - the horsetail switch - balanced on her head as she spins, Oyá is the might behind the king Obatalá. Sometimes people even say she dons a beard to ride into battle.
Oyá is not just a warrior. She is also deeply connected to sexuality. Her greatest love is Shangó, though she remains staunchly independent of men. She can be found not just at the cemetery gates, but in the marketplace, among the women who traditionally control commerce in Yorubaland.
Illustration of Iansá by Carybé
Oya is the Buffalo Woman. In one pataki, it’s said that Oya had the power to change into a buffalo by donning buffalo skins. On the rare occasions that she would go back to her human form, she carefully hid the skins under some rocks, because without them she would be stuck as a human. One day, a hunter spotted a great buffalo and was preparing to take his shot when, to his surprise, the buffalo suddenly transformed into a beautiful woman. He watched in awe as she hid the skins, and as soon as she headed to the market, the hunter took her skins and hid them somewhere else. When she returned from the market, she was horrified to find them missing, and in their place was the hunter who demanded she marry him. Knowing he had power over her, she agreed on the condition that he never hit her or the children she would bear. Several years later, an argument turned violent and he slapper her in the face. Oyá ran to the forest in a blind rage. The hunter, filled with remorse, tried to find her but he was too late. Oyá had found her skins, hidden not far from where she had left them, and turned back into a buffalo, never to be seen again.
Maferefún Oyá!