Yemayá
The Great Mother, the Orisha of the Sea.
Omi ó!
From water, the world was born! Yemayá, the Orisha of the sea, is the deity of motherhood in the Lucumí religion. Just like the ocean, she can be gentle or rough, calm or violent, and it is from her that all life begins.
In Yorubaland, Yemojá is the Orisha of the Ogun River. But during the traumatic Middle Passage of the trans-Atlantic slave trade she came to stand in for the salt water of the sea, both in Cuba and Brazil.
Yemayá has many roads or manifestations - such as the elderly deaf Asesú, the regal and austere Ashabá, and the machete-wielding Ogunté. Yemayá is traditionally associated with the colour blue not just because of her connection with water, but also because she owns the process of indigo dyeing that is an important industry for Yoruba women. Here we see some of Yemayá’s connection to commerce, as well as her broader concern for the struggles of women in society.
There is no Orisha without connection to Yemayá because all life springs from her waters. She eats with her son, Shangó. She is one half of the “dos aguas” (two waters) with her sister Oshún, with whom she sometimes fights over the heads of her children. She speaks on behalf of her husband Inle, the fisherman, out of remorse for a moment of rage that led her to cut out his tongue. Her relationship with Olokun, the depths of the sea, is so close that some say they one and the same. And it is with Obatalá’s breath of life that the bodies she forms in the womb come alive.
Just as all rivers lead to the sea, so too do all roads lead back to our great mother, Yemayá.
Maferefún, Yemayá!