YEMOJA
Yemoja (Yoruba: Yemọja) is a major water deity
from the Yoruba
religion. She is an orisha and the mother of all orishas, having given birth to the 14
Yoruba gods and goddesses.She is
often syncretized with either Our Lady of Regla in the afrocuban diaspora or various other
Virgin Mary figures of the Catholic Church, a practice that emerged during the
era of the Trans-Atlantic
slave trade. Yemoja is
motherly and strongly protective, and cares 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.
Yemoja is
often depicted as a mermaid, and is associated with the moon, water, and
feminine mysteries. She is the protector of women. She governs everything
pertaining to women; childbirth, conception, parenting, child safety, love, and
healing. She oversees deep secrets, ancient wisdom, the moon, sea shells, and
the collective unconscious. According to myth, 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 a mother spirit; patron spirit of women, especially pregnant women; She is the patron deity of the Ogun river (Odò Ògùn) but she is also worshipped at any and all streams,
creeks, springs in addition to wells and run-offs.
Her name is
a contraction of the Yoruba words Yeye, meaning "mother"; ọmọ,
meaning "child"; and ẹja, meaning "fish";
roughly translated the term means "Mother whose children are like fish."This represents the vastness of her motherhood,
her fecundity, and her reign over all living things.
In West
Africa, Yemoja is worshipped as a high-ranking river deity, but in Brazil and
Cuba she is worshipped mainly as a sea/ocean goddess. River deities in
Yorubaland include Yemo̩ja, Ọ̀ṣun (Oshun), Erinlè̩, Ọbà,
Yewa, etc. It is Olókun that fills the role of sea deity in Yorubaland,
while Yemoja is a leader of the other river deities.
The river
deity Yemoja is often portrayed as a mermaid, even in West Africa, and she can
visit all other bodies of water, including lakes, lagoons, and the sea, but her
home and the realm she owns are the rivers and streams, especially the Ogun
River in Nigeria.
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