OXUM (OSHUN)

Fresh water, fertility, love, wealth

Oxum, in Brazil, and Ochún, in Cuba, are the diasporic incarnations of the Yoruba orisha Òṣun, deity of rivers, love, fertility and prosperity. Born around the Osun River, in the south-west of present-day Nigeria, her figure crossed the Atlantic with the captives of the slave trade and blossomed in the Afro-diasporic pantheons. In the Candomblé of Bahia, Oxum reigns over the fresh waters, gold, precious stones and coquetry; her colour is golden yellow, her emblems the fan, the mirror and honey. Catholic syncretism associates her, depending on the region, with Nossa Senhora das Candeias, Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres or Nossa Senhora da Conceição. In Cuba, Ochún holds an exceptional place: associated with the Virgin of La Caridad del Cobre, patroness of the island since 1916, she is celebrated every 8 September, a day when processions and offerings multiply across the island and the diaspora, her faithful adorned in yellow. She is offered honey, pumpkins, cakes and perfumes. Coquettish and powerful, she can be gentle as flowing water or fearsome when offended. In the Afro-Brazilian myths, it is she who raised the twin Ibeji, underscoring her role as nourishing mother within the Afro-diasporic pantheons.