YEMANJÁ (YEMAYÁ)

Mother of the seas, motherhood, protection

Yemanjá, written Iemanjá in Brazil and Yemayá in Cuba, is the diasporic incarnation of the Yoruba orisha Yemoja, become in the Americas the sovereign of the sea. Carried by the captives of the Atlantic slave trade, she turned into one of the best-loved figures of the Afro-diasporic pantheons. In the Candomblé of Bahia she is the queen of the salt waters, mother and protector; her colours are white, pale blue and silver, and she is offered mirrors, combs, perfumes and white flowers laid upon the sea. Catholic syncretism associated her with Our Lady, under the names of Nossa Senhora da Conceição or Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes depending on the region. Her most famous festival is held on 2 February at the Rio Vermelho beach in Salvador de Bahia, where thousands of the faithful entrust baskets of offerings to the fishermen who carry them out to sea; she is also honoured at the New Year's Eve celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, dressed in white. In Cuba, Santería venerates her under the name Yemayá, associated with the Virgin of Regla, protector of the bay of Havana, and adorns her with white and blue. Her name derives from the Yoruba Yeye omo eja, the mother whose children are fish — a living memory of the Ogun River transposed to the ocean.