WatermelonMolassesWhite flowersPerfumeThe first catch
Invocation Approach
Tone
Warm and vast
Address
YemojaMother of WatersIemanjá
Relationship
The mother who is the water
Warning
The river and the sea are not the same water
Resonance
Mothers fishers women at a threshold
Symbols
WaterFishThe moonWhite clothThe waves
Mythology Summary
Yemoja is the orisha of the river Ogun in Yorubaland, the mother of the children of the fish (her name), and in the diaspora she becomes the mother of the ocean and of many orishas. In Cuba she is Yemaya, syncretised with the Virgin of Regla (7 September), and in Brazil she is Iemanjá, honoured at the sea and syncretised with Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes. The shift from river to ocean is a diaspora development, not a Yoruba one, and Olokun owns the deep sea in Yorubaland. The 'mother of all orishas' is diaspora theology, and the Brazilian and Cuban forms differ.
Modern Practice
Yemoja is served with watermelon, molasses, white flowers and perfume, and her practice is the care of children, of women and of the water. In Cuba the feast of the Virgin of Regla (7 September) is her public observance; in Brazil the New Year's gifts to Iemanjá are made at the sea. In Yorubaland the river is hers; in the diaspora the sea is, and the offering is the first catch.