Yemanjá

Every year, on February 2nd, hundreds of thousands of worshippers dressed in white gather on Rio Vermelho beach in Salvador de Bahia to honor Yemanjá. They place flowers, mirrors, combs, and perfumes in small boats and entrust them to the sea: if the offerings do not wash back ashore, it is a sign that the goddess has accepted them.

When enslaved Africans were deported to Brazil and Cuba, they were forbidden from practicing their religion. To keep worshipping Yemanjá, they secretly linked her to Catholic figures such as the Virgin Mary: behind a statue of the Virgin, many were in fact praying to the orisha of the waters. This disguise, known as syncretism, saved the Yoruba tradition from oblivion.

In Yoruba mythology, Yemanjá is regarded as the mother of many other orishas. According to some versions of the myth, when her waters broke, they gave birth to the rivers and streams, and from her body several great deities were born.

In Cuba, in Santería, Yemanjá (called Yemayá) is associated with the color blue and the number seven, which symbolizes the seven seas. Her ritual necklaces alternate blue and white beads, and her devotees offer her watermelon, molasses, and ducks.

The name Yemanjá is thought to come from the Yoruba expression “Yeye omo eja,” often translated as “mother whose children are fish,” emphasizing her role as a boundless mother and her nature bound to the waters.