Yemonja

Within the Yorùbâ spiritual pantheon, Yemonja is celebrated as the giver of life and as the metaphysical “Mother of Orisâ.”

Yemonja's name is derived from the Yorùbâ words Yeye or Iya (“mother”), omo (“child/ children”), and eja (“fish”) and thus literally means “Mother whose children are the fish.” According to the itàns (stories) of the Yorùbâ, the Orisa Yemonja was a primordial spiritual entity who was charged by Olófi/Olódùmarè (God) to assist the Orisâ Obàtâlâ with the formation of humans in Olófi's creation of the Earth. She descended to the Earth on a rope with 16 other Orisâ from Orun, the abode of Olófi, and traveled throughout the world engaging with other Orisâ in preparing the world for humankind. She is the owner of the Ogùn River, the largest river within the territory of Yorùbâland, and is the counterpart of Olóòkun, who represents the unknowable bottom of the sea.

In Yorùbâland, each town maintained its own deity based on the myths of its founders. Tapa (Iganna) in the Oke Ogun area is where Yemonja originated. However, the worship of Yemonja began in Shaki. Among her “roads” or different personae are Aganna, Ako, and Banyarinor, who are from Tapa/Iganna, and Asaba, Akùtè, Ayaba, Asesu, Mojelewi, Okoto, Ogunte, Opa Lado, and Afodo. Abeokuta, the current capital of Ogun state, is the site of her principle shrine, where she is especially celebrated in the Ibara quarter of that city.

Yemonja is frequently portrayed as the wife of various male personified Orisâ, such as obàtâlâ, okèrè, Orisâ Oko, and Erinlé. She is also said to be the mother of Ogun, Sàngó, Oya, Osun, Obà, Orisâ Oko, Babalùaiye, and Osoosi. Many other itàns describe her as having never given birth, but as having raised many children, in particular, Sango, Dada, and the Ibéjì (twins). The itàns also describe her as having long breasts as a result of the many children she nursed. Her sensitivity and embarrassment about her long breasts are consistent throughout the stories, and several tell of her turning herself into a river in response to insults about this by other Orisâ.

Although also attributed to the Orisâ Osun, stories refer to Yemonja as having been given (or as having stolen) the ability to interpret the oral scripture verses of the 16 Odù Ifâ through the divination process called merindilogun. It is said that Yemonja taught other Orisâ this alternative method of accessing the Odù through the “throwing” of dilogun cowry shells, thereby granting every initiated priest the ability to divine. Yemonja speaks in many of the verses of the Odù, but she is substantially represented in the Odù Òdi, the elements of which include tradition, the maintenance of civilization, protection, and nationalism (who is inside and who is outside).

Yemonja has been likened to amniotic fluid because this water base protects her children against a predatory world. She is temperamental and can be soothing or unpredictably violent. She is the Orisâ of fertility and has under her protection [Page 735][Page 736]dockworkers, boatwrights, fishermen and -women, sailors, swimmers, and others who work, live, or travel around water. She is the patron of the Gèlèdè Society (“Society of Mothers”), and her road of Akutè is the Mother of the Ogboni Society of elders. She is associated with the fish gill facial markings worn by the lyawo (initiate into the priesthood) and is said to have assisted Sango in ending the practice of twin infanticide in Nigeria. Her animal totems are duck, vulture, snake, and small snail; her sacrificial animals are ram, lamb, duck, rooster, goat, fish, and pigeons. She is represented in her various shrines in Africa by sacred stones (ota) placed in river water in a calabash.

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