Information About & Videos Of The Orishas Yemaya & Oshun

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides some information about the orishas (orisas) Yemaya & Oshun (Osun).

Some YouTube videos of these orishas are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural and religious purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Maferefún orishas.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in these videos.
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*Here's a definition for the word "maferefún" from a 1997 announcement about a Cuban cultural performance http://www.afrocubaweb.com/ccsmaferefun.htm
"Maferefún Cuba (the word is Yorubá and has many meanings -- it is a greeting, it confers a blessing, it invokes the power of the spirit world) is a multi-media exhibit of Cuban art that uses the symbols and practices of African-based religions as part of its aesthetic. Afro-Cuban culture draws on a wide variety of traditions like the Lucumí of Yoruba origin (often referred to as Santería in the U.S.), the Bantú of Congolese origin, the Abakuá from the Calabar region of West Africa and the Dahomey-based tradition of the Arará. It represents one of the richest manifestations of African traditions in contemporary Latin society and its influence reaches well beyond the borders of Cuba to the rest of the Americas, especially New York."

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I was motivated to publish this pancocojams post after watching Nigerian singer Davido's video "1 Milli". That video features elements of traditional Yoruba orisha/Afro-Brazilian culture.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/04/youtube-discussion-thread-comments.html for Part II of a pancocojams series about Davido's "1 Milli" song/video. That pancocojams post is entitled "YouTube Discussion Thread Comments About Orishas & Afro-Brazilians Influences In The Official Video Of Nigerian Singer Davido's Song "1 Milli" ".

I think that the orisha Oya is also featured in the official video for Davido's song "1 Milli". A pancocojams post on the Orisha Oya will also be published ASAP and the link to that post will be included here.

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INFORMATION ABOUT YEMAYA
From http://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/yemaya.php
"Yemaya is the Yorùbá Orisha or Goddess of the living Ocean, considered the mother of all. She is the source of all the waters, including the rivers of western Africa, especially the River Ogun. Her name is a contraction of Yey Omo Eja, which means "Mother Whose Children are the Fish." As all life is thought to have begun in the sea, all life is held to have begun with Yemaya. She is motherly and strongly protective, and cares deeply for all Her children, comforting them and cleansing them of sorrow. She is said to be able to cure infertility in women, and cowrie shells represent Her wealth. She does not easily lose Her temper, but when angered She can be quite destructive and violent, as the sea in a storm.

Yemaya was brought to the New World with the African diaspora and She is now worshipped in many cultures besides Her original Africa. In Brazilian Candomblé, where She is known as Yemanja or Imanje, She is the Sea Mother who brings fish to the fishermen, and the crescent moon is Her sign. As Yemanja Afodo, also of Brazil, She protects boats travelling on the sea and grants safe passage.

In Haitian Vodou She is worshipped as a moon Goddess, and is believed to protect mothers and their children. She is associated with the mermaid-spirits of Lasirenn (Herself a form of Erzulie) Who brings seduction and wealth, and Labalenn, Her sister the whale.

Yemaya rules over the surface of the ocean, where life is concentrated. She is associated with the Orisha Olokin (Who is variously described as female, male, or hermaphrodite) Who represents the depths of the Ocean and the unconscious, and together They form a balance. She is the sister and wife of Aganju, the God of the soil, and the mother of Oya, Goddess of the winds.

Our Lady of Regla in Brazil may be linked to Her, and She is equated elsewhere in the Americas with the Virgin Mary as the Great Mother. In parts of Brazil She is honored as the ocean Goddess at the summer solstice, while in the north east of the country Her festival is held on February 2nd (a day that is also associated with Her daughter Oya, as well as being the feast day of the Celtic Bride), with offerings of blue and white flowers cast into the Sea.

Yemaya's colors are blue and white, and She is said to wear a dress with seven skirts that represent the seven seas. Sacred to Her are peacocks, with their beautiful blue-green iridescence, and ducks. The number seven is Hers, also for the seven seas.

Alternate spellings: Yemanja, Yemojá, Yemonja, Yemalla, Yemana, Ymoja, Iamanje, Iemonja, Imanje"...

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS OF YEMANJA
Video #1: Festa de Yemanjá 2011



Alessandra Fratus, Feb 5, 2011

Festa de Yemanjá 2011. Rio Vermelho. Salvador, BA. Brasil. Odoyá!

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Video #2: Honoring the Sea 2011: Offering to Mother Ocean



TheSambaYogi, Oct 11, 2011

Offering to Yemanja, the Afro-Brazilian deity of the Sea, at Santa Monica Beach, led by Swing Brazil Tribe and elders from Bahia, Brazil. Part of Honoring the Sea, the opening ceremony to the 2011 World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles. In Brazil, offerings to Yemanja take place each year on February 2 in Salvador, Bahia. In Rio de Janeiro, offerings to Yemanja are a highly celebrated New Year ritual.

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Video #3: Yemanja Festival



Richard Hunt, Nov 1, 2012

This is a clip from the film 'Slave to the Rhythm' soon to be released on Blu-ray disc with full Surround Sound.

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Video #4: Niñas bailando Yemaya en Cuba



Anier Sanchez Sandoval, Sep 11, 2017

Niñas bailando la orisha Yemaya en San Miguel Del Padrón, La Habana, Cuba.

Compañia: Estrellitas Bailan
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Google translate: Girls dancing the orisha Yemaya in San Miguel Del Padrón, Havana, Cuba.

Company (name) - Little Stars Dancers

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Video #5: RAICES PROFUNDAS Rare Performance! YEMAYA (HD)



Cali2 Cuba, Oct 10, 2017

CALI2CUBA brings you a rat performance with Cuba's top dance company Raices Profundas! Live in Juan Bencomo's house in Jesus Maria, La Habana

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INFORMATION ABOUT OSUN (OSHUN)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshun#Ceremonies_and_Ritual_Colors
"Oshun (known as Ochún or Oxúm in Latin America) also spelled Ọṣun, is an orisha, a spirit, a deity, or a goddess that reflects one of the manifestations of the Yorùbá Supreme Being in the Ifá oral literature and Yoruba-based religions. She is one of the most popular and venerated orishas. Oshun is an important river deity among the Yorùbá people, divine feminine, fertility, beauty and love.[1][2] She is connected to destiny and divination.[3]

During the life of the mortal Oshun, she served as queen consort to King Shango of Oyo. Following her posthumous deification, she was admitted to the Yoruba pantheon as an aspect of a primordial divinity of the same name.

She is the patron saint of the Osun River in Nigeria, which bears her name. The river has its source in Ekiti State, in the west of Nigeria, and passes through the city of Oshogbo, where Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, the principal sanctuary of the deity, is located.[1] Oshun is honored at the Osun-Osogbo Festival, a two-week-long annual festival that usually takes place in August, at the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove on the banks of the river.[4][5]

Oshun is syncretized with Our Lady of Charity, patron saint of Cuba, and Our Lady of Aparecida, the patron saint of Brazil. In Trinidad she is associated with St. Philomena and the Hindu deity Ganga Mai or Mother Ganges.[6][7][8]

[...]

She is associated with the colours gold/deep yellow in most of the diaspora and in Nigeria, white, yellow and green. In Trinidad, she is associated with the colour pink.[11]"...

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS OF OSHUN
Video #1: Oshun Dancing, Havana, Cuba



eguinkolade, Mar 18, 2009

Performance of Dance of Oshun, Havana, Casa de Africa, 1992, by David H. Brown, (c) Folkcuba 2007. Complete film including dances of Elegua, Ogun, Oya, Shango, and Babalu Aye, as well as Oshun, available from Folkcuba.com's music store.

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Video #2: Ochun, Santeria



Anibal Lopez, Jan 11, 2014

Regla, Havana, Cuba

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Video #3: Osun Oshogbo Festival 2016




Yorubaxtra, •Nov 14, 2016

Watch and enjoy the best of African Cultural Festival "Osun Oshogbo" .

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Video #4: Oshun



qince15, Sep 13, 2018

At the Gran Palenque, Havana.

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