The Yorùbá name “Ọya Ìyásàn-án” literally means “Ọya the mother of nine (children)”. In Spanish orthography, it is typically written “Oyá Yansá”. Ọya is the goddess in charge of wind, tornado, torrential rainfall and hurricanes and beloved wife of Ṣàngó, who is often just referred to as “ọkọ Ọya” – “Ọya’s husband”. Like wind and thunderstorm, they cannot be separated. Both are hot-tempered and energetic. In Yorùbáland, Ọya is the òrìṣà of the river Niger, which bears the same name. She came originally from the Nupe people, the neighbors of the Yorùbá. In Cuba, she resides at the entrance to the cemetery, where she leads the dead ones before handing them over to the female deities Ọbà and Yewa, who live inside these walls. Traditionally, the Yorùbá people had no cemetery, it is one of the adoptions the African deities had to make in the diaspora to fit into a politically and culturally new environment. Walking on the boundary between life and death, Ọya is related to the Eégún or Egúngún, the ancestors. She herself had nine stillborn children she is still protecting. With strong winds she can blow away obstacles and bring new things into life. Ọya stands for the female strength in times of struggle, respected for her strong will and fearless through her connection with the world of the dead. Ọya is a female warrior goddess and known for her strong medicines.
Yet strangely the place did not seem crowded. I’m not sure if it was the sheer size of the place, or whether the masses congregated in one area and didn’t venture far from the main church, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed by tourists in the monastery.
Ọya’s typical color in Cuba is burgundy. Around her waist she wears a belt with nine differently colored pieces of clothes attached, symbols for being the mother of nine dead children. Probably these strips of clothes are based on the typical Yorùbáland dress of the masqueraders, the Egúngún, and Ṣàngó. Sometimes palm fibers from the “palma real”, Ṣàngó’s Cuban tree, are added. She carries an “ìrùkẹ̀ẹ̀” made of a black horsetail. Often called a “flywhisk” in English, in West Africa it is a symbol of chieftaincy or a noble status. She can hold a “machete” or a “vaina”, a huge painted seed from the flamboyant tree, in her hands. Ọya moves around like a whirlwind, spins around her axis to the left. She swings her whisk above her head, brings wind and dynamic change, clears and purifies the air. She brings both arms high in the air above her head in mirrored positions and in a sudden powerful movement stretches them downwards to her hips, followed by a wave, a spinal ripple, moving through her body, going from her pelvis up where it twists the head. She is crying out loudly while dancing, looks fierce and strong, aggressive and violent, her movements are impulsive, energetic and characterized by abrupt stops. Some people say one dance of her in the rhythm “chachalokpafun” is related to the buffalo, her sacred animal and the steps mimic the gallop of this massive animal.
Heépàà heéyìì Ọya Ìyánsàn-án!! (Greeting the deity Ọya!)
