Who is Iemanjá?

Iemanjá is considered the most famous orixá in Brazil being the only one that has holidays and festivals in her honor. She is recognized as the patron saint of fishermen and queen of the sea, as she is able to decide their fate every time they venture out to sea.

Brazil is a huge country and has a gigantic coastline, therefore fishing is one of the most known commercial activities in the regions. Thus, fishermen always ask for Iemanjá's protection so that the fishing can be successful and safe.

The families of fishermen also pray to her so that she can intercede for their loved ones in their daily fishing. In this article, you will see all about Iemanjá - her history, names, itans and much more. Check it out!

The story of Iemanjá

Iemanjá has many qualities: she is obstinate, protective, passionate, faithful and dedicated. She has a great sense of hierarchy and is very maternal. Below you will learn more about the mother of the orixás and the queen of the sea. Follow along!

Origin - Olokun's daughter

The history of Iemanjá arrived in Brazil with the arrival of the African slaves. She is an orixá of a religion of the Egba people, natives of Nigeria, and her name means "mother whose children are fish".

The Egba lived near the Yemanjá River in southwestern Nigeria. In the 19th century there were many wars among the Yoruba peoples. Because of this, the Egba had to migrate, but they continued to honor and worship Yemanjá, who, according to them, moved to live on the Ògùn River.

The marriage with Odudua

Iemanjá, daughter of Olokum, was married to Oduduá and from this relationship she had ten orixá children. Because she had to breastfeed them, her breasts became enormous and Iemanjá felt very ashamed of them.

Thus, she was very unhappy in her marriage and decided to leave her city and go to live in Ifé. On any given day, when she set out towards the West, without any pretension, she bumped into King Okerê and soon fell in love.

Iemanjá leaves Okerê

Orixá Iemanjá was very embarrassed by her breasts and asked that her husband Okerê never speak badly of her, so he agreed. However, one day he got drunk and began to offend Iemanjá, who was very upset and decided to run away.

While running away, Yemanjá knocked over a pot that she had carried with her since she was a little girl. The pot contained a potion, which turned into a river that headed towards the sea. Okerê did not want to lose his wife, so he turned himself into a mountain to block the river's path.

So, in order to escape, Yemanjá called her son, Xangô, who, assuming a lightning bolt, split the mountain in half. After that, the river could flow freely into the ocean and she became the queen of the sea.

Iemanjá cries a river

Unfortunately, Iemanjá had several problems with her children. Ossain, one of her children, left home very early and decided to go live in the forest to study vegetables. He made a potion and gave it to his brother, Oxossi, but Iemanjá advised him not to drink it. Even so, he did not obey his mother.

After taking the potion, Oxossi went to live with his brother in the bush. After the effect wore off, he wanted to return to his mother's house, but her mother was so indignant that she threw him out. Then Ogum criticized her for fighting with his brother, which made Yemanja desperate to be in conflict with her three sons.

In this version of the story, she cried so much that she ended up melting and formed a river, which flowed straight into the sea.

Orungã - How Iemanjá died

According to its origin, one of Iemanjá's sons, Orungã, ended up falling in love with his own mother. He waited one day, when his father was not around, and tried to rape Iemanjá, but she managed to escape and ran away as fast as she could.

Orungã eventually reached her, but Iemanjá fell to the ground and ended up dying. On the ground, her body began to grow a lot and her breasts ended up rupturing. From them came out two rivers, which originated the seas. From her womb came out the Orixás responsible for ruling the sixteen directions of the planet.

The names of Iemanjá

In Brazil, Yemanjá may be known by different names: mermaid of the sea, princess of the sea, queen of the sea, Dandalunda, Janaína, Inaé, Ísis, Mucunã, Maria, princess of Aiocá and many others.

In Christian religions, Yemanja may be known as Our Lady of Candeias, Our Lady of Piety, Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Conception and Our Lady of Navigators.

Other itans that tell the story of Iemanjá

Other itans tell legends and stories of Yemanjá. One of them states that she was the daughter of Obatlá and Odudua, and that her brother was Aganju, whom she married. Below, you will better understand the stories of the queen of the sea. Check them out!

Iemanjá and Exú

A legend tells that one day Oyá, Oxum and Iemanjá went to the market. Exu went into the market too, but he was carrying a goat. He approached Iemanjá, Oyá and Oxum and said that he had an appointment with Orunmilá. Exu said that he would leave the city and asked them to sell his goat for twenty cowries, but said that they could keep half of the value.

So they separated the ten conch shells of Exu, Iemanjá counted the ones that were left over, but when they divided by three and realized that there was one left over, they began to fight. Iemanjá wanted to keep the conch, because she was the oldest.

So the three argued for hours and came to no conclusion. When Exu returned to the market and asked where his share was, they gave it to him and asked him to divide their cowrie shells himself. So Exu gave three to each, and for the last cowrie, he made a hole in the ground, hiding it there.

The orixá said that the conch would be for the ancestors. Thus, Iemanjá, Oyá and Oxum agreed that Exu was right and, soon, accepted the conch.

Shame

Iemanjá has an itan related to shame. According to it, Euá was a young and chaste princess, very hardworking, graceful, pure and silent. But one day she met a young warrior, who got her pregnant after seducing her. Euá decided to hide the pregnancy from everyone.

So she became very desperate and, when she was in labor, she fled to the forest, for she had no one to trust. There she gave birth to a male child, but, alone in the forest, she fainted. The newborn was then picked up by Iemanjá, who took him to her kingdom and named him Xangô.

Euá, when she woke up and did not see her son, was desolate and hid in the cemetery, covering her face so that no one could recognize her.

Awarded Trip

The orixá Iemanjá is related to the story of the rewarded trip. In it, Nanãmburuque made a trip to Africa and, when she returned, she gave birth to a boy, who was named Obaluaê.

Unfortunately, Obaluaê had leprosy and when Nanãnburuque noticed this, she didn't want him anymore and abandoned him. So, Iemanjá, who is Obaluaê's sister, was very sorry for him and decided to take care of him. She raised Obaluaê and gave him the name of popcorn with honey.

Stubborn

According to one of her itans, Iemanjá was warned not to let Odé, her son, go into the woods because he would get lost and terrible things would happen. Soon, Iemanjá warned him about this, but Odé, stubborn, would not listen.

So Odé ended up getting lost and was picked up by Ossaim, who was enchanted by him. Ossaim dressed him with many feathers and taught him how to use a bow and arrow. Iemanjá, missing her son, went to look for him with the help of Ogum.

However, Odé was only found after three years and told Ogum that he did not want to return because he was in love with Ossaim. When he did return, he continued using the bow and arrow.

Secrets of the night

According to one of the itans of Iemanjá, Orunmilá was one of the most beautiful and charming men, who had all the women, but did not want a relationship with any of them. He was the holder of the secrets of the night and needed to be stopped, because he kept bewitching people.

So Oxalá wanted to take this evil from Orunmila and have his secrets, but for that he needed a very beautiful woman who could charm him. So Oxalá called Iemanjá to seduce Orunmila, and together they made a deal: she would do whatever he wanted, as long as she could then return and reign with him.

But Iemanjá fell madly in love with Orumnila and they could not live away from each other, so she took away all his spells and secrets and they had many Orixá children.

Revanche

In one of Yemanjá's stories, when Obá saw her reflection in the mirror or in the waters of the river, she saw the deformity caused by Oxum and decided to take revenge. Logunedé was a very naughty boy who lived with his grandmother, Yemanjá, and was the son of Oxum and Odé.

Iemanjá was his adoptive mother and took very good care of him, but one day he managed to escape from her eyes and went for a walk in the world. He walked a long way and came across a lady in riding clothes standing on a rock in the river, and she asked him what the boy's name was.

When Logunedé answered, Obá, who was the lady, went mad to carry out his revenge and kill the drowned son of Oxum. Thus, Obá invited the boy to ride a sea horse and called him to enter the river.

But as Logunedé was approaching the rock where Obá was, a hurricane that took him and led him to his grandmother passed by. So Obá explained to his mother that she had saved the boy and apologized.

Kidnapping

Oxalá (heaven) and Oduduá (earth) had two children: Iemanjá and Aganjú. Thus, the children were related and, from this union, Orungã was born.

Iemanjá's son, Orungã, fell in love with his own mother and took advantage of his father's absence to kidnap and rape his mother. However, Iemanjá, very distressed and terrified, managed to free herself from Orungã's arms and escape.

Least Favoured

Olodumare ordered Yemanjá to be responsible for the care of Oxalá's house - care of the housework and children. Thus, Yemanjá felt exploited and complained a lot about being the least favored since all the other gods received offerings and she lived in slavery.

She used ori (vegetable fat), esó (fruits), omitutu (water), obi (knotted fruit), eyelé-funfun and sweets.

Iemanjá managed to cure her husband and he, grateful, went to Olodumare to ask him to let Iemanjá have the power to take care of everyone's heads. Therefore, until today, Iemanjá receives offerings and a tribute on the day of the bori, which is a propitiatory ritual for the head.

Xapanã Chaurôs

In the story of Chaurôs, Xapanã (or Obaluaiê) had leprosy and people were afraid and disgusted by his appearance, so he always hid himself very well. But Iemanjá had trouble finding him, so she decided to put several chaurôs on his clothes.

The chaurôs made it easier to locate Xapanã, which is why, to this day, when adejá is played and children are playing, they end up simulating an escape.

Bewitched

Iemanjá always warned Odé, her son, about the spells of Ossaim, his brother, but, even so, Ossaim did not listen to her and ended up being bewitched. Thus, Odé ended up distancing himself from his entire family while under Ossaim's spell.

But when the spell was broken and he returned home, Yemanja was very angry that Odé had not listened to her advice.

Odé ended up returning to the forest under the influence of Ossaim, which caused Ogun to rebel against his own mother, Iemanjá. Odé ended up learning all the secrets of the forest from Ossaim and, today, he defends the plants and does not allow those who are not prepared to enter the forest.

Wig

One of the legends of Yemanja says that Oxum had very long hair and Yemanja stole it while Oxum was busy. Soon, Oxum consulted her cowrie shells and saw that Yemanja was the thief, but could not retrieve it.

Without her long strands, Oxum ended up greasing oil, cloth and indigo dye to the little hair she had left and made a coke. Thus, until today, those who pay homage to her wear their hair this way.

Coronation

At the coronation itan, Xangô wanted to take Ogum's crown. To do so, he gave him a coffee with sleeping pills and went to the ceremony site. Iemanjá ordered the lights to be turned off so that the ceremony could begin, and Xangô took advantage of the darkness to cover himself with sheepskin and sit on the throne.

The sheepskin was so that Iemanjá would not see that it was Xangô. So, after Iemanjá placed the crown on her son's head, the lights came on and everyone saw that it was Xangô who had been crowned. But it was already too late.

Love and hate

Iemanjá had many problems in her relationships, and her son Xangô inherited this bad luck in love, being responsible for the end of many relationships.

For example, Xangô seduced Oxum and took her to her father's palace - other legends say that Xangô took her from Ogum and they had a lovers' relationship. Thus, Ogum ended up marrying Yansã, who also went away with Xangô.

But Oxum seduced Iansã and abandoned her, who later stayed with Odé, but they remained alone in the forest. In the same way, representing love and hate, Iemanjá married Oxalá and betrayed him with Orunmilá.

How to learn more about the history of Iemanjá?

Here, you could get to know some of the many legends of Iemanjá, as well as understand why she is so revered and adored by Brazilians. Iemanjá didn't have an easy life: she had to run away from her own son and still faced many problems with them. But she never let this shake her and, because of this, she is considered the queen of the sea.

To get closer to her, you can celebrate Yemanja's day in February, giving offerings to the sea. But if you are far away and still want to pay homage and connect with her, you can take a flower pot, fill it with white roses and offer them to Yemanja, asking for protection for all the residents of your house. Know that you don't need to be near the sea to connect with the motherof water!