Orisha Oya Dance from Cuba

This video shows a folkloric dance performance of the female Orisha Oya, a Yorùbá deity, as danced today in Cuba to the rhythms of the Lukumí batá drums and singing. The Yorùbá name Ọya Ìyánsán means literally Oya mother of nine (children). Oya is the goddess in charge of wind, tornado, torrential rain and hurricans and beloved wife of Orisha Shango, who is often only called by his name Yor. ọkọ Ọya, husband of Oya. Like wind and thunderstorm they cannot be separated one from another. Oya was Oguns wife, but left him for Shango. She is also hottempered and energetic. In Yorùbáland Oya is the Orisha of the river Niger. In Cuba she resides at the entrance to the cemetery, where she leads the dead ones and hands them over to the female Orisha Oba and Yewa, who live inside these walls. Walking on the boundary between life and death Oya is closely related to the Yor. Eégún, the dead ancestors. She herself had br, br,