effort to maintain their powerful role as traders.
Thus, the celebration of Siala is often commemo-
rated by warlike dances. The Yao often mix their
traditional beliefs with Islam and now even
Christianity. Yet the ancestral beliefs, linking them
to ancestors and to the continuity of their com-
munity, are central facts of ordinary life.
Among the Yao, one finds the contradictions
that often appear when a people have been domi-
nated commercially, physically, or intellectually by
another people; yet remarkably one finds the kind
of resilience among the Yao today that their
leader, King Machemba, discovered in 1890,
when he issued a declaration to the German
Commander von Wissman which stated that the
Yao were willing to trade, but not willing to sub-
mit to the Germans. After many years of struggle
on physical and political levels, the people of this
area of Malawi and southern Africa gained their
independence.
Molefi Kete AsanteSeealsoShona
Further Readings
Asante, M. K. (2007).The History of Africa. London:
Routledge.
Mitchell, J. C. (1971).The Yao Village. Manchester, UK:
Manchester University Press.
YE.MO.NJA
Within the Yorùbá spiritual pantheon, Yemo. .nja is
celebrated as the giver of life and as the meta-
physical “Mother of Òrisá.”
Yemo. .nja’s name is derived from the Yorùbá
words Yeye or Iyá (“mother”), o.mo. (“child/
children”), and eja. (“fish”) and thus literally
means “Mother whose children are the fish.”
According to theitàns(stories) of the Yorùbá, the
ÒrisáYemo. .nja was a primordial spiritual entity
who was charged byOlófi/Olódùmarè(God) to
assist the ÒrisáObàtálá with the formation of.
humans in Olófi’s creation of the Earth. She
descended to the Earth on a rope with 16 other
Òrisá fromO.’run, the abode of Olófi, and traveled
throughout the world engaging with other Òrisá
in preparing the world for humankind. She is the
owner of the Ògùn River, the largest river within
the territory of Yorùbáland, and is the counterpart
of Olóòkun, who represents the unknowable bot-
tom of the sea.
In Yorùbáland, each town maintained its own
deity based on the myths of its founders. Tapa
(Iganna) in the Oke Ogun area is where Yemo. .nja
originated. However, the worship of Yemo. .nja
began in Shaki. Among her “roads” or different
personae are Aganna, Ako, and Banyarinor, who
are from Tapa/Iganna, and Asaba, Àkútè, 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 espe-
cially celebrated in the Ibara quarter of that city.
Yemo. .nja is frequently portrayed as the wife of
various male personified Òrisá, such as o.bàtálá,
o.kèrè, Òrisá Oko, and Erinlé. She is also said to
be the mother of Ògún, Sàngó, O.ya, O.sun, O.bà,
Òrisá Oko, Babalúaiye, and O.so.o.si.. Many other
itàns describe her as having never given birth, but
as having raised many children, in particular,
Sango, Dada, and the Ìbéjì (twins). Theitànsalso
describe her as having long breasts as a result of
the many children she nursed. Her sensitivity and
embarrassment about her long breasts are consis-
tent throughout the stories, and several tell of her
turning herself into a river in response to insults
about this by other Òrisá.
Although also attributed to the Òrisá O.sun,
stories refer to Yemo. .nja as having been given (or
as having stolen) the ability to interpret the oral
scripture verses of the 16 Odù Ifá through the div-
ination process calledmerindilogun. It is said that
Yemo. .nja taught other Òrisá this alternative
method of accessing the Odù through the “throw-
ing” of dilogun cowry shells, thereby granting
every initiated priest the ability to divine. Yemo. .nja
speaks in many of the verses of the Odù, but she
is substantially represented in the OdùÒdí, the
elements of which include tradition, the mainte-
nance of civilization, protection, and nationalism
(who is inside and who is outside).
Yemo. .nja 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 Òrisá of fertility and has under her protectionYemo. .nja 735