Yemọja (also: Yemaja, Yemanjá, Yemoyá, Yemayá; there are many different transliterations in other languages) is the major water spirit from the Yoruba religion.

She is often syncretized with either Our Lady of Regla in the Afro-Cuban diaspora or various other Virgin Mary figures of the Catholic Church, a practice that emerged during the era of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

She does not easily lose her temper, but when angered she can be quite destructive and violent, as the flood waters of turbulent rivers.

Yemọja is often depicted as a mermaid by a number of devotees, and is associated with water, feminine mysteries, and the moon in some diaspora communities.

[4] In Santería or regla de ocha, Yemayá is the mother of all living things as well as the owner of the oceans and seas.

In Montevideo, worshippers gather on Ramírez Beach in the Parque Rodó neighborhood every February 2 to celebrate Iemanjá Day.