a paixão da filha de Oxum

Week #8 - Mythology

 

#LGC #Letsgetcreative #LGC2015

 

This week was one of the main reasons I joined this challenge. As soon as I saw ‘mythology’ as a theme, I knew I had a place to share two of my obsessions: iconography and religion. This, what I’m representing in this photo, is something that I’ve held very close to my heart ever since I was 13, and even though I have only half-practiced when I was a teenager, I adore the culture and the history of it: Candomblé, or Yoruba.

 

This religion was its roots in Africa and was taken to Brazil (and the rest of Latin America) by slaves. These men and women, forbidden by Catholics of practicing their own rites, found a way to mesh the two religions, with connections that last to this very day. Every Orixá, or deity, has a Catholic correspondence, in the form of a saint or a figure of the church. My Orixá is Oxum, usually represented by Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (in Portugal and in some places in Brazil) or Our Lady of Charity de El Cobre (in Cuba). A more widely known Orixá is Yemanjá, who has a big following in Portugal because she is usually connected with Our Lady of Fatima. Just to exemplify. (You’ll have to forgive me, I get really excited when I get to talk about this).

 

I have been completely in love with this religion since I was thirteen years old, I have read book after book and it’s just one of those things from my teenagehood that brings me an immense amount of comfort. I’m a daughter of Oxum, the Orixá of the rivers and lakes, mother of lovers and deity of vanity (self-portrait artist, anyone?), of beauty and wealth, represented by the colors yellow and white (and gold), by a mirror in her hand and the waters of the river Osun, located in Nigeria. I tried to hold on to this iconography while giving it my own spin. I hope you guys like it! And that you don’t think I’m a weirdo. :p

Done