Feb 3, 2017
revphoenix said: Why is she depicted as a white woman?
The worship of the african deities was strictly prohibited in the times of slavery. The only way to the religion survive was through syncretism. Yemaya is syncretized with Our Lady of Navigants in my country, that's why this Yemaya is depicted as a white woman. I'm not saying white-washing is right, but it's a very, very popular depiction of this african goddess in Brazil. Even though we all know she’s a black deity, many temples of Umbanda use only images of catholic saints to worship the Orishas.