Saint:
Our Lady of Regla. (La Virgen de Regla) The patron Saint of Havana's port.
Day of the Week: Friday. Saturday is also popular.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes):
White or crystal and blue. The collar is made up of seven crystal beads followed
by seven blue beads. Then, a crystal bead alternates with a blue bead seven
times. The sequence is repeated until the desired length is obtained.
Sacrificial Animals: Lamb, ducks, roosters, turtles goats. Fish and
pigeons.
Sacrificial Foods:
Banana chips and pork cracklings washed down with chequete. Black-eyed
peas. All her food should be liberally spread with sugar cane molasses. Yemaya's
favorite fruit is the watermelon. Her water is seawater.
Herbs:
cucaracha, chinzosa, Yellow mombin, indigo, anamu (garlic herb native to Cuba),
water hyacinth, seaweed, purple basil, green pepper, chayote fruit, Bermuda
grass, Florida grass, sponges, coralline, majagua linden, salt water rushes.
Ornaments:
Yemaya is summoned at the seashore with a gourd rattle. She always has a fan
made of duck feathers.
She owns an anchor, a key, a sun, a half moon, a siren which she holds in her open arms. It holds in its hands a ray, the head of a shovel, a conch shell and a sea shell. All her ornaments are made of lead.
Yemaya is the Orisha that controls all the seas and the oceans and all the creatures that live in them.
She is considered the mother of all human beings.
When Yemaya comes down and possess someone, she endows him or her with all her grace and very spicy personality. She will immediately call for a long gown tightly belted at the waist and for her fan. She dances with movements that are like the movement of the waves. When the drums heat up, she dances like waves in a hurricane.
She is full of love and tenderness, as befits the mother of all mankind.