Daughter of Oshun

Murals of Oshún

Location: Kennedy and Georgia Avenue, NW Washington, DC

Oshún is a Yoruba orisha, daughter of Yemoja a Nigerian river goddess. Oshún is  protector of the family and pregnant women. This mural of a daughter of Oshún was painted by Joel Bergner in 2008.

“Oshun, also spelled Osun, an orisha (deity) of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. Oshun is commonly called the river orisha, or goddess, in the Yoruba religion and is typically associated with water, purity, fertility, love, and sensuality. She is considered one of the most powerful of all orishas, and, like other gods, she possesses human attributes such as vanity, jealousy, and spite.” Encyclopedia Britannica

Book connections:

Gerson, Mary Jo. The Coming of Night. Little Brown, 1994.

Murphy, Joseph and Mei-Mei Sanford. Osún across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddes in Africa and the Americas. Indiana University Press, 2001.

Riordan, James. How Night Came from the SeaLittle Brown, 1999.

Photo credit: Africa Access

Photo credit: dcmural.org