Oyá (also Ollá, Yansa or Yansán) is a fierce and powerful female warrior orisha in Santeria. She is the owner of the marketplace, and keeps the gates of the cemetery. She is the force of change in nature and in life. She wields lightning and rides the winds into battle, often fighting with her machetes side-by-side with her favorite lover, Changó. Oyá raises the armies of the dead as her soldiers and is said to use the tornado as her weapon. Oyá’s aché is fierce, tumultuous, changing and protective. Contrary to what many assume, Oyá does not live in the cemetery. She lives in the marketplace and steers the changing fortunes made through business. She does own the cemetery gates and will escort the spirits of the dead to the threshold of the graveyard, but it is actually Obba and Yewá who live in the cemetery itself. Oyá is said to control the air and winds in nature, and often rides storms into battle against her enemies.
