Ọya (Yoruba: Ọya, also known as Oyá or Oiá; Yansá or Yansã; and Iansá or Iansã in Latin America) is an orisha of winds, lightning, and violent storms, death and rebirth. She is similar to the Haitian god Maman Brigitte, who is syncretised with the Catholic Saint Brigit. In Yoruba, the name Oya means "she tore." She is known as Ọya-Iyansan – the "mother of nine" — because of 9 children she gave birth to all of them being stillborn; suffering from lifetime of barrenness. She is the patron of the Niger River (known to the Yoruba as the Odo-Ọya)