Some friends told me that each year on the night of February 2nd people gathered on the beach in Punta del Este (as well as other beaches in Uruguay) to make offerings to an African goddess known as Yemanjá. Punta has a large variety of special events held on the beach including runway modeling, concerts, and sporting events, but for some reason this bit of information about making offerings to an African goddess bent my paradigm about Uruguay. So, I went to the beach to investigate.
What I saw on the beach were lots of candles set in shallow holes in the sand or covered by plastic drink bottles with the bottoms cut off to shield their flame from the wind. Besides the candles, there were a few people performing rituals, playing drums, and making offerings of flowers and food. (In addition to flowers and food the goddess is said to like offerings of jewelry, make up, and mirrors.)
So my question to Yemanjá - “what’s an African goddess like you doing in a Catholic country like this?” As it turns out, Yemanjá is one of seven deities of an African pantheon who came to America via the African slave trade and became incorporated in the spiritual practices of African Americans in Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, and New Orleans. From there the Brazilian tradtion migrated to Uruguay.
Yemanjá is the Queen of the ocean and represents the feminine aspects of creation and motherhood, as well as being a patron deity who has the ability to watch over fishermen and shipwreck survivors.
Uruguayans I spoke with told me that Yemanjá can grant wishes to those who give her an offering. I was told that you could ask for anything you wanted, but that it was not advisable for young women to ask for love, because Yemanjá has a reputation of keeping men of interest for herself.
According to Wikipedia, Yemanjá is also known as,Iemanjá or Janaína in Brazil, where she is observed by the Candomblé and Umbanda religions. (In New Orleans Voodoo the goddess is known as Yemalla or Yemana.)