text: Beliefs Ọya lived on Earth as a human from the town of Ira, in present day Kwara state, Nigeria, where she was a wife of the Alaafin of Oyo, Shango. In Yorùbá, the name Ọya is believed to derive from the phrase coined from "ọ ya" which means "she tore," referring to her association with powerful winds. She is often depicted as a buffalo in traditional poetry, and was believed to have the power to shape-shift into a buffalo. The African buffalo serves as a major symbol of Ọya, and it is forbidden for her priests to kill a buffalo. She is known as Ọya Ìyáńsàn-án, the "mother of nine", because of nine children she gave birth to with her third husband Oko, after suffering from a lifetime of barrenness. She is the patroness of the Niger River (known to the Yorùbá as the Odò-Ọya).
  In the Yoruba religion, Ọya was married three times, first to the warrior orisha Ogun, then Shango, and finally, another hunting and farming deity, Oko.
  Oya was traditionally worshipped in only the areas of Yorubaland once under the control and influence Oyo empire. Because of the Atlantic slave trade, many of her followers of Oyo origin were kidnapped and sold to the new world, where her worship became widespread. Oya worship has also spread to other parts of Yorubaland.