Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Catholicism is used as a motif in the novel to express The Relationship Between the Past and the Present, as well as to showcase The Power of Female Friendships that extends to the bond between the Ya-Yas and the Virgin Mary. The novel’s opening scene shows Sidda staring up at Mary as she sits on the moon and looks down on Sidda with love. The moment indicates a deeper connection to an ancient, all-encompassing sense of love. The novel and the Ya-Yas’ scrapbook use the word “divine” to refer to the secrets held within, and this sense of divinity is one which defines the Ya-Yas. After their initiation ritual in childhood which confirms them as tribal sisters forever, they live by the core value of sisterhood. During their blood ritual, Vivi compares the act to communion, stating, “it’s our blood, not Jesus Christ’s” (73). Later, when she is older, Vivi prays to Mary to guide Sidda in choosing love and finding strength. Sidda’s own relationship to God is clear in her reflections: “If God hides in the details, Sidda thought, then maybe so do we” (29).

However, the novel also depicts the other side of Catholicism, which is trauma, oppression, and sorrow. There are ties between the religion and slavery, as both come from a more fundamentalist and traditional era in which certain groups were positioned above others. Vivi’s mother finds the idea of a dark-skinned Virgin Mary statue abhorrent and has her child scrub it white. Alongside this, the novel also acknowledges the delusions that can occur alongside religious devotion. When Vivi is drugged and manipulated by a priest, she starts to believe her children are possessed, and she violently beats them. Vivi also spends time as a teen at a strict and abusive Catholic boarding school where she is isolated and starved. At the age of 70, Vivi’s relationship with religion is complicated, but she has never given up on her bond with the Virgin Mary.

The moon is a key symbol in the story, and it represents The Power of Female Friendships, as well as a connection to the Virgin Mary that is founded in the Catholic religion of the Creole people. The moon is the first image in the novel, appearing in the story’s prologue. When Sidda is just a child, she feels alone in the world when her mother cannot take care of her; at this time, it is the moon and the lady who sits upon it (the Virgin Mary) who comforts her: “For one fleeting, luminous moment, Sidda Walker knows there has never been a time when she has not been loved” (XII).

The final image of the novel is this same moon, with the same protective female figure looking down upon Sidda’s wedding; the woman is the moon is happy, knowing that everything turned out as it should, and smiled down “at her imperfect children” (356). The moon also shines brightly on nights when several key events occur: the night of the Ya-Ya initiation ritual, the night the girls bathe in the water tower, and the night that Sidda realizes what significance the key holds. Therefore, it acts as a beacon that signals importance. When the Ya-Yas pray, it is always to the moon. The moon has been a symbol of the divine feminine in various cultures around the world for centuries, which the Ya-Yas acknowledge and honor.

Alcohol, cigarettes, and sexuality are part of an overarching rebellion motif that the Ya-Yas exhibit through their daily lives and habitual existence. Despite being raised Catholic in a southern state that expects propriety out of women, the Ya-Yas live life in their own way, by their own principles. While they believe in kindness and respect, they do not deny themselves what they consider to be the pleasures of life. During their youth, Teensy always insisted on the girls being nude together to express their total lack of shame in who they were. There is a subtle undertone of sexuality in the scenes that describe the girls bathing or sleeping together with their limbs entangled. Even when they are in their 70s, the women are seen drinking Bloody Marys while driving out to Spring Creek, never slowing down for a second.

However, the Ya-Yas’ lifestyle of pleasure-seeking and rule-breaking does have some negative effects on their lives. Caro developed emphysema from smoking too much, and her ragged cough at times defines her presence. Vivi had a substance abuse disorder when her children were growing up, and her excessive drinking contributed to their neglect and abuse. At one point, Sidda finds a photo of the Ya-Ya women when they are all pregnant, and three of them have a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The only one who abstained was Necie, but she struggled with overindulging in food instead. Despite these negative consequences, the Ya-Yas have no regrets about rebelling against the standards of propriety of the mid-20th century South.