The Osun Osogbo Festival
The Ọ̀sun-Òṣogbo festival is an annual festival held in the Western Nigerian city of Òṣogbo by the Yoruba people of Ọ̀sun state. Known to be the biggest Yoruba traditional festival, the festival attracts thousands of spectators and worshippers globally in August every year.
It is held in honor of Ọ̀sun; a goddess of femininity, fertility, spirituality, emotions, sensuality, nurture, and love— a two-week-long program that starts with the traditional cleansing of the town called 'Iwopopo', followed in three days by the lighting of the 500-year-old sixteen-point lamp called 'Ina Olojumerindinlogun'. Then comes the 'Iboriade', an assemblage of the crowns of the past ruler and Ataoja's of Òṣogbo, in the quest of appeasing the deity for blessings.
The festival began approximately 600 years ago; founded by the indigenes of the Òṣogbo community.
An occurrence prior to the origination of the festival stated that some certain people migrated to the region of Òṣogbo and proceeded to clear the environment for habitation. As soon as they began, a spirit from the river-god Ọ̀sun ordered them away, and immediately the place became a sacred place of worship for the devotees and it has been an important tradition and necessity in the Yoruba land of Òṣogbo ever since.
For the natives, the festival means more than celebrations; it means renewal of their faith, protection, and assurance while some others see it as a tourist attraction.
The festival is considered by traditional believers to be a haven of spiritual divination and solution; majority of the attendees are those who seek solutions to their respective predicament as the Ọ̀sun goddess is perceived to be motherly and merciful.
The people arrive at the royal palace with hopes and prayers in their hearts as an appointed committee of priestesses prepares the crowd for an eventful march towards the ‘Sacred Grove’ - a spiritual procession that entails an energetic march, filled with dancing, drumming, and traditional eulogies which could take hours to complete.
This ritual is led by a young- royal virgin known as arugba - a teenager chosen from the king's lineage. She is responsible for bearing a sacrifice on her head that will be presented to the deity as atonement. The Ataoja of Òṣogbo and Yeye Òsun and a committee of priestesses lead the way to the sacred grove as they are all guided by the whip men known as olore. They march from the royal palace to the sacred groove of Òsun as the crowd follows them, casting their problems and sorrows on the calabash carried by the royal Virgin for she has assumed the role of a mediator between the deity and the people.
Once they have arrived at the sacred groove, the arugba, Yeye Òsun, and the committee of priestesses go inside to perform the necessary rituals and appeasement and once the rituals are completed and accepted, they all hail the river goddess and congratulate themselves for the success and pray they all live to see the next one.
People are then allowed into the river bank; to drink, bathe and take home the water of Ọ̀sun and they all hail the river goddess.
