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This year’s Osun Osogbo festival is set to kick off on Monday, August 1-29, in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
A festival is an annual event that is usually celebrated in August at a sacred grove, to worship Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility.
It’s believed that the Osun Osogbo festival refreshes the relationship between deities and human beings.
The festival is considered to be the biggest annual traditional religious event of the Yoruba people.
A huge tourist attraction, the festival is usually attended by tourists from all over the world, as well as Osun worshippers.
Traditional beliefs involving animist spirits are still widely held in Nigeria.
Devotees at the Osun-Osogbo festival believe that the sacred grove forest, situated on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, is one of the last remaining places that the spirits, or “Orishas” reveal themselves to bless them.
Osun Osogbo is also a combination of comedy, music and dance
Events lined up for the festival include the traditional cleansing of Osogbo, which is known as ‘Iwopopo’, on August 1, followed by the lighting of the 500-year-old six-point lamp called ‘Stupa oloju merindinlogun’ which comes up three days after the cleansing of the land.
The main attraction of the festival is the Arugba, a virgin maiden who is supposed to help the people communicate with the deity, who leads a procession of devotees to offer sacrifices to the river.
The Arugba, also known as the ‘calabash carrier’, has a large calabash on her head underneath a colourful veil.
It contains the sacrifices of the entire community and those offered by the people in attendance.
Every Arugba has to remain a virgin during her time in the role.
‘Bibo Ade Oba Osogbo’, which is meant to honor past kings of Osogbo is slated for August 8, 2022.
On August 11 is the ‘Dida Ifa arugula, where a young virgin woman (arugula) of a royal lineage, offers sacrifices to the deity.
This will be followed by the ‘Dida Ifa Arugba’, while the festival will end with the ‘Osun Ajigun’ on August 29, 2022.