Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases two videos of the Osun-Osogbo festival that is held each year in August.
The content of this post is provided for cultural, spiritual, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Praises to Osun and all of the orisas. Thanks to all the devotees of Osun and thanks to all who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of these videos on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT OSUN
From http://santeriachurch.org/the-orishas/oshun/
"Oshun (also spelled Ochún, Oṣun or Oxum) is the youngest of the orishas and probably the most popular in Santeria. She was the last orisha born in the world out of Olodumare’s love for creation. She is the orisha of love, beauty, femininity and sensuality which leads many people to compare her to Venus or Aphrodite. Such a comparison is short-sighted, however, for Oshun is vast and powerful; she is actually the full breadth of womanhood. From the young, enthusiastic coquette that flirts with boys to the old matriarch that sits in a rocking chair, hard-of-hearing, reminiscing of her youth, Oshun contains every woman’s story within her patakis. She makes her residence in the rivers of the world. Hers is the power of sweetness in life, and all of the things that make life worth living.
Oshun represents all of the phases of a woman’s life and her worship was popular in Africa"...
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From http://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/oshun.php
"Oshun is the Yorùbá Orisha (Deity) of the sweet or fresh waters (as opposed to the salt waters of Yemaya). She is widely loved, as She is known for healing the sick and bringing fertility and prosperity, and She especially watches over the poor and brings them what they need. As Orisha of love, Oshun is represented as a beautiful, charming and coquettish young woman...
With the African diaspora, Oshun was brought to the Americas, and adopted into the pantheons that branched out of the African traditions. In the Brazilian religion of Candomblé, which retains close ties with the Yorùbá religion, as well as in Cuban Santeriá, She is called Oxum. In Haitian Vodou She is an inspiration for Erzulie or Ezili, also a Deity of water and love."...
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INFORMATION ABOUT OSUN-OSOGBO GROVE
From http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1118 "Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove"
..."The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove is some of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Through the forest meanders the river Osun, the spiritual abode of the river goddess Osun. Set within the forest sanctuary are forty shrines, sculptures and art works erected in honour of Osun and other Yoruba deities, many created in the past forty years, two palaces, five sacred places and nine worship points strung along the river banks with designated priests and priestesses.
The new art installed in the grove has also differentiated it from other groves: Osogbo is now unique in having a large component of 20th century sculpture created to reinforce the links between people and the Yoruba pantheon, and the way in which Yoruba towns linked their establishment and growth to the spirits of the forest.
The restoration of the grove by artists has given the grove a new importance: it has become a sacred place for the whole of Yorubaland and a symbol of identity for the wider Yoruba Diaspora.
The Grove is an active religious site where daily, weekly and monthly worship takes place. In addition, an annual processional festival to re-establish the mystic bonds between the goddess and the people of the town occurs every year over twelve days in July and August and thus sustains the living cultural traditions of the Yoruba people.
The Grove is also a natural herbal pharmacy containing over 400 species of plants, some endemic, of which more than 200 species are known for their medicinal uses."...
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INFORMATION ABOUT OSUN-OSOGBO FESTIVAL
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osun-Osogbo
Osun-Osogbo or Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a sacred forest along the banks of the Oshun River just outside the city of Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria.
The Osun-Osogbo Grove is among the last of the sacred forests which usually adjoined the edges of most Yoruba cities before extensive urbanization. In recognition of its global significance and its cultural value, the Sacred Grove was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005...
Osun-Osogbo Festival
Every year, the Osun-Osgogbo festival is celebrated in the month of August at the grove. Yearly, the festival attracts thousands of Osun worshippers, spectators and tourists from all walks of life.
For the people of Osogbo Land, August is a month of celebration, traditional cleansing of the city and cultural reunion of the people with their ancestors and founders of the Osogbo Kingdom.[2]
The Osun-Osogbo Festival is a two-week long programme. It starts with the traditional cleansing of the town called 'Iwopopo', which is followed in three days by the lighting of the 500-year-old sixteen-point lamp called 'Ina Olojumerindinlogun'.
Ina Olojumerindinlogun, the sacred lamp lit at the beginning of the annual Osun-Osogbo festival
Then comes the 'Ibroriade', an assemblage of the crowns of the past ruler, Ataojas of Osogbo, for blessings. This event is led by the sitting Ataoja of Osogbo and the Arugba, Yeye Osun and a committee of priestesses.[3]
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FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1: Africarts...Osun-Osogbo Festival 2013 (Part A)
TVC News Published on Oct 14, 2013
The Osun-Osogbo Festival in south-west Nigeria occurs every year in the month of August.
It is a grand and colourful fest organized at the "Osun" sacred groves in Oshogbo, the Osun state capital.
It draws tens of thousands of believers of the Osun deity and tourists alike from within and outside the country.
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A central feature of this festival is that groups of people dance counterclockwise around a 16 light sacred lamp. That is shown at 12:04 in the video until the video ends.
I wonder if this Osun-Osogbo ritual could have been one of the sources of the ring shout:Caribbean.
"A shout or ring shout is an ecstatic, transcendent religious ritual, first practiced by African slaves in the West Indies and the United States, in which worshipers move in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands. Despite the name, shouting aloud is not an essential part of the ritual.
The ring shout was practiced in some African American churches into the 20th century, and it continues to the present among the Gullah people of the Sea Islands" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_shout
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Video #2: Africarts...Osun Osogbo Festival 2013 (Part B)
TVC News Published on Oct 14, 2013
The Osun-Osogbo Festival in south-west Nigeria occurs every year in the month of August.
It is a grand and colourful fest organized at the "Osun" sacred groves in Oshogbo, the Osun state capital.
It draws tens of thousands of believers of the Osun deity and tourists alike from within and outside the country.
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