Cultural Enthusiasts Celebrate 2024 Osun-Osogbo Festival Grand Finale
The grand finale of the 2024 Osun-Osogbo festival saw cultural enthusiasts, adherents and tourists make their way to the grove following the procession led by the maiden Virgin, (Arugba).
The festival of Osun-Osgobo, takes place every year in Osogbo, Nigeria, to celebrate the Osun goddess of fertility.
The festival saw women and men adorned in beautiful, colourful Yoruba. attires and hairstyles.
The colorful occasion saw an array of vibrant natives and its leaders come to witness the event. One of which was the Aare onakakando of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams.
The chief in tasking the Governors of Ondo and Ekiti States to declare August 20 as Isese Day in line with the remaining four southwest states, encouraged the traditional rulers to be more traditional rather than political.
“As custodians of Yoruba culture and tradition, it is the responsibility of the traditional rulers to sustain the cultural identity of Yoruba race. In the same vein, Yoruba Obas should be more traditional than political.
“As we celebrate Osun Osogbo festival today, I am appealing to our traditional rulers across the southwest to keep the hope alive by playing their roles as custodians of Yoruba culture and tradition in their respective towns and communities.
“I also want to use this opportunity to appeal to the Ondo and Ekiti state governments to join their counterparts in the southwest region to celebrate the best of our culture and tradition. Four states in the southwest, including Osun, Ogun, Oyo, and even Lagos, have declared August 20 as Iseese day.
“In Ondo state, for instance, we have many festivals, traditional, cultural and tourism sites that can be celebrated as major milestones in the state. Festivals like Ekinmogun, Okota, Igogo and several others can be celebrated like that of the Osun Osogbo festival. In Ondo state, there is Oke-Idanre, Ikare Olokeniyi and several other tourist sites that can be turned into gold mines”, he said.
Addressing the gathering, Governor Ademola Adeleke, who the Secretary represented to the State Government, Teslim Igbalaye, said the state government is intensifying efforts to explore the potential inherent in the State’s tourism sector.
“We have huge potential to tap into the tourism sector. Osun is the cradle of Yoruba race and the host of key Yoruba cultural assets. We are not relenting in our plans to make Osun the first tourism destination within and outside the federation”, the Governor noted in his address.
Security outfits including DSS, soldiers, police, and Amotekun were also stationed inside the grove to avert the breakdown of law and order in and around the sacred river.
Vanguard/Victoria Ibanga
