GLOBAL BLEND OF CULTURE AND TOURISM(THE OSUN-OSOGBO SACRED GROOVE)

Hello my good people...How are you guys doing? Enjoy the ride as i drive down the lane about Osun-Osogbo Sacred Groove!!

In Yoruba land,there normally exist scared grooves ,in which most it have been abandoned or minimized to small areas. Osun Osogbo is a yoruba settlement that is located in the western part of Nigeria.

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The settlement was founded some 400years ago which have the largest groove to have survived and one that is still respected. It covers 75hectares on the outskirt city of Osogbo and it is believed to be the home of Osun (the Yoruba fertility goddess) with different shrines ,sculptures and art work in her honour.

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Osun-osogbo is seen as the last Yoruba culture which serve as a means of identity for all Yoruba people. In recent years the place serves as a point of tourist attraction where festivals are being held every year.
The festival was a over 400year culture which at some point is at the brink of extinction. However, sanctity of the scared groove was protected by a lead advocate called Susanne Wenger also known as ADUNNI OLORISA.

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She was an Austrian artist who dedicated her life starting from the 1950s, her main focus on the Yoruba culture, her ability to learn and interprets some of the complicated details about the yourba culture through her profound artistic gift and activism greatly contributed to making osun-oshogbo sacred groove more sutainable and renowed.

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Every August, lots of people from around the world throng to Osun State, Nigeria, to attend and participate in the famous, two-week long Osun-Osogbo Festival .

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However , the Osun-Osogbo festival has evolved beyond just being a cultural event celebrated by the Yoruba peoples of Osogbo to being a renown international celebration that keeps attracting new participants yearly. With several activities planned around the festival, as tourists and visitors all come to witness, interact and partake in the two-week long celebration, it was named as a UNESCO world heritage Site in the year 2005.

A Brief Visit to Osun Oshogbo Sacred Groove

Being an adventurous person ,I had to visit the osun - Oshogbo sacred groove by myself and I was amazed with the level weird stuff that still blows my mind till today and makes me wonder if there is something attached to it.I saw a lot of sacred areas belonging to various deties among those areas is the first palace, the river, the iya maapo .

The First Palace
The first palace was the place the first king of osogbo and his people settled.It is situated in the osun courtyard and its habours the osun shrine and the temple.

The River
The wider part of it is really nice ,so relaxing with a suspension bridge that was built in1935 during the colonial times is kinda freaky..its vibrating as we moved on it which makes me loses my composure.

The Iya Maapo
She is the guard of the groove. She is addressed as the goddess of women entrepreneurship and might with magical powers that enables her to fly.As you can see from the picture ,she has three pairs of arms which enables her to person any feat.

This last picture though (Laughs) ,i took it with a fearful mind due to the scary nature of the shrine behind me.It was really an amazing and eye opening experience.

However, Osun Osogbo festival is not all about sacrifice in the Osun grooves. It is also a celebration of cultural events.Lots of business organizations and companies now take part in the celebrations .They seize the opportunity to showcase their products and sell their services. During the festival branded cars, give-away shirts, and promotional business activities ranging from advertising to marketing of new ideas and existing goods.

Thanks for reading!!!

All the pictures uploaded during my visitation period were taken with my phone (camon X).