The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove
The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a forest along the Osun river outside Osogbo. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 2005. This grove is several centuries old.
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The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a forest along the Osun river outside Osogbo. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 2005.
This grove is several centuries old. The forest once adjoined most Yoruba cities before urbanization changed the landscape.
By the 1950s, customary protections weakened. The New Sacred Art movement formed to challenge land speculators.
The festival traces back over 700 years. Tradition says the river goddess Yeye Osun appeared from the water before a hunter.
Osun-Osogbo draws worshippers and tourists from around the world.
According to tradition, Yeye Osun requested migrants relocate to present-day Osogbo. An annual sacrifice followed.
The August celebration lasts two weeks. It begins with Iwopopo, a traditional cleansing of the city of Osogbo.
The procession reaches the shrine inside the sacred grove. A young woman called the Arugba carries the calabash sacrifice.