The Osun Osogbo festival kicked off on Monday with the traditional cleansing of the city of Osogbo called ‘Iwopopo”.
The Iwopopo rite signifies the official commencement of the 2024 edition of the annual sacrifice to celebrate the Osun river goddess with pomp and pageantry.
The Ataoja of Osogboland Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olaonipekun, Larooye II, led the Osogbo Cultural Heritage Council, traditional chiefs, worshippers, devotees, government officials and residents of Osogbo in a symbolic cleansing of the city.
The event, which was held at the popular Gbaemu Junction, saw Osun devotees marched through designated routes after which different age and social groups, communities and titled chiefs paid homage to the king while seated at the centre of the town amid drumming and dancing.
Activities lined up for the festival include: the lighting of the 500-year-old sixteen-point lamp called ‘Ina Olojumerindinlogun’ will hold on August 1, 2024. ‘Iboriade’, a unique assemblage and display of the crowns of the past Ataojas of Osogbo, for blessings, which will come up on August 5, 2024.
Friday August 9, 2024 will witness the grand finale of the festival that will also feature the sacrificial offering by “Arugba” at the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.
