The history of osun osogbo festival part 1

History of the Osun Oshogbo festival
The town of Osogbo is believed to have been founded around
400 years ago. It is part of the wider Yoruba community,
divided into 16 kingdoms, which legend says were ruled by the
children of Oduduwa, the mythic founder, whose abode at Ile-
Ife, south-east of Osogbo, is still regarded as the spiritual
home of the Yoruba people.
The earliest settlement seems to have been in the Osogbo
Grove and included palaces and a market. When the population
expanded the community moved outside the Grove and created
a new town, which reflected spatially the arrangements within
the Grove.
In the 1840s Osogbo became a refugee town for people fleeing
the Fulani Jihad, as it moved south from what is now northern
Nigeria. The Yorubas retreated further south into the forests
and Osogbo, right at the northern edge of the forest, became
an important centre for northern Yorubaland.
The Fulani attacks on Osogbo were repelled and, as a result,
Osogbo has become a symbol of pride for all the Yorubas.
During the first half of the 20th century, the town of Osogbo
expanded considerably. In 1914 British colonial rule begun. As
it was delivered under a system of indirect rule through
traditional rulers, the authority of the Oba and priests were
sustained. A greater change was brought about from the
middle of the 19th century through the introduction of both
Islam and Christianity. Islam became the religion of traders
and ruling houses - as it gave contacts to northern trade
routes and links to returning enslaves from Central and South
America. For a while all three religions co-existed but as time
went by it became less fashionable to be identified with the
Ogboni and Osun cults.
By the 1950s the combined political and religious changes
were having a marked detrimental effect on the Grove:
customary responsibilities and sanctions were weakening,
shrines were becoming neglected and traditional priests began
to disappear. All this was exacerbated by a rise in the looting
of statues and movable sculptures to feed an antiquities
market. At around this time part of the Grove was acquired by
the Department of Agriculture and Forestry for agricultural
experiments. Trees were felled and teak plantations
established; sculptures were reportedly stolen and hunting and
fishing begun to be recorded - previously forbidden in the
sacred Grove.
It was at this crucial point in the history of the Grove that
Austrian born Suzanne Wenger moved to Osogbo and, with the
encouragement of the Oba and the support from local people,
formed the New Sacred Art movement to challenge land
speculators, repel poachers, protect shrines and begin the long
process of bringing the sacred place back to life through once
again establishing it as the sacred heart of Osogbo.
The artists deliberately created large, heavy and fixed
sculptures in iron cement and mud, as opposed to the smaller
traditional wooden ones, in order that their intimidatory
architectural forms would help to protect the Grove and stop
thefts. All the sculptures have been done in full respect for the
spirit of the place, with inspiration from Yoruba mythology and
in consultations with the gods in a traditional context.
The new work has made the Grove a symbol of identity for the
Yoruba people. Many from the African Diaspora now undertake
a pilgrimage to the annual festival.
In 1965 part of the Grove was declared a national monument.
This was extended in 1992 so that now the whole 75 hectares
are protected.

To be continued