Osun is the fertility, love, life, and water deity. According to the Ifá oral tradition, Osun is an orisha, a spirit, a deity, a goddess, and one of the incarnations of the Yorùbá Supreme Being.She is among the most adored and well-known Orishas. Osun is a significant river goddess. She is associated with divination and fate. She is the goddess of divinity, femininity, fertility, and beauty. The Osun River and Osun Grove in Osogbo have a rich historical background. The lovely Osun woodland served as the inspiration for what is today the municipality of Osogbo. The founder and his tribe remained blessed by the Osun River Goddess.
Osun was King Sango’s queen consort during her lifetime.During that time, King Sango had three wives: Oya, Oba, and Osun. These three wives are currently connected to the rivers “Odo Oba,” “Odo Osun,” and “Odo Oya.” In the state of Osun, Osun, these flow independently without joining. A long time ago, there was a magnificent and strong monarch named Sango. The people of Nupe, the people of his mother, gave him power. He was given thunderbolt stones by his grandfather, which he used to call down thunder. He was dubbed the deity of thunder and fire because of this ability. He spoke with fire whenever he was furious.
His mother told him to always appreciate any attractive woman who came his way when he was ready for marriage. The first woman that ever come his way was Oba. She has the same youthful, exuberant dance moves as Sango. They married after falling in love. Following years of infertility, Sango desired a child. His wife gave her consent when he requested if he might find a concubine. He passed a cabin one day on his way from his friend’s residence. He knocked at the scent of the food emanating from the hut. The friendship between him and Osun began when a stunning woman emerged. Eventually, Sango brought Osun home. Prior to Sango announcing that Osun would be the only one preparing food for him, Oba had no problems. He seemed to have captured her heart and to love her more than she did. Because she believed her children would be the heirs, Osun never liked Oba.
King Sango’s heart was eventually won over by Oya, the third wife. Because of Oya’s amazing ability to control the winds, Sango always chose her, even during times of war. Due to their husband’s apparent predilection for Oya, Osun and Oba were overcome with jealously. Osun The Osun River is named after her, and she is its holy patroness. The river rises in the west of Nigeria in Ekiti State and flows through the city of Osogbo, home to the main deity sanctuary, Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. The Osun-Osogbo Festival, which normally takes place in August and lasts for two weeks, honors Oṣun in the Oṣun-Osogbo Sacred Grove on the river’s banks.
The Ifa Literary Corpus states that Olodumare sent Ọṣun, the only female Irunmole (primordial spirit), to help Sango create the world. Osun was disregarded as the other sent spirits got to work. Osun sought advice from her partner Sango.
There are two tellings of this tale. According to one, when female spirits functioned without the guidance of a male spiritual leader, all of their inventive attempts to resolve the issue on their own failed. An alternative interpretation, which aligns more closely with the story’s opening, holds that the world failed because the male spirits tried to create it without any female involvement.The second version is more in keeping with traditional orisha beliefs, which honor feminine power, whereas the previous version seems to reflect a patriarchal impact on orisha narratives that arose with the advent of Abrahamic religions.
At the conclusion of both tales, Sango coerces the other spirits into treating Oṣun with the same deference that they do. Olodumare, the Almighty Deity, bestowed upon her the abilities of an Oriṣa as a result of her sacrifice. It is thought that the Osun-Osogbo Festival has been celebrated for more than 700 years. This festival is traditionally celebrated in remembrance of an ancestral event. It all began with the travels of Olutimilehin, a well-known hunter from Ipole-omu, a town close to Ibokun.
While hunting near the Oke-Baale area (a portion of modern-day Osogbo) in a place named Gbonmin, Olutimilehin discovered a nearby dam. He went about determining whether the dam would be able to support his people because of the water shortage that his village was experiencing. Olutimihen lamented his community’s inability to be supported by the dam. During his search, Olutimilehin came upon a creek known as Okrokro, and he discovered that it sprang from the river Osun, which is now a portion of Osogbo. Olutimilehin returned to his village and told Larooye Gbadewolu, the monarch, of his discoveries.
Later, the monarch and his subjects relocated to the flood plain, where he erected his first palace, which is today known as Ile-Osun. With time Larooye and his subjects planted crops on the area they had recently acquired. History tells us that one day, while they were clearing the bush for cultivation, a tree fell by accident, harming the Indigenous spirits’ industry. From the river came the sound of voice, “Laro! Timehin! My dyeing pots are smashed by you.” We heard other voices from the spirit realm saying, “Igbo people are fierce and loud. Aso-igbo, we extend our condolences to you. Subsequently, Larooye learned that the spirit queen’s name was Oso-igbo, which is commonly thought to be the name of the river Osun deity. This is the reason Oba Larooye and all subsequent Ataoja (King of Osogbo) considered the Osun goddess to be their spiritual mother.
According to history, Larooye and his followers also relocated to the higher terrace of the plain, subsequently naming it OKE Ohuntoto, which is located near Osun Groove today. The groove and their already thriving market were abandoned when the population of the King Larooye village increased, and they relocated to Ode-Osogbo following the customary Ifa devination. In the Osun grooves, the abandoned market center and the iledi ohuntoto are now significant historical landmarks. Timehin established a shrine known as Idi-Ogun at the Ode-Osogbo, while Larooye constructed his new castle at Idi-Osun. Larooye and his people found that the trails from Oyo, Ekiti, ljesa, and other places converged at the center of their new settlements.
For a yearly sacrifice, the goddess vowed to protect the tribe and deliver wealth. The proposal was approved by the organization, and the Osun-Osogbo Festival is still held in honor of the Osun River Goddess every year. The Osun-Osogbo Festival spans a period of two weeks. After three days of the customary Osogbo purification ritual known as “Iwopopo,” the 500-year-old sixteen-point lamp known as “Ina Olojumerindinlogun” (also known as a 16-face lamp) is lit.
