- Yoruba Heritage

The Olojo Festival is a festival in Ile Ife, Osun State. Nigeria. It is a cultural festival in the calendar of the Ile-Ife. The celebration of the remembrance of “OGUN”, God of Iron, who is believed to be the first son of ODUDUWA, progenitor of the Yoruba people. The festival is held annually in October.

On this day, the Ooni (king of Ife) appears after several days of seclusion and denial communing with the ancestors and praying for his people. This is to make him pure and ensure the efficacy of his prayers. Before the Ooni emerges, women from his maternal and paternal families sweep the Palace, symbolically ridding the Palace of evil.
The Ooni later appears in public with the Are crown (King’s Crown), which is believed to be the original crown used by Oduduwa to lead a procession of traditional Chiefs and Priests to perform at the Shrine of Ogun. The next stage of the ceremony is to lead the crowd to Okemogun’s shrine.
Here he performs duties including the renewal of oath, divination for the Ooni at the foot of Oketage hill by Araba (Chief Priest), as well as visiting places of historical importance. At the shrine, the traditional Chiefs with the swords of office marked with chalk and cam wood, appear in ceremonial attire and dance to rhythms from Bembe, a traditional drum. The style of drumming and singing for each Chief is different. Only the Ooni can dance to the drum called Osirigi.

- OKE'BADAN CULTURAL FESTIVAL DAY

The Oke’badan Cultural Festival is an important festival cherished by the people of Ibadan, Oyo State. It is celebrated annually to serve as a reminder of the historical antecedent of Ibadan people; and it is a festival that brings together sons and daughters of Ibadan land to advance ideas for its rapid development.

The festival’s name, Oke’badan, translates to “Hill of Ibadan” legends about the original site of Ibadan, which was located on a hill. Settlers from the east and north congregated on the hill during the 18th century; and it was gathered that from their resolution in that gathering, Ibadan was formed; but the hill has been deserted since then.

However, the legacy bequeathed to the people on that historic day remains till date. Oke’badan is believed to facilitate fertility for the barren, who participate in the festival; and it is also an occasion to honour the founders of Ibadan as well as the goddess of the hill.

The picture shows Aboke of Ibadan Land, Chief Ifasola Ifamapowa in plaited hair and dressed in a woman attire as part of tradition, dancing at the Oke 'Badan Cultural Festival Day.

- The Eyo Masquerade

The Eyo is the masquerade that comes out only in Lagos Island, otherwise known as the Adamu Orisha play. It is a Yoruba festival unique only to Lagos Island, Nigeria. It is believed to represent the spirits of the ancestors. The Eyo festival may be held in honour of a chief or an elder of a ruling family or an Oba, who had died. It may also be held when a new head of an Iga (palace) or a new Oba is installed. In modern times, it is presented by the people of Lagos as a tourist event and due to its history, is traditionally performed on Lagos Island, Nigeria.

- The Yoruba Drummers

The Yoruba Drummers with Dùndún and Ṣẹ̀kẹ̀rẹ̀. The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from Yorubas in West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitch of the drum by squeezing the cords between their arm and body.  
The Yoruba Ṣẹ̀kẹ̀rẹ̀ is a West African percussion instruments consisting of a dried gourd with beads or cowries woven into a net covering the gourd. The instrument is common within Yoruba in West African and Latin American folkloric traditions as well as some of the popular music styles. In performance it is shaken and/or hit against the hands. The Ṣẹ̀kẹ̀rẹ̀ is made from vine gourds that grow on the ground. The shape of the gourd determines the sound of the instrument. A Ṣẹ̀kẹ̀rẹ̀ is made by drying the gourd for several months then removing the pulp and seeds. After it is scrubbed, skillful bead work is added as well as colour.

- Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove, on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, is one of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Regarded as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods, the landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures and art works in honour of Osun and other deities. The sacred grove, which is now seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people, is probably the last in Yoruba culture. It testifies to the once widespread practice of establishing sacred groves outside all settlements.

The Osun Osogbo Festival celebrates Yoruba fertility goddess. A traditional celebration considered to be the biggest annual traditional religious event of the Yoruba people. It attracts thousands of worshippers and spectators not just from Nigeria but from all over the world.

Osun Osogbo Annual Festival, a UNESCO world heritage site. The festival also attracts foreigners all over the world. Some of them are tourists, others are drawn by what they see as a religious and cultural connection.

"We have a large group of Orisa devotees in all parts of Europe, North and South America, so a lot of these people came here to celebrate with the Nigerian people because we share the same culture... we all worship the nature," a worshiper told us.

"We are thrilled about this festival and we are all getting the blessing of Osun here, from the very source of it, and we are grateful to all Nigerian people for making this place available for tourists and devotees."

Picture shows the attending foreigners and devotees in colourful Asò Ębi in Yoruba language parlance.