Sat, 19/01/2013 - 6:03am | SEFIU AYANBIMPE

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, in a bid to unite worshippers of the world acclaimed Osun Osogbo Festival with diaspora counterparts in the Caribbean, yesterday scooped the spiritual Osun water into a container with a view to transferring same to worshippers in Brazil.

Soyinka, who is a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)ambassador, in addition visited the groove to inspect the conditions of the tourist sites’ relics and natural resources within the groove.

[b]He said that the Yorubas in the Diaspora, who are worshippers of Osun, only use symbolic water in a bowl to depict the Osun River in Brazil during festival.

He said he promised the worshippers that in his next visit to the South American country, he would bring them water from Osun River, so as to confer originality to the ‘spiritual essence of water’ during festival.

“I am taking Osun Osogbo water samples to Brazil for the Osun worshippers. We have a lot of black people there and many of them are devotees of Osun, Sango, Obatala, Ogun, Yemoja and other deities.

”When I visited the worshippers in Brazil, I found out that they have preserved Yoruba culture, from the liturgies to some of the prayers and even the processions of the devotees. I saw the Iyalorisa of Osun. I saw a bowl of water, which was symbolic of Osun River and I promised them that I would bring them the actual water from Osun.

“I came to see how the work is going on here because there is a lot of restoration here and there is always a conflict of ideas when projects like this is being done. In making sure that one element in a preserved place like this does not clash with another element and to see how we can harmonise it.”

Over 50 million Yoruba descents are said to be living in the Diaspora including West Africa, North, South and with the largest concentration in Central America and the Caribbean. [/b]

Soyinka, who went round the Osun groove in company of Senator Sola Adeyeye, observed that some of the relics, art and cultural artefacts need constant maintenance and restoration so that they may retain their tourist attractions.

The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Tourism and Culture, Mr Sikiru Ayedun, told journalists that the government of Mr. Rauf Aregbesola is leaving no stone unturned in making sure that the state becomes the major tourist destination of the country.

... We have a lot of black people there and many of them are devotees of Osun, Sango, Obatala, Ogun, Yemoja and other deities.

jogrin0:

Paul John:

Two states named after gods!

babyosisi: I like this man but I just hate his idol worshiping juju ways
I pray he Gives his life to Christ before he dies

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tpia@:


They are named after rivers, just like nigeria itself.

Please try to be enlightened.

tpia@:
^sometimes, a river really is, just a river.


the state of Mississippi is also named after a river.

likewise, lagos means lagoon, and kaduna is named for the river kaduna.

Paul John:

Two states named after gods!

lekkie073: ,
ògún god of thunder is different from ò g ù n the state.

PAGAN 9JA:


The state is named after a river which is named after a God.

lekkie073:
which god? i believe u r not refering to thegid if thunder....their pronunciation is different o

tpia@:
pagan

The rivers preceded the gods, unless you want to argue otherwise.

And as was pointed out, one of the rivers is not the deity.

PAGAN 9JA:



are you dey craze? THe Gods existed way before the materialistic river did!

that is just a pronounciation difference. after all, what other meaning does Osun have?

lekkie073:
i doubt if u know anything about yoruba history. osun state is named after d osun river which is also named after d goddess osun. ogun state is named after d ogun river which is not named after d god of iron( ogun). ogun river derived its name from ogun which(charm). if u r a yoruba linguist u will definitely know the difference between ogun, god of iron and ogun, charm.
now u r very dumb by saying the gods preceeded d rivers all rivers are created from time immemorial. river niger which yorubas call odo oya was named after sango's wife oya who immediately after d demise of sango entered d river and was not seen again. naming rivers after gods is symbolic. it does not mean the particular god created that river. r u learning, mr pagan whatsoeva?

PAGAN 9JA:


ok then please explain to me what this Ogun Charm is all about

and plz dont act stu.pid and put words into my mouth. I never mentioned the Creator Force Olodumare. we all are aware that the creation of the river was due to the influence of Olodumare, the Creator Force.I too am well aware of the fact that the rivers are symbolically named after Gods. Hweverm, this does not mean that the Gods came after the rivers. for example, Shango, the force Destruction/war,etc., has existed forever, Hoever it is the Yorubas who named this Spiritual Force as Shango , after their King . (possibly). This God of Destruction and war had a different Yoruba name before that. just remember this. so tit is just the name that changes, however the Spiritua Force remains forever. Shango is called Mithras by the Ancient Persians or Mercury by the GReeks. It is all the same thing.
i hope you are learning mros lekkie whatsoever. .

lekkie073: p
yoruba is a language dats problematic when u dont understand d phonetical melody dat goes with words
ogun(god of iron and war) has the 'do' and 'mi' on the vowels respectively
ogun(the state) has do do respectively so is ogun which is charm