There is one historic celebration, known as Olojo festival, commemorated annually in Ile-Ife, which has further lent credence to ancient city as a symbol of authority and where all human being migrated from to establish other parts of the world.
Historically, there is no doubting the fact that Ile-Ife, an ancient town in the South Western part of Nigeria is the cradle of human existence, just as science with empirical knowledge, Biblical and Quranic discoveries on creation on creation, dated back tens of thousands of years ascribed to the town with its symbol of authority as the source of humankind.
Findings indicates that Olojo festival is sacred event that celebrates the descent of Oduduwa to Ile-Ife and it is historically tied to Ogun, the quintessential deity of iron and truth, who is the father of modern science, the Yoruba deity of iron is the pathfinder.
The Yoruba cosmology showed that Ogun charted the way for Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yorubas and other deities. From this perspective, Olojo festival is therefore meant to commemorate the period Oduduwa and other spiritual deities descended on the earth.
In a nutshell, it would not be out of place to submit that Olojo is a landmark event that predates the existence of mankind, signaling the establishment of mankind on earth, through the source–Ile-Ife, the land of expansion.
The celebration of Olojo usually span two weeks, including seven sacred days of programmes of events scheduled for September is the Idijo, meaning the determination of sacred dates, which is done during the first week of August, (Osu Ogun)-the month of pathfinder deity and this is followed by Gbajure (Signaling the commencement of Olojo festival) a week before the actual date of Olojo.
Two days after these events, the Oonirisa would go into a state of physical and spiritual seclusion with his ancestors, the esoteric beings and Almighty God for five days during which he does not interact with any mortal. The traditional ruler would come out of seclusion on a Friday, referred to as Ojo Ilagun, a day of earth cleansing with the Ooni’s terrestrial message to the world.
The earthly symbolic conviviality is usually on Saturday, the Okemogun day, which is the day that the monarch adorns the Aare, the sacred beaded crown
Before the celebration of this year’s Olojo festival, being the second of its kind the current Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Babatunde Adeyeye Ogunwusi (Ojaja 11) would be commemorating on the throne, the monarch had carried out advocacy and unity visit to traditional rulers in the South West and also engaged in international visits to propagate the essence of African culture, especially to international tourists.
This was deliberately done to attract more and better participation of Yorubas at home and Diaspora, including foreign tourists in Olojo, which has attained the level of a global brand when it comes to celebration of African great cultural exploits.
Speaking in his palace, located in Oduduwa House during a media launch for 2017 Olojo festival,, Oba Ogunwusi said no nation can develop without its traditional culture, just as he described Olojo as “the dawn of creation of the Almighty”.
According to him, “if you go to China and India, their cultures and traditions are closely linked to their developments”, maintaining that “in Ile- Ife, Olojo is the day that God created this world. It is only in Ile-Ife that it is being celebrated in the world. It is the first and traditional festival that is significant to human creation and the epicentre of the world is in Ile-Ife. It has to do with the celebration of the Almighty God”.
He continued, “It is the day all the creation converge and the melting point is the sacred Are crown. It is the creation that brought about the entire world, the kingship. The creation of the new dawn and the very first day in the world is what we we are celebrating”.
“All the divine spirits would converge, with the critical divine spirit that gave way to other spirits and everything. That is Ogun, the god of iron. Ogun is the link and root and it is called pathfinder deity. The festival is sacred and spiritual, that is the day the Are crown comes out. The spectrum of rainbow is called Osumare. It is the bunch we have inside and outside Are crown, it depicts the colour of Africa, the black race is linked to multiple colours. Olojo is a global brand”, Oba Ogunwusi remarked.
However, during the climax of the festival, characterised by funfare and glamour at Oduduwa House, where Ooni’s palace is located in Ile-Ife on Saturday, a mammoth crowd converged to catch a glimpse of Ooni of IfEmese he meandered through the crowd from the Emese court, donning the historical “Aare Crown.
Aare crown is the only physical symbol of authority the Ooni of Ife inherited from his ancestors and it is believed to be the original crown used by Oduduwa during his reign in the classical era of Yoruba history.
According to myth, it was made from many items, which included among others 149 undisclosed objects, cutlasses and hoes. It weighs 100 kilogrammes. The crown holds greater significance in the Olojo celebration. Ooni of Ife is spiritually empowered to wear this sacred crown, during the Olojo festival, which is too heavy for him to bear on just any other day.
Historically, it is believed there is a deep tie between the sacred crown and Ogun deity, the god of iron due to the crown’s components and it must be brought before Ogun deity at Oke-Mogun shrine in Ile-Ife on each Olojo festival season.
The crowns which is a symbol of peace, unity, blessing and prosperity is believed to attract people to itself when the Ooni bears it. But, it is forbidden, as history dictates, for the reigning Ooni to have even a glimpse of inside of the sacred crown. While Ooni dons it, he is transmogrified into its true nature, Orisa, whose visage has been said to be to behold.
Before Oba Ogunwusi appeared with the “Aare Crown, which is believed to weigh about 100 kilogrammes, around 5.35pm, he had earlier received the procession of Ogun, Sango, Osun worshippers and adherents of other deities, who filed out in the frontage of Ile-Oodua, the palace of the monarch to pay him traditional homage.
Members of various socio-cultural groups Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), traditional groups and Ife chiefs milled around the palace to add colour and glamour to the event.
As part of the traditional rites to solidify the commemoration of Olojo festival, many pigeons were offered as sacrifice to appease the gods and other rites were performed before Oba Ogunwusi came out through the Emese court, putting on the age long “Are Crown”.
Accompanied by some palace chiefs and eminent indigenes of Ile-Ife, including the former deputy governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Oba Ogunwusi was sighted waving at the crowd, that struggled to watch the procession of the monarch and his colourful entourage as he moved to Oke Mogun shrine to perform other rites.
At the Oke Mogun shrine, Oba Ogunwusi prayed for peace and socio-economic development of Yorubaland, Africa and the entire global community.
Eminents personalities that attended the 2017 Olojo festival include the Minister for Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, former deputy governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, the Senator Buruji Kashamu, the deputy governor of Osun State, Mrs Titi Laoye Tomori, who represented Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, former Commissioner for Tourism in Osun State, Mr Sikiru Ayedun, among others.
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