In pictures: Nigeria festival celebrates Yoruba fertility goddess Osun Osogbo

The Osun Osogbo festival, a traditional celebration that is thought to be 600 years old, is under way in Nigeria’s south-western Osun state.

The two-week festival is 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.

Traditional beliefs involving animist spirits are still widely held in Nigeria.

Devotees at the Osun-Osogbo festival believe that the sacred grove forest, situated on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, is one of the last remaining places that the spirits, or “Orishas” reveal themselves to bless them.

The festival is marked with daily performances of people dancing, singing, playing the drums and showing off elaborate costumes to appease Osun, the goddess of fertility…….click here to see the pictures

Source: BBC