Some of the foreign tourists attending the ongoing Osun Osogbo Festival say that, beyond tourism, they are attracted to the annual event because of its cultural and spiritual values.
The tourists, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the grand finale of the festival on Friday, at the Osun Grove in Oshogbo, said the spiritual benefits of the event could not be overemphasised.
Miss Kimberly Adein, a tourist from Cuba said she made it as a matter of duty, to attend the festival annually as a mark of respect for the Osun river goddess.
Adein noted that the Osun River is endowed with many spiritual benefits, hence, she has kept coming annually to participate in the festival
According to her, the Osun grove will continue to attract thousands of people as long the festival remains.
Also, Mr Matthew Dodd, a tourist from the United Kingdom, said the Osogbo grove plays significant roles in the lives of its devotees and worshippers beyond what could be imagined.
Dodd said the cultural and spiritual values of the World Heritage site could not be overemphasised due to its enormous benefits.
He commended the organisers of the festival for making the “global event” a success.
Another tourist, Alexy Butler, from the United States, said the uniqueness of the festival has continued to draw thousands of people across the world to the grove.
Butler called on stakeholders in the culture and tourism sector to ensure that the beautiful and sacred site of the grove was not eroded.
NAN reports that the festival, which started on July 29, is expected to end with the procession of “Arugba” (a virgin female girl), carrying a symbolic calabash containing sacrificial items, from the King’s Palace to the groove, a distance of about four kilometres.
The Arugba serves as a mediator between the people (devotees), who offer supplications, especially for fertility, along the procession, and their god, the Osun deity.
This calabash is believed to have been handed to the ancestors of Osogbo by the Osun goddess who instructed that a royal virgin lady must carry it to the grove on the day of the festival.
NAN also reports that the Osun Osogbo festival, whose history dates back many centuries, is usually celebrated in the groove, outskirts of Osogbo town.
It is among the last of the sacred forests that adjoined the edges of most Yoruba cities before extensive urbanisation.
In recognition of its global significance and cultural value, the Sacred Grove was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.
For the people of Osogbo land, the festival represents the traditional cleansing of the town and the cultural reunion of the people with their ancestors and founders of the Osogbo Kingdom.
