[The Guardian] Sacred ground: the ancient grove where Yoruba traditions are reborn

Sacred ground: the ancient grove where Yoruba traditions are reborn

A centuries-old festival on the banks of the Osun River in Nigeria has seen prayers answered down the ages. Now it faces a modern challenge – pollution

• Photographs by Emebiriodo Ugochukwu

Through the dim forest, a slow procession of hundreds of people largely dressed in white, some in a trance, others singing fervently, heads towards the Osun River. As they have every August for 700 years, Yoruba people gather here at the Osun-Osogbo sacred grove, a Unesco world heritage site in south-west Nigeria, for an ancient festival celebrating their traditional spirituality.

Clockwise from top: an Osun priestess on her way to the grove; a group of priestesses wait for the worshippers to arrive; an arugba, or virgin, leads a procession; Yoruba traditions are still practised by a devout minority

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