The prestigious Olojo Festival packaged primarily to promote the Yoruba cultural values, global peace and prosperity is gathering momentum as its organizers target a global reach for the 2017 edition.
We gathered the festival will celebrate the ancient magnificent and splendor of “Ade-Aare” Crown in the public square, exhibitions of Yoruba antiquities, display of cultural troupes, other materials of the culture and much more for all guests, visitors and residents to enjoy the weekend.
Olojo Festival cultural weekend is billed to hold at the convenient locations near the Palace at Enuwa in Ile Ife, Osun State, Nigeria between September 30 and October 2nd, 2017.
The Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adéyeyè Enitan Ògúnwùsì (Òjàjà II) has made a call on all visitors far and wide to troop out to celebrate the official Yoruba New Year in Ile Ife, Nigeria.
According to the Ooni, “Olojo is notably the foremost festival that the world has ever known. Its existence was a triumphant initiative from divinity to humanity as it was also the primal source to the creation of other festivals. Olojo celebrates the dawn of the first day of existence on earth, as described in many holy and religious books when God said let there be light and there was light. I am keen to use the event as an opportunity for the world to come and experience our authentic cultural festivities.”
In his words, the Ooni of Ife stated that “with my global outreach initiative which is creating a new epic movement, I’ve been travelling out of my kingdom to visit other nations around the world to share our own stories, delivering academic lectures, re-charting the leading role of Yoruba nation in the world and to reignite the immortal Yoruba spirit of enlightenment as the glowing fountain of knowledge that gave birth to the world civilisation”. He further disclosed that, “the existence of Ile-Ife as the source of humanity has been genetically studied and attested to by the scientific work of Dr. Etienne Papin and his 24 man-team at Institute Pasteur in Paris, France. The studies corroborate the genetic existence of the Yoruba collective in Nigeria at more than 100,000 years ago-with two distinct main groups, Khoe-San of South Africa splitting away at 87,000 years ago and Mbuti of DRC parting from Yoruba at 56,000 years ago respectively”.
The Festival as a traditional and cultural event was attended by approximately 250,000 people last year 2016, placing the event as the third largest biggest festival in the world after Rio Mardi Gras in Brazil with 500, 000 attendees and Holi in India receiving the most visitors at 2 million plus. The Olojo festival is unique as it centres on the once-a-year wearing of the Ade-Aare Crown which is the oldest monarchic crown in existence; as it has been strictly maintained over millennia and 51 successive Oonis wearing the exact same crown.
-Rahman Is’mail
