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By: Odediran Yetunde
Orosun festival is one of the celebrations done by the indigene of Idanre in Ondo state, located in the southwest of Nigeria.
It is an attractive tourist zone that makes Tourists from far and wide orosun a female deity hailed from Ile-Ife she is a goddess of prosperity celebrated yearly in the town. Her original name was 'Maremi' or ' Moremi ' she married one of the great men in Ile Ife since oduduwa was old as at the time she got to Ile Ife.
She sacrificed her son Ela to save Ile Ife from destruction by Esinmenren river. Orosun was formulated by those who praise her by nicknaming her orosun (Rema), her favorite food is dog meat.
One of the things she detested was excreting inside the roofed house while the other was albino another was that you cannot roast something in the open fire and later cook it in the pot. All these were done by the people she was staying with and were also stereotyped.
She decided to leave Idanre because elders who loved her good work did not like what she condemned.
The general belief of people is that since erosion could not be found means she died inside the rock in the forest.
When the people got home they made a consultation with an fa oracle about her location but the IFA priest told them to continue remembering Orosun for her good work in the lives of the people of Idanre.
Since the orosun festival is a celebration of the whole town everyone participates in it including women. The festival is been conducted by the ' Alaworos', is the high priest of erosion. Before anyone could be a member of the orosun worshipper the person must be initiated into the group and its norms.
A day before the festival all the new entrants and their masters must go to oke Idanre hill. They will wash their white robe in the river even though most of them had new clothes they must still wash them according to tradition and also shave their hair with one long line running from the forehead to the back. It is only the masters that can do this until the entrants become masters before doing such.
After the celebration, the new initiate must stay at oke Idanre, For the next seven days during which they must not wear a dress except a wrapper.
Edited by: Adebayo Nurudeen
Published by: Mondiu Sherifat