The Ogun festival

A cultural heritage from Ondo, Nigeria.

The sunshine state hosts one of the epic events to ever grace western Nigeria, diversity and culture are facets of Yoruba culture and it’s a pride to continue for generations.

I was opportuned to be at Ondo town in Ondo state, Nigeria, when they had their Ogun festival. One thing to know about the Egii’s, ondo indigenes, that they love home and culture so much.

 I woke up to an unusual activity in my very quiet residence; indigenes painted in blue and white powder trying to paint everyone passing by irrespective of class, status and age in white and blue powder. I managed to pave through their excitement and promised to get back to them, because I couldn’t allow them paint me without a knowledge of why I was getting painted.

The first thing I did at my destination was ask questions to cure my ignorance. I learnt it was a culture symbolizing the 5th day of the Ogun festival .

Ogun, the god of iron, is one of the greatest deities in the history of the Yorubas in Nigeria, while the festival was a celebration in its praise. Of course, we are in the 21st century, most of these festivals dropped quality over the years but not in Ondo town.

 The amazing thing was that the youth, the most nonchalant set of people on earth (including me) were the most excited about this festival. They paraded the whole town in luxurious cars with open roofs, playing loud music, all painted in blue and white. Social media definitely got a proper feel of the festivities with feeds and stories updated by the hour on latest happenings.

 I learnt the festival goes on for 6 days but the last 2 days have always been the main deal. I wasn’t going to miss it for anything, the hyp was epic and I love a good outdoor adventure.

Another surprising thing for me was the fact that all hotels in the town had been booked for days. Later that day, I went Grocery shopping at the market. I was stunned when I realized how nice the sellers were dressed. I mean they’re always nice looking but on this day ,they were gorgeous.They had blue powder pancaked thoroughly on their faces.

The market place was filled up, I noticed there was a little scarcity in the market cause the demand for everything was high thereby causing an increase in the price of commodities (Demand - pull inflation).

The way people were shopping for clothes, shoes and bags, gave the impression that Christmas was a few days away. I ended up adding blue as a natural filter on my pretty cheeks, because when you are in Rome… You get the idea..

I’m looking forward to attending the main event tomorrow and would drop every juicy bit in blue. 💃💃