Osun State was created on August 27, 1991, in the southeast of Oyo State and is named for the River Osun, a crucial river that flows through the state. This is why the state is inhabited by the Yoruba people, mainly of the Ibibio, Ifẹ, Igbomina, Ijesha, and Oyo subgroups.
With an estimated 4.7 million residents as of 2016, Osun is the ninth-smallest by area and the nineteenth-most populated of Nigeria’s 36 states. However, some people in Osun State still practice the traditional religion. One of the prominent places that best explains people’s interest in traditional religion is the Osun-Osogbo groove.
People from all over the world come to the yearly Osun-Osogbo festival in August to worship Osun, one of the Orisa (the traditional deities of the Yoruba people). The visitors include Brazilians, Cuban, Trinidadians, Grenada, and citizens of other American countries with sizable Yoruba cultural legacies.
Osun Anthem
Ise wa fun ile wa
Fun Ile Ibi Wa
Ka gbee ga
Ka gbee ga
Ka gbee ga fun aye ri
Igbagbo wa ni pe
Bati beru la bomo
Ka sise
Ka sise
Ka sise ka jo la
Isokan ati ominira
Ni ke je ka maa lepa
Tesiwaju f opo ire
Ati ohun to dara
Omo Oodua dide
Bo si ipo eto re
Iwo ni imole
Gbogbo Adulawo
Oriki Osun
Ore yeye osun
Osun sengese
Oloriya iyun,
Arewa obinrin,
Osun oyeeyee nimo
Awede wemo.
Yeye mi olowo aro
Yeye mi elese osun
Yeye mi ajimo roro.
Yeye mi abimo ma yanku
Yeye mi alagbo awoye.
Eleti gbaroye
Ogbagba ti gbomo re lojo ija.
Ari bani gbo nipa tomo.
Osun, oyeye nimo
Osun onikii
Afide remo
Apenibu sola
Apelodo soro omo
Osun eni ide kiisu.
Amo awo ma ro.
O wa yanrin wa yanrin kowo si.
Gbadamu gbadamu obinrin kosee gbamu
Obinrin to gbona jokunrin lo.
Omi amo rin, omi a moo sun.
Ore yeye gbami, eni ani ni gbani.
