CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Introduction
Festival is an event usually set by a local community.
It centres on and some unique Aspects of that community. It is a set of
activities and practice designed to entertain the People of that
particular community.
Among many religions, a ‘feast’ is a set celebration in
honour of God or gods. A Feast and a festival is historically
inter-related. Festival of many types serves to meet specific Needs as
well as to provide entertainment. These types of celebration offer a
belonging to Religious, social or geographical groups. Festivals also
reminds people of their traditions and in resents times also helps in
unity among family.
There are numerous types of festival in the world, though many
have religious origin, Others have some cultural significance. Also,
certain people celebrate their own festival to mark some significance
occasion in their history.
Festival is also a set of activities and practice designed to
educate and to entertain the People of a particular community through
ritual performance, celebrations or social activities.
Ekpeyong (1981:31) opines that
Festivals are periodic re-occurring days or seasons of merry-making
sets aside by a community, tribe, clan, for the observance of sacred
celebration, religious, solemnities Or musical and traditional
performance of social significance.
It is an occasion of public manifestation of joy. It can take the
form of the form of religious celebration during which sacrifices are
offered to the different gods having power over rain, sunshine,
marriage, thunder, and good harvest.
Among the Yoruba, the indigenous religious have largely given way to
Christianity and Islam, but the old festival still observed. Nigeria has
many local festivals that date back before the arrival of major
religion and which are still occasion for masquerades and dance.
Festivals in Yoruba land i.e. African society is a means of worshipping different gods which
Have significance and different roles. Sango, which is the god of
thunder, Ogun the god of Iron and Osun, the god of water. These gods
have roles they play in the African society. Orisha is a spirit or deity
that reflects one of the manifestations of Olodumare (God) in the
Yoruba spirit or religious system.
The Yorubas believe in Orisha, and their theogany enjoys a pantheon of orishas, these includes Aganju,
Obaluaye, Erinle, Eshu, Yemojs, Obatala, Oshumare, Ogun, Orunmila,
Oshun, Oya, Sango and many countless other Orishas. The Yorubas also
generates their ancestral spirits through Egungun, masquerades, Oro,
Irunmole, Gelede, and Ibeji the orisha of twins which in no wonder since
the Yorubas are officially known to have world’s highest rates of twin
birth of any group.
Obatala is the father of human kind, divinity of light, spiritual
purity and moral uprightness, Eshu is the messenger between the human
and divine worlds under god of divinity.Eshu is recognised as a
trickster and is childlike. Osumare is a rainbow deity, divinity of
movement and activity, guardian of children and associated with the
umbilical cord, Sango a god of thunder, warrior deity, fire, skyfather,
represents male power and sexuality. Ogun is a warrior Deity, divinity
of iron, war, labour, sacrifices, and technology e.g. railroads. Osun is
divinity of rivers, love, feminine beauty, fertility and also one of
Sangos lover and beloved of Ogun. These Orishas plays significant roles
in the African society and the Yoruba’s belief in these Orishas.
1.1 THE CONCEPT OF AESTHETICS IN THE OSUN OSOGBO FESTIVAL.
Herbert Zettl (1973) defines!
Aesthetics as a study of sense of perception and how these
Perceptions can be most effectively clarified, intensified,
Interpreted through a medium for specific recipients.
Aesthetics may be defined as the philosophical study of beauty and
taste. It comprises of what is good and bad in any work of art.
It deals with nature and value of arts as well as those responses to
natural objects that find expression in the language of the beautiful
and ugly.
The word “aesthetics” was given by a German philosopher
Alexander Baumnger in 1750, which he derived from the Greek word
“Aesthetics” meaning “perception.” From here the adjective “Aesthetics”
which means that which pertains to the sense of perception is formed. He
gave the name aesthetics to what earlier philosopher called theory of
beauty or the philosophy of taste.
The encyclopaedia Britannica 1 (p.115) has it that
Aesthetics is the study of beauty and to a lesser extents of it
opposite, the ugly. It has often been defined as the science of the
beautiful suggesting an organised body of knowledge of a special
subjects matter. Its is usually concerned with the theoretical study of
the beauty in work of arts, with effort to understand and explain them.
According to Hamlyn encyclopaedic dictionary
Aesthetics is recognised as a science in philosophy and it stand for
That which deduces from nature and taste the rules and principles, The
science of the beautiful.
Akpan and etuk (1990) defines
Aesthetics as the science or study of beauty.
Aesthetics, according to my own view is the perception of beauty. It
is the appreciation of the beauty as well as the ugly in all parts of
life including the arts. It comprises of what is good a and bad in any
work of arts. The aesthetics in the Osun Osogbo festival includes:
Drums, Dance, Music’s, Costumes, Languages, Audience and so on
These makes the festival more appreciated by the people and more
colourful. The festival immense benefits to the tourist sector of
Nigeria economy. The enables the community to sell its culture to
tourist among others coming from within and all outside the country.
The Osun grove has been lifted as a world heritage site by
UNESCO to accept Osun grove into the lists of cultural and natural
properties which is going to be a great source of foreign revenue to the
Nigeria government.
All these have inspire me in studying the Osun Osogbo
festival and because the festival has immense societal benefits which
include improved environmental sanitation, as every where is kept clean
during the period of the festival as Osun is generally reffered to as
god of purity.
Osun Osogbo festival also remains the strongest unifying
factor in Osogbo land, irrespective of the different social, economic,
and religious, political conviction of the people as they all comes
together annually to celebrates.
1.2 PURPOSE OF STUDY.
Osun Osogbo festival is the most important and significant components
culture of Osogbo. The major purpose of this study us to analyse the
aesthetics and functions in the Osun Osogbo festival and to look at the
way the people of osogbo have been celebrating these festival in the
past years and recent years, to look at the difference between the past
years and recents celebrations. These work will also look at the way
the people of Osogbo react to this festival despites the numerous of
Africans that identify themselves as either Christianity or Islam, and
ancients beliefs still have its plaxe in their lives. It will also look
at the roles these festival performs among the people of osogbo.
1.3 SCOPE OF STUDY.
This work is on the Osun Osogbo festival and it will limit itselt to
bringing out the aesthetics, functions and importance of the Osun Osogbo
festival in terms of its performances. These work begins with the
history of the Osun Osogbo festival with the way the festival is being
performed from the day one to the twelveth day which is the end of the
festival, and the findings about the festival.
1.4 METHODOLOGY.
The research methodology of this work is based on analysis of data
and interviews which are gathered and showing relevant places of
pictures taken during the festival of relevant places and people.
The data gathered and analysed which includes different people, both
men and woman, old and young, who come for the festival and participates
in the Osun festival whole heartedly.
1.5 JUSTIFICATION.
The purpose of this study is to justify the assertion that indeed,
the Osun Osogbo festival is full of aesthetics elements of dance, drums,
musics, costumes, and so on, this study is to correct the image created
by some Eurocentric scholars and Europeans that Africa has either
history nor culture. The Eurocentric scholars belief that European
culture is superior to African culture, and that African literature is
primitive and as such noting can come out of African oral literature.