Osun Osogbo grove: the divinisation of water and the contestation of its history

Sacredness is one of the distinctive phenomena of religion. It is about the divine existence of a thing set apart due to its supernatural abilities that can bring humanity closer to divinity. It is the core of existence and has transformative effect on people’s lives and destinies. Osun Osogbo sacre...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Afolabi, Oluwaseun O. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2021
In: Culture and religion
Year: 2021, Volume: 22, Issue: 4, Pages: 364-378
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Oshogbo / Sacred grove / Osun / Religion / Mythology / Water / Holiness (motif) / History 1600-2021
IxTheo Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AF Geography of religion
AG Religious life; material religion
BS Traditional African religions
KBN Sub-Saharan Africa
TJ Modern history
TK Recent history
Further subjects:B Water
B Sacredness
B Religion
B Osun Osogbo
B Nigeria
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Sacredness is one of the distinctive phenomena of religion. It is about the divine existence of a thing set apart due to its supernatural abilities that can bring humanity closer to divinity. It is the core of existence and has transformative effect on people’s lives and destinies. Osun Osogbo sacred grove houses over one hundred shrines and sculptures. The main objective of this study is to examine the divinisation of water, the contestation of its history, the religiousness behind the grove, and the interconnectivity between religion and water. The study reveals that the deification of Osun Osogbo water shows humans’ thirst to commune with the supernatural in seeking solutions to problems beyond the natural realm. This study concludes that what links religion and water is the supernatural and that adherents believe that the supernatural can inhabit nature with the desire to have a dialogue with the human in yearly rituality.
ISSN:1475-5629
Contains:Enthalten in: Culture and religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/14755610.2023.2281369