Osun Osogbo: A group of Osun worshippers from South America entering Osun Shrine during the festival.
The Osun gravity pulls large and heterogeneous followers. From far away land, they come heeding the call of Osun. Austrians. Germans. Portuguese. Brazilians. Colombians. Venezuelans. Cubans. Japanese. In 2012, I met Georgina “Sangolaja” Vazquez in the city of Lagos. The 40-year-old Mexican travelled from Mexico City to Lagos to deepen her knowledge of the African traditional religion. We hacked a decent conversation in halting English. Vazquez graduated from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in 1996 with a bachelor degree in business administration and had worked in bank, supermarket and government establishment in Mexico City. Born a Catholic, her quest for true religion led her to the discovery of Sango, the Yoruba deity of thunder. Three years after picking interest in traditional African religion, she travelled all the way from Mexico City to become a student of Baba Olosun after contacting him via Facebook. “My brother-in-law practises traditional religion in the diaspora, he started talking to me about the religion,” she told me. To attend the festival in 2012, she saved money for one whole year. Vazquez is one of the tens of thousands of foreigners that have become disciples of Osun.
Size: 4928px × 3264px
Location: Osun State, Nigeria.
Photo credit: © OMONIYI AYEDUN OLUBUNMI / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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