Devotees in white clothing line the riverbank, praying as they carry offerings of fruit, kola nut and sacrificial animals in supplication to Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility, beauty and healing, whose carved form stands with arms outstretched a few metres away in the Osun River.It is the final day of Nigeria’s annual Osun Osogbo festival in honour of the African deity, in a tradition that has existed for hundreds of years and draws people from across the diaspora.Except this year the water was once again a discoloured brown. Until 2018, the river ran clear, but then mining several miles upstream began to pollute it, introducing heavy metals and sediment into the watercourse.
Yeye Omifunto Ojo performs a sacrifice at the Osun River
The river, named after the goddess, runs through the Osun-Osogbo sacred grove, a 75-hectare (185-acre) Unesco world heritage site since 2005. The water is believed to possess healing powers and women who have trouble conceiving, or people in search of promotion or prosperity, often come to pray at the riverbank; the water is drunk or used for bathing, depending on the “directions” of the goddess.Yemi Elebuibon, a writer who is also the chief Ifá priest of Osogbo, is among those who have been campaigning against the mining and pollution.“What we are telling them [those running the mining operations] is for them to turn the mining in another direction so it can stop polluting Osun. Osun is naturally pure; it should not be polluted,” he says.
