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
Published in:Culture and religion
Main Author: Afolabi, Oluwaseun O. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor and Francis Group 2021
In: Culture and religion
Year: 2021, Volume: 22, Issue: 4, Pages: 364-378
Further subjects:B Water
B Sacredness
B Religion
B Osun Osogbo
B Nigeria
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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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