Egungun, in the broadest sense is any Yoruba masquerade or masked, costumed figure. More specifically, it is a Yoruba masquerade for ancestor reverence, or the ancestors themselves as a collective force. Eégún is the reduced form of the word egúngún and has the same meaning. There is a misconception that Egun or Eegun is the singular form, or that it represents the ancestors while egúngún is the masquerade or the plural form. This misconception is common in the Americas by Orisa devotees that do not speak Yorùbá language as a vernacular. Egungun is a visible manifestation of the spirits of departed ancestors who periodically revisit the human community for remembrance, celebration, and blessings.
Osogbo is a city in Nigeria. It became the capital city of Osun State in 1991. Osogbo city seats the Headquarters of both Osogbo Local Government Area and Olorunda Local Government Area. It is some 88 kilometers by road northeast of Ibadan. It is also 108 kilometres (67 mi) by road south of Ilorin and 108 kilometres (67 mi) northwest of Akure. Osogbo shares boundaries with Ikirun, Ilesa, Ede, Egbedore, Ogbomosho and Iragbiji and it is easily accessible from any part of the state because of its central nature. It is about 48 km from Ife, 32 km from Ilesa, 46 km from Iwo, 48 km from Ikire and 46 km from Ila-Orangun; the city had a population of about 200,000 people and an approximate land area of 126 km. The postal code of the area is 230.
Yorubaland is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-day countries of Nigeria, Togo and Benin, and covers a total land area of 142,114 km2 (54,871 sq mi). Of this land area, 106,016 km2 (74.6%) lies within Nigeria, 18.9% in Benin, and the remaining 6.5% is in Togo. Prior to European colonization, a portion of this area was known as Yoruba country. The geo-cultural space contains an estimated 55 million people, the majority of this population being ethnic Yoruba.
Osun State, occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states for 84 km and for 78 km respectively, to the north by Kwara State for 73 km, to the south by Ogun State for 84 km and to the west by Oyo State, mostly across the River Osun. Named for the River Osun—a vital river which flows through the state—the state was formed from the southeast of Oyo State on 27 August 1991 and has its capital as the city of Osogbo.
The Ìgbómìnà are a subgroup of the Yoruba ethnic group, which originates from the north central and southwest Nigeria. They speak a dialect called Ìgbómìnà or Igbonna, classified among the Central Yoruba of the three major Yoruba dialectical areas. The Ìgbómìnà spread across what is now southern Kwara State and northern Osun State. Peripheral areas of the dialectical region have some similarities to the adjoining Ekiti, Ijesha and Oyo dialects.
Omi-Ọṣun, literally meaning "Ọṣun waters", is the northernmost source tributary of the Ọṣun River in southwestern Nigeria. The Omi-Ọṣun tributary rises from the eastern sector of the Yoruba hills and flows westwards into the Òyì River which subsequently flows southward along two deep gorges within the Oke-Ila quartzite ridges,, before its confluence with other rivers to form the main Osun.
Orangun or Ọ̀ràngún of Ìlá is the title of the paramount ruler of one of the ancient Igbomina kingdoms, a sub group of the Yoruba people with its seat and capital located in Ila Orangun, central Yorubaland, presently in southwestern Nigeria.
The Omi-Ọṣun ruins are the remains of an ancient settlement of the Òkè-Ìlá Òràngún kingdom, located along the Omi-Ọsun river in southwestern Nigeria. The ruins consist of remnants of ancient walls, potsherds, and other relics. Much of the site complex is currently overgrown with thicket, but large portions are being used as farmland. Efforts have been made since the late 1970s to persuade the paramount ruler and the local population to protect the remaining ruins from destruction by farming activity, building, and road construction. These efforts received an authoritatitive boost when the main advocate of the conservation of the ruins, a geologist/geophysicist with archaeological interests, was installed into the royal dynastic position of the Oba'lumo, which provided him with increased access to the royal councils of the Orangun, the paramount king of the region.
Ìlá Òràngún is an ancient city in Osun State, Nigeria, that was the capital of an ancient city-state of the same name in the Igbomina area of Yorubaland in south-western Nigeria. Ìlá Òràngún is more populous than its sister-city, Òkè-Ìlá Òràngún, a town located about 7.5 miles (12 km) to the northeastern corner of Osun State. The latitude and longitude coordinates of Ila Orangun are 8.019116 and 4.901962 respectively. According to the information obtained from GeoNames geographical database, the population of Ila Orangun in Osun State, Nigeria is 179,192.
Ifedayo is one of the 30 local government areas of Osun State in southwestern Nigeria. It is one of the most recent local government areas to be created.
Oba-Igbomina, is an ancient Igbomina town in northeastern Isin Local Government Area of Kwara State. It is one of the five related Yoruba towns named "Oba", the others being
Ìsèdó is an ancient Igbomina kingdom in northeastern Yorubaland of Nigeria. Ìsẹ̀dó was founded as a new city-state several centuries ago by Ọba'lumọ, a Prince of the ancient Oba civilization. Ìsẹ̀dó is fully known and called "Ìsẹ̀dó-Olúmọ̀" using its founder-king's name as an identifier suffix. Ọba'lumọ, emigrated from the ancient Ọ̀bà civilization in northeastern Yorubaland.
The Obalúmo is a royal personage, a traditional monarch amongst the Igbomina clan of the Yorubas of West Africa. The earliest manifestation of his title dates back to the 12th century at the latest, making him a ruler of relative significance in the intricate chiefly hierarchy of the tribe.
Ora-Igbomina is an ancient Igbomina town in Ifedayo Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria. With Oke-Ila Orangun, it constitutes the two major towns in the local government area. The conjoining boundary town among Osun, Ekiti and Kwara States, this historical town was the first town to accept Christianity(ref.: and invariably Western education in Igbominaland. Christianity was brought to Ora in 1895 by CMS missionaries led by a son of the soil - a returnee from the slave trade named Pa Olasehinde. St. Stephen Anglican Church was established in 1895. The first primary school in Igbominaland - stretching from present-day Osun to Kwara States - St. Stephen's Anglican Primary School was established in 1912. Ora is referred to as "The Cradle of Education and Christianity in Igbomina Land, and by extension to parts of Moba Division of present-day Ekiti State and also in the whole of the old Osun North East Division of the old Western Region, which covers almost half of the present Osun State.
The documented history begins when Oranyan came to rule the Oyo Empire, which became dominant in the early 17th century. The older traditions of the formerly dominant Ile-Ife kingdom are largely oral.
Ila-Yara, also known as Ila-Iyara, was the original kingdom founded about the 12th century by Ajagun-nla, also nicknamed "Orangun", a legendary grandson of Oduduwa. The kingdom split into two after Orangun Apakiimo was installed towards the end of the 15th century. A young prince Arutu, who lost the contest for the Orangun throne, led a rebellion and exodus of his supporters, and founded the Ila, Nigeria kingdom further northward (near the Isedo kingdom of Obalumo, while Orangun Apakiimo soon evacuated Ila Yara to found the Oke-Ila kingdom further eastward. Both kings of the Oke-Ila and Ila kingdoms are titled "Orangun".
The Rev. Dr. Solomon Adeniyi Babalola was a Nigerian Baptist pastor who lived and served in Nigeria, Ghana, Canada, and the United States. Born in Oke-Ila Orangun, Nigeria, he graduated from his initial pastoral training in December 1949 from the three-year theology course of the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomosho. He is reputed to be one of the two youngest Nigerian nationals ever recruited into the ministry by American missionaries, during a late-1940s drive led by Seminary President Dr. J.C. Pool, assisted by indigenous pastors. Babalola was consecrated as a Baptist trained pastor at the age of 20.
Omupo or Omu-ipo is an ancient Igbomina-Yoruba town situated in the southeastern part of Kwara State. It is one of the prominent towns in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the State. It is the headquarters of 34 communities of Omupo District, the headquarters of Omupo/Idofian Area Council of Ifelodun Local Government. Omupo Constituency was also created in 1979 for a representative to the Kwara State House of Assembly.
Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade CFR was the fiftieth traditional ruler or Ooni of Ife from 1980 to his death in 2015, taking the regnal name Olubuse II. He was the traditional ruler of the Yoruba Kingdom of Ile-Ife a traditional Yoruba state based in the town of Ife in Osun State, Nigeria. He was crowned on 6 December 1980 in a ceremony attended by the Emir of Kano, Oba of Benin, Amayanabo of Opobo and Olu of Warri, as well as by representatives of the Queen of the United Kingdom.
Igbajo is a town in the southwest of Nigeria, in the Boluwaduro Local Government Area in Osun State. Igbajo was founded in the 12th century. As of 2015 it had a population of 25,117. The majority of people in Igbajo are ethnically Yoruba.
