Osun State was created on August 27, 1991, in the southeast of Oyo State and is named for the River Osun, a crucial river that flows through the state. This is why the state is inhabited by the Yoruba people, mainly of the Ibibio, Ifẹ, Igbomina, Ijesha, and Oyo subgroups.

With an estimated 4.7 million residents as of 2016, Osun is the ninth-smallest by area and the nineteenth-most populated of Nigeria’s 36 states. However, some people in Osun State still practice the traditional religion. One of the prominent places that best explains people’s interest in traditional religion is the Osun-Osogbo groove.

People from all over the world come to the yearly Osun-Osogbo festival in August to worship Osun, one of the Orisa (the traditional deities of the Yoruba people). The visitors include Brazilians, Cuban, Trinidadians, Grenada, and citizens of other American countries with sizable Yoruba cultural legacies.

Osun Anthem

Ise wa fun ile wa

Fun Ile Ibi Wa

Ka gbee ga

Ka gbee ga

Ka gbee ga fun aye ri

Igbagbo wa ni pe

Bati beru la bomo

Ka sise

Ka sise

Ka sise ka jo la

Isokan ati ominira

Ni ke je ka maa lepa

Tesiwaju f opo ire

Ati ohun to dara

Omo Oodua dide

Bo si ipo eto re

Iwo ni imole

Gbogbo Adulawo

Oriki Osun

Ore yeye osun

Osun sengese

Oloriya iyun,

Arewa obinrin,

Osun oyeeyee nimo

Awede wemo.

Yeye mi olowo aro

Yeye mi elese osun

Yeye mi ajimo roro. 

Yeye mi abimo ma yanku

Yeye mi alagbo awoye.

Eleti gbaroye

Ogbagba ti gbomo re lojo ija. 

Ari bani gbo nipa tomo. 

Osun, oyeye nimo

Osun onikii

Afide remo

Apenibu sola

Apelodo soro omo

Osun eni ide kiisu.

Amo awo ma ro.

O wa yanrin wa yanrin kowo si.

Gbadamu gbadamu obinrin kosee gbamu

Obinrin to gbona jokunrin lo. 

Omi amo rin, omi a moo sun. 

Ore yeye gbami, eni ani ni gbani.

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