Festivals

Osun Adire Festival 2025 Empowers Artisans, Boosts Economy

Published

11 months ago

November 18, 2025

Osun Adire Festival 2025 empowers over 1,000 artisans and promotes Osun’s adire textile as a cultural and economic asset

Osun Adire Festival 2025 has already empowered over 1,000 artisans, fashion designers, craftsmen and accessory makers as Osun State gears up for its landmark celebration.

Also read: Osun State Pledges Global Recognition for Olojo Festival

Officials at a recent press briefing highlighted the festival’s potential to drive economic growth while showcasing the cultural significance of adire textiles to both young people and the wider community.

The Secretary to the State Government, Teslim Igbalaye, said the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke is determined to reclaim Osun and Osogbo’s historical place as the origin of aro and adire.

He explained that the festival, now an annual event, will celebrate the unique textile, describing it as a powerful symbol of Osun’s creativity and history.

“The festival is designed to create jobs, engage youths, and provide opportunities for local creatives to access global markets through digital business, cultural tourism and export opportunities,” Igbalaye said.

Hon Ebenezer Adeniji, Chairman of the Osun Council for Arts and Culture, emphasised that culture is a tool for building an alternative economy.

He urged young people to embrace the adire craft, reinvent it and create businesses that reflect their heritage while appealing to modern audiences.

“The adire of Osun is more than cloth,” Adeniji noted. “It is an instrument of identity, a potential engine of jobs, and a promise to the next generation that their heritage will be a foundation for their future, not a relic of the past.”

The Senior Special Assistant on Creative Economy, Events and Entertainment, Laface, announced that the Adire Osun Export Summit will hold on December 19 at Oasis Event Centre.

He added that the Adire Osun Carnival, the main highlight, is scheduled for Saturday, December 20, 2025.

Laface called on Governor Adeleke to officially declare December 20 as Adire Day in Osun State.

He explained that the carnival will feature a large Yorucentric street parade through key parts of Osogbo, concluding at Freedom Park with a night-long concert featuring artistes, DJs and cultural performers.

Also read: Osun-Osogbo Festival Draws Tourists, Devotees in Colourful Celebration

The Adire Osun Festival 2025 promises to blend tradition and innovation, celebrate Osun’s rich textile heritage, and provide a platform for economic empowerment and cultural pride.

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Culture

OLOJO….Ile Ife’s September Gift To Culture

Published

3 hours ago

October 5, 2026

Mariam Balogun

By Halima Adaba,

It was a featubal if the people. It was for the anciebt town of Ile Ife, which the Yoruba race refards as the Source.

Also read: Olojo Festival 2026: Ooni Urges Leaders to Prioritise Citizens

And ut was a festivsl for the King, Arole Oduduwa, Oonirisa, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II.

And so between September 24 and 28th 2026, the annual featuval dazzjed in all its white glory.

Tge Monarch paid the traditional ancestral homage and offered propitiation as part of the sacred rites of the Olojo Festival.
It was a powerful expression of Yoruba heritage, spirituality, and enduring tradition.

Call it a collection of beautiful moments, faces, colours and cultural expressions.

Every frame tells a story.

Every face carries the energy.

Every moment keeps the heritage alive.

Undoubtedly one of the most sacred cultural celebrations in Ilé-Ifẹ̀. It marked a day associated with creation, thanksgiving, ancestral heritage, and the sacred appearance of the Ooni of Ife wearing the revered Aàrẹ crown.

There were also the devotees of the famed god of thunder – Sàngó who were hardly conspicuous at the festival.

Many other traditional groups came out with candor, showing a powerful expression of Yoruba cultural identity, spiritual devotion, and respect for the ancient traditions of Ilé-Ifẹ̀.

Devotees of Sàngó bekieved the ‘appearance’ of the god of thunder on Seotember 26th could be understood as a symbolic meeting of ancestral heritage, spiritual devotion, and the celebration of creation.

It was a moment when the sounds of drums, chants, and traditional praise poetry brought the history of the Yoruba people to life.

Although Olojo is closely associated with Ogun, the god of iron, and the sacred traditions of Ile-Ife, the presence of Sàngó devotees reflected the rich diversity of Yoruba spiritual heritage.

Also read: Olojo Festival 2026: Ooni Urges Leaders to Prioritise Citizens

As a participant enthused at the festival, “To witness Sàngó Olúkòso emerge on Olojo Festival day is to witness a living expression of history, identity, and ancestral pride.”