People in Ile-Ife usually uphold the religious practice of their forebears, therefore Ife's worship a lot of deities and as a result they celebrate a great many traditional festivals to regain the favour of the deities.
Some of these deities are: Orisa Oko (deity of agriculture); Ogun (deity of iron); Obatala (deity of creation); Esu Elegbara (trickster deity); Osanyin (deity of medicine);Ifa (deity of divination), Erinle (deity of forest); Orunmila (deity of fate) etc.
There were 401 deities that resided in the ancient city of Ile-Ife. Thus, the Ife people have diverse cultural festivals that they celebrate annually, which among them is Olojo festival which literally means “Owner of the day”.
Olojo festival celebration usually begins in the middle of October each year. On this day, the Ooni (king of Ife) appears after five days of seclusion, communing with the 401 deities that resided in the ancient city of Ile-Ife.. This ritual is to make him pure and ensure the efficacy of his prayers.
Before the Ooni emerges, women from his maternal and paternal families sweep the Palace, symbolically ridding the Palace of evil.
He engages himself in special prayers and ritual sacrifices along with seven high priests. Within this period, the Ooni will not eat any natural food, but spiritual food and alligator pepper with kola nut. During this period also, the high priest will be coming to see the Ooni to perform some rituals, turn-by-turn for consecutive five days.
Olojo festival is a three-day event. The first day, which is normally Friday, is called “Ilagun” day. The second day, being Saturday is called “Olojo proper while the third day being Sunday is the grand finale and for merry-making. Thus, before the commencement of the festival on the first day, the Ooni of Ife would first of all emerge wearing the sacred beaded crown “Ade Aare” which was believed to have been empowered by the deities. After that, the chief priest, Osogun with other chiefs including the priest and a representative of Ooni would immediately proceed towards the Okemogun (the shrine) to prepare the Ogun shrine before the Ooni would come out in the open. There, the chief priest would make some incantations while the other chiefs that accompany echo “Esei” (meaning, Amen).
At the shrine, a dog is tied, while the Osogun and other seven chiefs move round the shrine seven times before the Osogun (chief priest) would finally cut the dog into two halves. Immediately after the ritual killing, the entire people of Ife around will shout “Ogun yee” (meaning, the ritual has been accepted). During the festival different songs are sung in praise of the Almighty God for a peaceful festival and for the reigning Ooni.