African spirituality and the late-summer festivals

Tis the season...
to travel the Nigerian SouthWest
indulge in Yoruba culture
drink palmwine, eat goat-meat
and check out cultural festivals :
I know of the Badagry festival 
and I've been at the Osun Oshogbo festival.  

This year's August festival dates and schedules:
Badagry Festival 13th to 27th August 2016 (Grand finale next weekend!! And the roads are relatively nice and free - no more crazy traffic and construction - so you should get out to Badagry, Lagos and catch the very colourful sights, see the museums, the beach, the masquerades, ...)

The Oshun-Oshogbo festival 8th to 19th August 2016 (Grand finale just happened today and you can catch the frenzied photo-coverage on Nigerian news sites Naij, Vanguard, PM News, and more.  Learn about the Arugba, the sacred grove and shrine, the river and the worship of Osun, a fertility goddess and patron of Osogbo town.  You can also find tourist tidbits from Osogbo for 2013, 2014, and 2015 at REALbubbler)

Out in Accra, Ghana too, there's an annual festival in mid- to late-August.  It's an artist's dream just a few hours' drive from Lagos, but it seems I'll have to wait till next year to see it live.  Called the Chale Wote Street Art Festival, this year it's themed "Spirit Robot" and holds from August 15th-21st 2016.

IT IS TIME #ChaleWote2016 @Accradotalt 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾💥💥💥👊🏾👊🏾🎉🎉 SEE YOU THERE ..!! pic.twitter.com/7LS2C9S0M3

— EFYA (@EFYA_Nokturnal) August 17, 2016

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