Ovia-Osese Festival is an annual celebration of the Ogori people. In Kogi state, Nigeria, this town is located in Ogori-Magongo local government area. In addition to Edo state, they share boundaries with the Yoruba. The Ovia-Osese festival is held annually to initiate young girls into adulthood or so-called womanhood. Young virgins who have maintained themselves over the years and are still virgins participate in this initiation. This ritual promotes the quality of purity, sanctity, abstinence, as well as untouched physical and emotional states in young girls. This celebration encourages the younger growing ones to keep themselves from pre-marital affairs.
There was a time when each family in the Ogori community, which had existed since the 1870s, had a tradition of initiating their daughters once they had reached adulthood. In this stage, the wife is taught how to plan a home, cook, and perform the female activities so that she is ready for marriage. In time, the family culture has evolved into a community culture and is celebrated yearly as a festival to celebrate young girls who have reached adulthood and also have maintained themselves. It is through this practice that the young girls in the community have been encouraged to keep themselves neat in order to be celebrated during the festival in which they participate. Additionally, this festival is a great opportunity for men seeking a wife to search for the woman they love as well as for men who are shy or weak in proposing, expressing or making advances toward women to get over their fear and open up.
Ogori's festival has continuously communicated the message of self-restraint and sexual discipline about self-discipline to young girls, which has led to its international recognition, as well as its rich culture, which has given it a place on the world map. As part of the festival, girls (called ibusuke) and women (Ivia) perform traditional dances to entertain the local community as well as visitors who attend, during which, lots of noise as well as gestures are awarded to them, as the young men also search for their missing ribs. During the dance, the young girls wear traditional clothing around their chests with beads on their necks and wrists. Their movements, songs, facial expressions convey the festival's vibrant colours.
Furthermore, the festival includes not only dancing and initiation, but also a cook-off, talent hunt, free health program, sports events, school debates, quizzes, and even a beauty pageant.
This festival not only offers some of the benefits equally seen in the Gelede and Aringinya festivals, it is also a platform to unite the community and reward talents and hard work amongst the people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovia-Osese_Festival https://guardian.ng/news/ogoris-ovia-osese-festival-promotes-sanctity-of-virginity/