Shao in Moro local government of Kwara State is a city in Nigeria about 203 meters or 326 km west of Abuja, the country’s capital city and Shao has stand out to be a classical tourist center owing it to the annual Àwón mass wedding.
The Àwón Mass Wedding is an annual festival that takes place every October. It is a festival during which all the young girls of marriageable age in Shao are given out in marriage all at once.
This festival is colorful with a lots of folksongs in which colorful attires are put on display. The Àwón festival is highly remarkable as it does command different people across the continents.
The wedding festive is a cultural binding between the town’s progenitor and a river goddess called Àwón, a mysterious woman with a single breast.
According to history made available, the festival brings wealth, protection, fertility when religiously observed as commanded by Àwón (Shao goddess).
In an interview conducted by JUST EVENT ONLINE TV correspondent, with the present Ohoro of Shao, Oba Bamidele Alabi Adegbite on the genesis of the mass wedding.
In his narration, there was a hunter called Omo Larele who usually stop at a small stream to drink water anytime he went hunting in the forest. As was his tradition, he stopped by the stream to drink water one day and he saw a strange woman at the stream seated, this woman was weird looking as she had a single breast.
The woman was a fairy and her name was Awon.
She told the hunter that she was the owner of the stream which he normally drank from. She told him she wasn’t angry at him but, that Omo Larele should take her to the Oba of Shao, Oba Olanibo who was the first Ohoro of Shao.
Àwón was taken to Shao and she spent eighteen days with the people of Shao and before she left, she had a meeting with Oba Lanibo and the royal chiefs.
When she was set to depart from Shao, she was accompanied by Oba Lanibo, his son and the royal chiefs of Shao and they followed a path that Àwón chose.
After walking for some time, she stopped and told all the people that her name was Àwón. She then told the people that they would never see her again, but that she would strengthen their community by giving them a strong charm and that they should rename the village Shao-Àwón
Going futher, Àwón told the Oba of Shao that a day should be set aside every year to celebrate Awon and on this, a mass wedding ceremony should be held where all girls of marriageable age should be given out in marriage.
She further told them that she would give them blessings at any time they request for it and especially on the day Àwón is celebrated.
She said they should channel through a priest that would be dedicated to her problems of barrenness and ill fortune so that she could turn their fortunes around for them. After this speech, Àwón fell down and disappeared, immediately waves appeared at the spot of her disappearance and water began to gush out from there.
The water started to flow and it became a big river called Àwón River and the spot was named Àwón Yale, meaning Awon visits home.
This spot is significant among the people of Shao and it is referred to as Ojubo Àwón, this means the spot where people gather to worship the goddess Àwón.
After this event, the Oba of Shao received two visitors again; they were women who claimed they were Àwón’s sisters and were looking for her.
The women were now told that though Awon visited them at Shao, she had vanished into thin air.
The women searched for a while but when the search did not yield any result, they left for an unknown destination.
Later, the people got to know that the sisters also became rivers, one of them known as Asa, the Asa River which runs through Ilorin and the other sister known as Osun is believed to be the Osun River in Oshogbo.
Today, figurines with the same similarities are found in the shrines of both Osun and Awon buttressing the fact that they might be related.
After Àwón and her sisters left, Oba Lanibo, the Ohoro of Shao and his chiefs told Mogaji Gbenagbena, the head of wood carvers to make a wooden image of the one breasted Awon and that of her sisters so as to immortalize them and have a symbol of their presence in Shao.
He then made a decree that the Àwón mass wedding festival be held every October in Shao in remembrance of Awon and her sisters.
A family was also chosen as the custodian of the images and also to watch over the spot where Àwón disappeared. This family is now known as Ile Alawon, this means the custodian of Awon.
A particular person in the house is then chosen to make rituals and sacrifices to Awon Goddess, this person is the priest of Àwón, called Baba Alawon. Anybody chosen as the priest of Awon is forbidden from crossing rivers.
Acting on the basis, people of Shao celebrated the Àwón festival in remembrance of the mysterious woman with a single breast and her sister.
Conclusively, more than 40 brides were given to their suitors amidst joyful appearance of the special day.
Government functionaries, UNESCO officials, tourist across the globe, good people of the Shao graced the 2021 Àwón mass wedding
Keep up the good work
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