Sango Religious group in Oyo

Oyo people are one of the indigenous religious society among the Yoruba race in Oyo state, Nigeria. There population is about 471,000. They speak Oyo dialect of Yoruba version language. The people once an empire came into limelight around fifteen centuries. From oral history, the town was founded by Oranmiyan the last son of Oduduwa, the great ancestor of the Yoruba people. The religious and political existence of the people have the traces of migration linked with Ife origin due to common ancestral genealogy shared by all other Yoruba cities. They have a ritual tradition which is spectacular but attached to Sango festival and oya festival. Oya was the wife of sango during his life time. They showcased this festival with Bata drum and it makes it distinct for ritual practices. Sango is recognized as the spirit of thunder and lightning; he became the king of Oyo around sixteen centuries. He was known to be an historical figure with strange and unpredictable character. Their indigenous religion is known as Isese (Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe) and is still practiced by a number of Yoruba people. It has also been incorporated into new religious traditions throughout the African diaspora. Oyo people developed customs such as brotherhood, the ruling of Alaafins, traditional art, drumming, spiritual dances and they speak Yoruba language like other tribes. Their belief and heritage make them distinct from another tribe. They have a unique talent in drawing and sculpturing. the Oyo Empire's cultural heritage requires explaining spiritual dances and masquerades' origins, as their philosophy is different from the modern. The religious practices of the Oyo people have a diffused system in which the orisas are considered as the messenger of divine creator. There is an understanding of nature and spirits in the template of their spirituality and religiosity. This explain more better their ethical devises in which makes man responsible and thus adhere to the maintenance of golden rule of law (law of karma) guided by nature as a paramount claim in human justice and socio communal relationship. The role and depth of Oyo's influence in nurturing a Yoruba identity and consciousness among the Yoruba has continued to resonate across generations and boundaries. The Yoruba who today are found in the Southwestern part of Nigeria, the Republics of Benin and Togo, Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad and other places in the Caribbean have continued to imagine the glory and renown of the empire and the consciousness created by the Oyo and its Alaafins. Oyo has continued to live on in the lives, arts and the socio-cultural, economic and political arrangements prevalent among the Yoruba people, their neighbors and the African Diaspora The date picked for this study is determined by the development that occurred in Yoruba land within the period.1800 was the beginning of the disruption caused by the Fulani Muslim jihadist all over Yoruba kingdom and Oyo Empire. It is then important to see if the disruption in any way affects the religious tradition of the oyo people till 1900 before modern independence.