Shao Awon Mass Wedding

Shao is a quiet, unassuming town nestled between rocky mountains in northern Nigeria. It’s not well known outside Kwara State. We visited for its annual mass wedding festival, an enduring gentle rebellion against modern individualism.

Life in Shao moves slowly and tradition shifts ever slower, a stillness that has allowed this tradition to survive for generations. The festival itself is unhurried, often stretching over three days of rituals that blend several elements of Yoruba wedding culture. In ẹkún ìyàwó, the brides perform poetry to thank their parents and seek blessings for their new life as they transition from their birth families to their husband’s. Read more