After divination and waiting for the correct phase of the moon, the celebration starts in the Palace of the Ataoja, where sixteen bowls of palm oil flame for all of the world in a huge, marvellous sort of a candelabra. The Ataoja holds the feast for all of the people of the town and gives money to the poor. The feast is accompanied by talking drummers and traditional musicians. The next formal step is for the Ataoja to visit the tombs of his ancestors and to make sacrifices to all of the other gods in the Yoruba pantheon in their order of importance. On the ninth day, the climax of the Oshun Festival, many spectators and worshippers fill the shrine.
People dress in their best clothes and wear their best jewellery.
The procession to the Oshun River includes Chiefs on horseback, underneath huge silk umbrellas. Inside the shrine, devotees of Oshun take offerings to the inner sanctuary of the grove where priestesses make final preparations for the River ceremony. She carries a sacred calabash on her head, filled with relics of the Goddess, and takes a secret path through the forest. This calabash has been prepared by the Chief Priest of Oshun who dedicates a basket of food to the Goddess. The young arugba must not look down at the path, neither must she trip.