Upload
chukwukaomenigbo-nwafor
View
7
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Ethnology
Citation preview
The 1988 Ahịajọkụ Lecture (Onugaotu) Colloquium comprises three
presentations, 1) IGBO DEITIES, By N. S. S. Iwe, 2) THE IGBO IDEA OF
THE SACRED: CONTEMPORARY OBSERVANCES By T. Uzodinma Nwala, and 3) UNDER THE EYES OF THE GODS: SACRALIZATION AND CONTROL OF
SOCIAL ORDER IN IGBOLAND By O. U. Kalu
INTRODUCTION
In his seminal work, Sacrifice in Igbo Religion, now fast becoming a classic in the genre, Francis Cardinal Arinze proffered an explanation of the
phenomenon of religion among men from the subjective and objective standpoints. In the first sense, it is "the consciousness of one's dependence
on a transcendent Being and the tendency to worship Him;" in the second, "religion is the body of truths, laws and rites by which man is subordinated
to the transcendent Being." We may note that the use of the passive form of
the verb in the second definition introduces an element of involuntarily, suggesting that man may be inserted willy nilly within a religious framework
of existence.
Nonetheless, the two aspects of the religious experience are obviously
interconnected: it is the subjective consciousness of a greater-than-oneself in the cosmic scheme of things which predisposes to the acceptance of the
"truths, laws and rites" by which this awareness is made manifest in behavioural terms, whether by choice or by submission to some external
fiat. In other words, the notion of religion comprises from the outset both a psychological and a social dimension. It implies on the one hand the
possibility of individual mental states arising out of personal encounters and confrontations with what the German religious historian Rudolf Otto calls the
"nouminous" – the suffusion of existence and its environmental props with "an atmosphere of the awesome," the mysterious and fascinating. On the
other hand, this possibility of a variety of individual mystical states, each in its own way charging the external world with mental and spiritual attributes,
creates a permanent need for some kind of regulatory syncretism at the group level, and out of this syncretism emerges a social order in which the
varieties of the individual experience of the sacred are transmuted into the
requirements of existence and survival in a given environmental setting.
Accordingly, we may characterize religion for our purposes here as a way of
life; or more precisely as a system of beliefs authorizing or sanctioni6g a generalized set of observances based on the acknowledgement of an
ultimate relationship to a universal principle or essence which is regarded as immanent in nature. The mental concretizations of this universal principle
are of course the transcendent Being which we call God, Chukwu, the Deity. The belief in God logically signifies faith in a divinely-ordained order in the
world and furnishes a permanent spiritual meaning for existence in the sense of an extra-mundane focus, the ultimate individual and collective
consummation in which becomes the object and the justification of
existence, and therefore salvation.
Religion is thus essentially a cultural phenomenon. The prescriptions of the Deity – i.e., the perceived conditions of spiritual salvation translate into a
moral code expressed as the behavioural formulation of the objective
requirements of the transcendental order, and justified on this basis. Viewed this way, religion becomes both the aspiration to and the reality of individual
and collective communion with the Deity, with the universal principle of existence, the means of ensuring conformance with this principle as
interpreted and conceptualized in the particular setting. That is to say, it becomes a mechanism of social control of enculturation into a way of life. It
becomes in effect the conscious manipulation of the idea of the supernatural for purely mundane purposes – including such purposes as overt or
surreptitious suppression of one culture by another.
All these aspects of the phenomenon of religion feature in the three Papers
discussing the Igbo Idea of the Sacred presented in this year’s Ahiajoku (Onugaotu) Colloquium which are herein reproduced.
Rev. Dr Iwe's exegesis of Igbo deities is a good starting point, for it sets out to underline the "mature foundations for our knowledge and recognition of
the existence of the creator." Dr Iwe evokes the now fatuous-sounding anxiety of early European colonialists and missionaries as to the ability of
Africans "to handle abstract ideas and concepts and to make logical inferences or conclusions from appropriate statements.” Dismissing the
European conception of "primitive" religion as the spiritual expression of
cultures which supposedly have not yet achieved a sharp intellectual
distinction between the spiritual and the practical, between the sacred and the profane, he asserts that the awareness of God "is and has been at all
times the common heritage of humanity."
Dr Iwe distinguishes clearly between the Igbo conception of the Supreme
Being, Chukwu "the creator", and the host of lesser divinities, beneficent or malign, who ere properly seen merely as particular manifestations in time
and place of His omnipresence and omnipotence as shaped and fleshed out by the cosmic forces acting on the human perception. For the Igbo, Dr Iwe
asserts, the Supreme Being is neither uncertain nor remote but an integral aspect of their communal being; such that "the refinement of public morality
in the light of contemporary beliefs" cannot be achieved without a fruitful dialogue between the Igbo theological heritage and the Christian belief
structure which has been superimposed on it by recent history.
For Dr Uzodinma Nwala, who discusses contemporary observances in the
Igbo idea of the sacred in the next contribution, this necessary dialogue not only has not been fruitful to date, but is unlikely ever to be. It has consisted
essentially, he suggests, in a monologue in which Christianity has talked down to traditional religion and has ended by subverting it. What has
transpired, therefore, has been "the systematic and uncritical destruction and neglect of traditional religion" in a contest which he say8 should
properly be seen as a clash of cultures, "a contest between two theologies."
Dr Nwala thus introduces a nationalistic dimension to religion according to
which the latter ought to be regarded as one of the pillars of "the identity of a people" which in turn is "a function of their history and culture.” He asserts
that modern Christianity as practiced in its original homeland and exported to us, has become, in effect, the soul-less ideology of a materialistic
civilization that has lost all essential touch with the divinity. His solution to
this dilemma will certainly strike many readers as having the merit of departing boldly from received orthodoxies.
Following this interlude – not entirely devoid of certain polemical elements,
one might add – Professor Kalu in the next presentation affects a more
detached sociological approach to the social uses of the idea of the sacred in
Igbo tradition "Under the Eyes of the Gods,” his eye-catching title, is a disquisition on the sometimes circuitous but more often (end especially in
the case of tradition in an acephalous segmentary polity without centralized formal mechanisms of social control) explicit connection between religious
precepts and the requirements of social stabilization. His study reveals that the impact of ecology and cultu2al differentiation on the sacralization and
control of social order in Igboland has led '.o a remarkable richness of sub-cultural variations in social control devices within the general framework of
standard pan-Igbo cultural forms.
What comes across, as other scholars have remarked, is an Igbo moral
universe that is thoroughly suffused with sacred symbolism and ritual in a socio-religious system that was deliberately designed to legitimize power,
achievement and wealth such as to ensure their acquisition in morally satisfactory ways. Professor Kalu is careful to point out, however, that the
Igbo were "not so incurably religious that all modes of social control were clothed in religious garb." Secular modes of control existed. Professor Kalu
mentions a plethora of examples, but adds significantly that the inability to harness effectively “the resources of the environment produced an emphasis
on nature and professional spirits” – as a sort of wistful anticipation and
transcendence, one may surmise, of the as yet inadequately developed human capabilities that could not avail for the time being.
This suggests of course the inevitability of a diminution the powers of the
sacred in the face of increasing secularity and modern technology. But
perhaps what will chiefly transpire thereby will be a mere substitution of symbols, a replacement of god-based mysticism with the equally mysterious
workings – mysterious, as with traditional symbolism, to the uninitiated – of technological rationality. After all, as Arthur Clarke has enunciated, "any
sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
In the past as in the present, and one expects in the future as well, "human
leaders," to use Professor Kalu's words "pose as stewards and endeavour to clothe themselves with a divine aura as managers of Chukwu's estates."
Which is as good a summary as any of the Igbo traditional conception of the sacred.
IGBO DEITIES
BY
N. S. S. IWE
A. INTRODUCTION
Chineke E: Oh God: My God! These and similar exclamations in Igbo and other languages and cultures have been from time immemorial, the
spontaneous and instinctive recourse of the human spirit to the Supreme Being, the Author of its existence, in the face of unanticipated and
momentous happenings, whether joyful and catastrophic. Human nature instinctively seeks, asserts and confesses its author, God. It is, therefore,
not only by reflection on the nature of the universe that the Africans
(including the Igbo) have come to the knowledge of the existence of a Supreme Being, as Mbiti has remarked, but also by instinct and
intuition.1[1] Here is the significance and implication of the idea of the human spirit as the image of its creator. Philosophical analysis of the
existence of God and logical proofs of the same, simply confirm and consolidate the nature foundations for our knowledge and recognition of the
existence of the creator. As a consequence, the awareness of God is and has been at all tines the common heritage of humanity.
Fortunately for humanity the erstwhile denigrate of African cultures is more fashionable, and Emil Ludwig's rhetorical question below now strikes one as
comic.
1[1] See J. S. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion, London; Heineman. Educational Books
Limited, 1975, p. 40.
"How can the untutored Africans conceive God? . . . How can this
be?... Deity is a philosophical concept which savages are incapable of framing."2[2]
A ridiculous story was told during the early 1960s about the anxiety and skepticism of the early colonialists and inexperienced missionaries with
regard to the ability of the Congolese to handle abstract ideas and concepts and to make logical inferences or conclusions from appropriate statements.
In other words, in the first half of this century, serious doubts were expressed by some Western European agents and scholars about the
maturity of the mental and psychological faculties of the Africans.
However, modern anthropological studies have demonstrated convincingly
that the Igbo and other Africans possessed a culture endowed with a definite concept of the deity, the divine and sacred, the spiritual and religious.3[3]
Hence the truth of Mbiti's assertion:
"We can say, therefore, that the African view of the universe is
profoundly religious. Africans see it as a religious universe, and treat it as such."4[4]
B. THE IGBO AND THEIR SPIRITUAL (WORLD-VIEW)
Fortunately again for us, the Igbo are very keen and stable participants in
this African culture of the divine and the sacred.5[5] The Igbo vision,
2[2] E. Smith, ed. African Ideas of God, Edinburgh House Press, 1950, p.1. See also E. B. Idowu,
African Traditional Religion;: A Definition, London, S. C. M. Press Limited, 1976, pp. 86 – 88.
3[3] See E. B. Idowu, c p. cit., pp. 140ss.
4[4] J. S. Mbiti, op. cit., p. 32.
understanding and interpretation of the universe of beings are deeply
spiritual and religious, and the following features of Igbo spiritual world-view are clear evidence of this fact.
1. Firm and constant belief in the invisible universe of divine beings, good
spirits and bad spirits, and the spirits of departed ancestors.
2. Firm and constant belief in the visible universe of human beings and
the natural forces and phenomena.
3. Firm and constant belief in the communion and interaction of the
visible universe of human beings and natural forces and phenomena, flora and fauna with the invisible universe of the divine and spiritual
beings and departed ancestors. For the Igbo as a consequence, the invisible, the spiritual and sacred on the one hand, operate with the
visible, ’he temporal and secular on the other, not in confusion but in
co-operation, not in separation but in distinction of competence, not in divorce but rather in harmony with each other.
For the Igbo there is no hostile dichotomy between the sacred and the
secular.
4. Belief in the spiritual immortality of the human being, with each being
endowed with personal divine essence, chi with whose co-operation, action and interaction, auspices and guidance every human being lives
out his or her divinely ordained course of life.
5. The strong belief in spiritual immortality and reincarnation provided
the necessary personal and social motivation and encouragement to
5[5] E. Isichei, A History of the Igbo People, London: The Macmillian Press Limited, 1976, pp.
24 – 27.
subordinate one's moral life to the requirements of ethical discipline
and public morality, which often came under divine sanctions. The Igbo in danger of moral prevarication or embarking on a wrong course
of action are advised to remember life after death and the laws of reincarnation under which the wicked are severely deprived and
punished.6[6]
Idowu regards chi as the divine essence in man, the inner man, the essential
man.7[7] In Christian theological terms, chi may be identified as personal guardian spirit or angel. Chi is the ontological basis of the Igbo belief in
immortality and this belief is in turn the ground for their belief in reincarnation and religious reverence for deserving ancestors. In this context
Ilogu commented as follows:
”This belief or desire for immortality is part of the background to
the cult of the ancestors through which the dead share in life of the living."8[8]
The traditional cult of the Igbo is marked by liberty, variety, relevance and communality.9[9]
(a) Liberty ensures that the Igbo religious cult recognizes and respects the laws of chi and the requirements of man's spiritual personality.
6[6] See. E. C. Ilogu, Christianity and Igbo Culture, New York, NOK Publishers, 1974, pp. 34 –
43.
7[7] See E. B. Idowu, op, cit., pp. 150 – 160 and 177.
8[8] E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., p. 41.
9[9] Ibid., p. 18.
(b) Variety as a religious factor in Igbo religious practice takes into
consideration personal and local circumstances and other natural contingencies and human events – such as wars, epidemic, flood,
famine, thunder, madness, etc.
(c) Relevance, which Ilogu identified as "Utility", as a feature of Igbo
religious cult and attitude, seeks to ensure for them the worship of a divinity whose powers are efficacious and productive of positive and
salutary results.10[10]
In a sort of enlightened spiritual and religious pragmatism, the Igbo are ever
prepared to abandon the worship of any divinity whose relevance to their lives is not sustained. It is this special Igbo attitude to religion that Echeruo,
in the first Ahiajoku Lecture incisively characterized as a factor of the crisis of ethnic identity, in spite of the evidence of our religiosity. He went on to
say:
"What is equally true is that we are a thoroughly iconoclastic
people; that we keep our gods in our hearts and have only an appropriately respectful attitude to the circumstances that
surround them. We respect the gods, but as the proverb says, we also expect the gods to respect us. We acknowledge the
power of the gods, and cultivate that, power; but when these gods consistently fail to prove themselves powerful, we reserve
the right to discard them and seek out new gods."11[11]
These insightful observations are clearly indicative of the Igbo traditional
quest for relevance and meaning in their culture. However, this search for relevance has led in the past to fanaticism, and as I have remarked
elsewhere:
10[10] Ibid., p. 18.
11[11] Ahiajoku Lecture Owerri: Ministry of Information, 1979, p. 18.
"The danger of irreligiosity is minimal in the culture of the Igbo.
However, the 'real danger lies in religious fanaticism and prejudice and all other forms of over-doses of religiosity or
practice of religion beyond the bounds of reason.”12[12]
Certainly it was fanatical to indulge in the following negative traditional
practices:
(i) the destruction of twins, considered an adulteration by evil spirits of the sacred spring of human reproduction;
(ii) human sacrifice, especially during the funeral rites of elders and chiefs, to ensure their safe passage and security in the world of
spirits beyond.13[13]
(iii) the establishment of the osu and ume caste systems, with their
unfortunate social consequences.14[14]
(iv) the social (especially funerary) discriminations and deprivations
visited on members of the society who died during the sacred months, or through such diseases believed to have been inflicted by
the evil spirits such as – major inflammation .of the scrotum, leprosy, small pox, heart-attack or stroke (i.e., mmba-mmuo), etc.
12[12] N. S. S. Iwe, Socio-Ethical Issues in Nigeria New York – Bern: Peter Lang Publishers,
1987, p. 146.
13[13] See E. Isichei, op. cit., p. 26; P. A. Arinze, Sacrifice in Igbo Religion, Ibadan University
Press, 1978, pp. 88 – 90.
14[14] See F. A. Arinze, op. cit., pp. 91 – 92; E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., pp. 22, 51 and 125.
In all this, our ancestors were ignorant, but had good intentions, namely, to
pay respect to the gods and the departed and to the source of human life.
However this erroneous good intention succeeded in institutionalising terror, injustice and cruelty.15[15]
One may nevertheless add here, as I had stated elsewhere:
“. . . religious extremism and fanaticism are alien to the
traditions of the Igbo culture, which substantially upholds freedom and responsibility in religious belief and
practice."16[16]
(d) Communality is another characteristic feature of Igbo religious
tradition. The Igbo sense of solidarity finds deep expression especially in the realm of public morality and religion. The point has been in a
striking manner by Ilogu:
"Communality is the essence of the gods. They are the common
possessions and guardians of all. No one sins to the gods alone. Punishment for the sin of one man is visited on all. The blessings of
the gods are also shared by all."17[17]
15[15] See E. Isichei, op. cit., p. 26.
16[16] N. S.,S. Iwe, op. cit., p. 146.
17[17] E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., p. 18.
Thus for the Igbo, morality, religion and God are not merely personal affairs
but a matter of social concern and common experience, engendering social rights and responsibilities.18[18]
I may summarize this section with a quotation from an earlier work:
"The Igbo as a people possess a culture that is perineated and pervaded by a sense of the divine, the mysterious, the
supernatural and of divine providence. Their attachment to God or the deities is almost instinctive and emotional. Appeal to the
divine and divine providence colour and characterize personal
names, parables and proverbs . . . Such personal names as: chukwudi (There is God); Chukwuma (God knows);
Chukwuemeka (God has done great); Chukwukere (God created); Iwuchukwu (God's law or plan); Ikechukwu (God's
power); Ikpechukwu (God’s judgment or verdict), which are so common among our people, are constant evidence of their
devotion to God."19[19]
C. THE IGBO DEITIES
In modern times quite a few Igbo scholars have researched into the area of Igbo deities and their relevance to Igbo life and culture, especially Arinze,
Ilogu, Onyioha, Kalu, Metuh and a few others deserve special attention.20[20] It would be unnecessary to restate their well-known
18[18] Ibid., pp. 123 – 127.
19[19] N. S. S. Iwe, op. cit., p. 146; See also E. Ikenga Metu, God and Man in African Religion,
A Case Study of the Igbo of Nigeria, London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1981, pp. 49 – 82.
20[20] See F. A. Arinze, op. cit., passim; E. C. Ilogu, K. O. K. Onyioha, African Godianism, A
Revolutionary Religion for Mankind Through Direct Communication with God, London –
Owerri: Conch Magazine Publishers Limited, 1980; Ogbu U. Kalu (ed.) Readings in African
Humanities – African Cultural Development, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1978, pp. 37
– 44; "The Gods in Retreat: Models for Interpreting Religious Change in Africa," published in
The Gods in Retreat – Continuity and Change in African Religions, (ed. by Ikenga Metu) Enugu:
contributions in this area. However, my intention is to consider here the
basis of Igbo theology and subsequently the traditional spatio-temporal focus of the interaction of the Igbo and their God, namely, the shrine.
In the first place, it is necessary to reaffirm the not-too-well appreciated
fact', especially since the advent of Christianity among the Igbo, that the
Igbo are fundamentally and eminently monotheistic. In other words, they believe in one and only Supreme Spirit, one almighty God.21[21] There
might be a suspicion here that this writer is trying to attribute to Igbo tradition the subsequent theological achievements of Christianity among
modern Igbo. However, this is obviously not so; this is clear from the eye-witness" account of the Missionaries themselves as far back as the first half
of the 19th century when Christianity had not penetrated Igbo culture. A German missionary, writing on the Igbo in 1841, confessed that:
"The word 'Tshuku' God, is continually heard. Tshuku is supposed to do everything. Their notions of some of the
attributes of the Supreme Being are, in many respects, correct, and their manner of expressing them, striking. 'God made
everything: He made both White and Black' is continually on their lips. Some of their parables are descriptive of the
perfections of God.”22[22]
It is evident from the above that the Igbo belief in one Supreme God
predated Christianity.23[23] It is not a modern theological development arising out of the Christian faith and heritage, as some modern Igbo
Scholars would want us to believe. I have in mind here Nwọga's view that
Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1986; Emefie Ikenga Metu, God and Man in African Religion – A
Case Study of the Igbo of Nigeria, London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1981, passim; African Religions
in Western Conceptual Schemes, Ibadan: Pastoral Institute Bodija, 1985, passim.
21[21] See Arinze, op. cit., p. 9; E. B. Idowu, op. cit., pp. 161 – 2; E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., p. 34.
22[22] Journals of the Rev. James Frederick Schon and Mr Samuel Crowther... in 1841 (London,
1982), pp. pp. 50 – 51.
23[23] See F. A. Arinze, op. cit., pp. 9 – 12.
the concept of the Supreme Being is an exotic theological importation
entirely strange to the Igbo traditional religious heritage.24[24] The discussion above shows that this is not quite true.
In the second place the Igbo recognize and believe in a pantheon of divine
beings or spirits, Mmụọ, Arụsị. Here is a collage of both good and evil
divinities, inferior and subordinate to the Supreme Being, but endowed with special powers in the affairs of human beings and over the material forces of
the visible universe. As Idowu rightly cautions:
"We should however observe here that the divinities owe their
being and divine authority to Deity and that they are not to be confused with him in any way."25[25]
In the third place, there is the Igbo belief in-Chi, or personalized divine
providence, a guardian personal spirit (a direct endowment by God to each
person) providing the necessary ontological basis for the communion of every human being with his Creator, his ancestors and posterity. As Isichei
well observed "the living, the dead, and the unborn form part of a continuum . . . The ancestors watch over the living, and are periodically reincarnated
among them.”26[26]
In the light of the above submissions, the basic elements of Igbo traditional
theology may 'be represented geometrically as a triangle with God at the
24[24] See D. I. Nwoga, The Supreme God as Stronger in Igbo Thought, Owerri: Hawk Press,
1984, passim: One must here point out that, though, Christian influence is not the origin of Igbo
belief in a Supreme God, Christianity has contributed to the clarification and development of this
belief (its enrichment).
25[25] E. B. Idowu, op. cit., p. 159: See also E. I. Metuh, African Religions in Western
Conceptual Schemes. pp. 29 – 30.
26[26] E. Isichei, op. cit., pp. 25 – 26; See also E. I. Metuh, God and Man in African Religion,
pp. 92 – 97.
apex, the two sides symbolizing the good and evil divinities while the base-
line representing Chi and the Ancestors, as in the following diagram below:
THE SUPREME BEING – DEITY
Igbo theology is therefore, essentially a triangular communion of the human
spirit with the Supreme Deity and the divine and ancestral spirits in man's search for security, harmony and peace both in this visible universe and in
the invisible universe.
Now a brief comment on each of these basic elements of Igbo theology will
be appropriate.
1. GOD – THE SUPREME BEING:
For the Igbo, God is a person in the full philosophical richness of this word. In this perspective, to be a person means to be a being endowed with
intellect and will-power; a centre of consciousness, "of valuation, decision and choice", an autonomous subject of rights and responsibilities.27[27] It is
in this light that the Igbo perceive God as a person with all the attributes of a divine personality in the transcendental, absolute and eminent degree.
Though the Igbo see God as transcendental in His being and perfection, they believe strongly in his immanence in creation. We agree with Idowu that:
"In African thought, Deity is absolutely essential and cannot be disregarded; the notion of a god as so transcendent that he is
not immanent is alien to African belief ... Africans are explicit
27[27] See R. S. Peters, Ethics and Education, London: George Allen and Unwin Limited, 1969,
p. 211.
about the divine rulership and absolute control of the
universe."28[28]
The major names by which the Igbo identify the Supreme Being illustrate this point:
i. Chukwu (Chi-Ukwu) The "Great Source Being or Spirit". "The Great One from whom being originates."29[29] Here is the Great Chi,
from whom all human beings derive their personal Chi or guardian spirit.30[30]
ii. Chineke – The creator spirit – Here is God's name as the creator and Uncaused Cause of the Universe.
iii. Osebụlụwa – Here is God's name as the Lord, Sustainer and Foundation of the universe.
iv. Ọbasị-bi-n'igwe – God who lives in Heaven.
v. Eze di n'igwe – God the Lord of Heaven.
28[28] E. B. Idowu, op. cit., p. 160.
29[29] See F. A. Arinze op. cit., p. 9; J. Awolalu and P. Dopamu, West African Traditional
Religion Ibadan: Onibonoje Press Limited, 1979, p. 40; E. I. Metuh, God and Man in African
Religion, pp. 32 – 41.
30[30] See E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., p. 34.
vi. Igwe ka Ala – Heaven-Greater-than Earth; here is God's name in
His infinite power as the Lord of the earth.
vii. Amọ ama amacha amacha: Here is God's name in His infinite capacity and incomprehensibility vis-a-vis the limited cognitive
capacity of mortal man.
These selectively itemized Igbo names for God portray His transcendence,
pre-eminence and creative power; His immanence and unique sovereignty over the universe.31[31]
B. SOME IGBO THEOPHORIC NAMES:
The theophoric personal names given to children at birth are also a clear
index of the Igbo concept of -God. Here are some examples:
i. Chukwudi – God exists
ii. Chukwuma – God knows
iii. Uchechukwu – God's Will
iv. Amara Chi – God's Grace
v. Chukwuemeka (Olisaemeka) - God has been benevolent
vi. Nwachukwu – Child of God
vii. Ngozichukwu – God's blessing
viii. Ifeanyịchukwu (Iheanyichukwu) – Nothing is impossible with God.
31[31] See F. A. Arinze, op. cit., pp. 9 – 10.
The above sample of Igbo theophoric names signify among, other things, the
Igbo concept of God as a living Being immanent and present in the lives and activities of human beings (His creatures). A thorough examination of the
Igbo idiom and characteristic myths establish as much. For instance, two common Igbo sayings, namely: Chukwu Muanya mgbe nile (God is ever
vigilant); Onweghi ihe gbara Chineke anya gharị(nothing is incomprehensible to God, in His infinite wisdom) strikingly establish the essential, dynamic and
definitive traditional Igbo concept of the Supreme Being.
In summary, we may assert that for the Igbo, the Supreme Being is not a
Deus incognitus (an unknown God),32[32] not a Deus incertus et remotus (an uncertain and remote God), Deus absconditus (a hidden or absentee
God). He is a Supreme Being high above His creatures in nature but present among, and in communion with them in action and influence.
The Igbo regard the Supreme Being as altogether good, merciful, just and benevolent. They do appeal and pray to Him directly, on special occasions
(of joy, sorrow, calamity or distress) or at the commencement of the day, or on taking certain initiatives or in public deliberations. Such direct appeals
and prayers are made through incantations, libations, invocations; but rarely
through direct sacrifice.33[33] Because of His transcendence and dignity the Igbo prefer to worship Him indirectly through the minor deities. As Arinze
pointed out, the Igbo "think it more courteous and more within man's range to appeal to the spirits to obtain request from God. But the Igbo need no
one to tell them that without God, not even the strongest 'alusi' (spirit) can do anything."34[34]
II. THE DIVINITIES
32[32] See E. B. Idowu, op, cit., pp. 146 – 147.
33[33] See F. A. Arinze, op. cit., p. 10; also see K. O. K. Onyioha, op. cit., pp. 44 – 45.
34[34] F. A. Arinze, op. cit., pp. 10 – 11.
Igbo religious and rituals observances are focused on the pantheon of
divinities or intermediary spirits, whom they believe control the forces of the visible universe for good or for bad. Because of the belief in their significant,
though subordinate power and influence in the affairs of human beings, prayers and sacrifices are often offered to appease them or to attract their
blessings. There are a few major Igbo divinities. According to Ilogu:
"Next to Chineke - is a pantheon of gods: Anyanwụ (the sun god); Igwe (the
sky god), Amadị-ọha (the god of thunder and lightning) and ala (the earth goddess)."35[35]
These gods with a small "g" are mere divinities or spirits, with powers derived from God. Thus, it would be wrong to espouse the view put forward
by Idowu that these divinities are not creatures because they are derived divinities.36[36] This view is wrong because it is logically impossible for two
Supreme Beings to exist. Therefore the lgbo divinities are created spiritual functionaries presiding over the natural elements of the universe (such as
water, the, the land, the sky, etc.) and acting as intermediaries in man's relationship with the Supreme Being.
Now a few words on the common and major divinities of the Igbo:
i. Ala (Anị or Ana): This is the most common divinity in Igboland. It
is therefore generally the arch-divinity of every locality. It is regarded as the earth goddess of fertility and the custodian of
public morality in co-operation with the spirit of our departed and venerable ancestors.37[37] Breaches of public morality or social
prohibitions and taboos (nsọ ala). such as stealing from the barn, homicide, incest, infidelity, woman climbing the palm tree or
35[35] E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., p. 34; See also E. I. Metuh, God and Man in African Religion, pp. 54
– 55.
36[36] See E. B. Idowu, p. 169.
37[37] See F. A. Arinze, op. cit., p. 15; See also E. I. Metuh, op. hic. cit., pp. 66 – 67.
wrestling her husband down in a fight, etc. are all considered
offences against the community (Ala). Ilogu has itemized about twenty-four "abominations" or ethical and social prohibitions and
taboos of Igbo moral code.38[38] Any violation of these prohibitions is considered moral, spiritual and social pollution of the
land, requiring appropriate ritual purl5cation of the offender and the community in order to appease the earth goddess.39[39]
Emphasizing the pre-eminence of Ala among the other divinities. Echeruo remarks:
"One divinity, however, was beyond the capriciousness of Igbo men: that divinity is neither Igwe, nor even Chukwu, but A la,
the goddess of the earth. She was the one deity which no man or woman and no community could afford to offend, much less
discard. If ever there was a supreme god among the Igbo it was Ala. A crisis in our institutions has obscured this fact . . .40[40]
From the reflections here on Ala, it is evident that any serious study or research into the foundations and principles of Igbo ethics must derive its
inspiration and support from the Igbo philosophy and theology of this earth goddess.
ii. Ahịajọkụ (Ifejiọkụ). This is the god of yam and farm work. Igbo traditional society is basically a farming community, and yam is
perhaps their most highly valued crop. Eminence in this profession, as measured by the quality and quantity of yams produced
annually, is the basis for the award of special cultural rank and title. It was inevitable that this vital sphere of Igbo life and culture
should be presided over by a special divinity – hence the role of Ahiajoku among the Igbo as the guarantor and custodian of soil
fertility and good harvest. As a consequence, in the words of
Arinze:
38[38] Cf. E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., pp. 123 – 127.
39[39] Ibid., pp. 127-9.
40[40] Ahiajoku Lecture, 1979, p. 18.
"The yam spirit receives his special cult before and after the
planting season. The New Yam Festival is one of the most widespread in Igboland."41[41]
One may add here that in the traditional Igbo family, new yams are never eaten until a ritual sacrifice of a cock or any other animal has
been offered to the divinity. It must be mentioned also that in some Igbo communities where crop farming is not the central activity,
appropriate divinities are worshipped for success and security as, say, in fish farming, where a body of water is culturally significant.
This is the case With the Igbo communities along the River Niger, the Oguta Lake the Abadaba Lake and the Imo River.
iii. Anyanwụ – (the sun god): The cult of this divinity is more important in the Northern Igbo sub-cultural area around Nsukka
and Oboloafor. Anyanwu is regarded as a benevolent divinity and prayers are offered to it for good health.42[42]
iv. Igwe – (the god of the sky): Its role is to send the rain to irrigate the earth. In Igbo mythology, he is the husband of A la, the earth
goddess in union with whom the earth is rendered fertile and productive. The cult of this divinity is not widespread in Igboland.
v. Amadịọha – (the god of thunder and lightning). It is regarded in Igboland as a divinity of vengeance against the wicked and the
evildoers. Victims of Amadịọha are as a rule not given a normal burial, and their possessions, especially movable property and
personal effects, are either ritually alienated or publicly cast away as refuse.43[43] Some call Amadịọha God's Minister of
41[41] F. A. Arinze, op. cit., p. 16.
42[42] Cf. E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., p. 35.
43[43] See F. A. Arinze, op. cit., p. 16.
Justice.44[44] Another name for Amadịọha is Kamalụ (or kalụ),
especially around the south-eastern Igbo areas as Ohafia, Bende, Abiriba and Arochukwu. The above account of these major
divinities, demonstrates the cultic pragmatism of the Igbo. It was the height of spiritual arrogance and personal and social
indiscretion, and was believed to be tantamount to suicide to rashly ignore these powerful intermediary spirits by appealing to God
directly, if according to the diviners circumstances dictate otherwise. These divinities were therefore worshipped, and
sacrifices were made and shrines built to supplicate and appease them, as the circumstances of the devotees and. events required.
III. CHI AND ANCESTORS
The third element in the triangular conception of Igbo theology comprises chi
or the hum in personal participation in the divine ordering of the universe by the Supreme Being. Arinze sees chi in Igbo belief as the spirit, or genius or
spiritual-double with which God has endowed every sentient being. For Ilogu, chi in Igbo belief is the divine particle in man by which he shares in
the Supreme Being and the basis of man's immortality and communion with the ancestors.45[45] For Idowu, as earlier mentioned, chi is the "inner man”
the "essential person" and "this is usually conceived (of) as something which man obtains from deity himself and ultimately, the account of how man uses
his talent must be rendered before deity."46[46] For Metuh, chi is characterized as the immanent presence of God in man or man's guardian
angel in life.47[47]
Briefly stated therefore, this rather elusive concept of chi in Igbo theology
can be practically characterized under two complementary perspectives,
44[44] See T. N. O. Ouarcoopome, West African Traditional Religion, African University Press,
1987, p. 71.
45[45] Cf. E. C. Ilogu, op. cit., p. 40 – 41.
46[46] E. B. Idowu, op. cit., p. 60.
47[47] See E. I. Metuh, op. hic. cit., pp. 68 – 69.
namely: transcendence and immanence-transcendentally chi is the divinely
endowed spirit of God which functions as a guardian spirit, personal to each human being; immanently, chi is man's spiritual self and materially a part of
the structure and potentials of the human personality. In ethical terms, chi is man's conscience. For spiritual balance and ethical sanity, and for a
successful and peaceful life there must be a harmonious co-operation between transcendental chi and immanent chi; in other words, between
conscience and the voice of God in man. If eventually man must give account of himself according to his chi, this will certainly be according to the
manner in which his conscience perceived he voice of God as his personal guide. The Igbo man ordinarily regards chi as his guardian spirit, on whose
nature and potency his fate and fortunes hang. Hence in Igbo traditional religious ritual, domestic altars or shrines are erected for the supplication of
chi.
From the point of view of Igbo theology, chi is of critical and strategic
importance in man's communion with the Supreme Being and the ancestors. For man to enjoy blessed immortality, he must ensure that in close co-
operation with his chi, he lives an ethically sound life. To be in conflict with his chi is to court disaster in this life and ignominy and sorrow in the next. In
summary, therefore chi must be seen as the spark of the divine in man, his
guardian spirit, the basis and pledge of his immortality and reincarnation, and his avenue of communion with his ancestors and posterity.48[48]
As mentioned earlier, in Igbo traditional theology, life is a continuum
mediated through immortality and reincarnation. This is the conceptual
background underlying the cult of the ancestors as the invisible custodians of public morality. We must agree with Arinze that the Igbo family is not made
up of only those members who are still alive and that the invisible ancestors, or the "living dead" members are very much a part of it.49[49]
IV. THE SHRINES
48[48] Ibid., p. 69.
49[49] See F. A. Arinze, op. cit., pp. 17 – 18.
The shrine is primarily a religious institution and an essential element of
ritual sacrifice among the Igbo.50[50] It is the spacio-temporal element of Igbo traditional religion and the most visible symbol of the cult and worship
of any deity. Physically, it is essentially a place set apart, harbouring ritual objects and symbols (such as the remains of animals, pots, coins, feathers,
knives, plants, etc,) and dedicated to a divinity, or ancestor for official and solemn worship. The chi shrines are entirely personal, the domestic shrines
are for the spiritual and ritual needs of the family, while the communal shrines are for worship by the community or kindred. The personal and
domestic shrines are usually small and simple in design and structure and
have correspondingly minor cult status. On the other hand, the communal shrines (such as the Mbarị in the Owerri areas of Igboland) are usually large
in size and range from relatively simple structures to sophisticated constructions with awe-inspiring cult objects and decorations.
It should be mentioned that cultic observances at the shrines are always undertaken with due recognition of the pivotal role of the diviner and the
appropriate priest.
THE ETHICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE IGBO SHRINE
i. The shrine among the Igbo is of special moral and social
importance and significance, apart from its fundamental and primary religious and cult role. As already stated, the shrine is
invariably in every community acknowledged as the institutional
embodiment and custodian of public morality and order. A few illustrations will suffice here. Any infringement of any of the major
prohibitions of the Igbo moral code (by the commission of such abominations as suicide, induced abortion, incest, stealing of yams,
etc.) is considered a pollution of the community and a dangerous alienation of the community from peaceful and safe communion
with the divinities. In such an eventuality, only the performance of the appropriate rites at the appropriate communal shrine will purify
50[50] Ibid., p. 97.
the culprit and the land, appease the divinities and ancestors, and
restore the community to spiritual harmony and peace. Thus the shrine as an institution inculcates a personal awareness of the
social dimensions and gravity of serious moral lapses, and serves thereby as a useful moral deterrent and educator of conscience.
This ethical role of the shrine is generally less well appreciated than the more usual social function.
ii. In any dispute involving rival claims to land or any other property, or even in the case of disputed responsibility for a given pregnancy,
the rival claimants may be required to appear publicly before the community shrine to swear before the authority of the shrine and
its divinity, in support of their claims. In the Etiti area, the rival claimants along with their immediate nuclear families will be
required to swear standing with their feet placed in the ritual basket of Amadịọha, the local deity.
iii. Solemn occasions of local community festivities and celebrations are usually preceded and concluded by the observance of relevant
rites at the shrines of the local deities by the elders and priests.51[51]
iv. For the chief priests and the elders and custodians, the shrine is the focus of periodic social interactions and planning for the
harmony and progress of the community. Indeed, it may be said that; the shrine is to the Igbo traditional religion what the altar is to
the Christian church.
CONCLUSION
51[51] See E. P. Modum, "Gods as Guests; Music and Festivals in African Traditional Societies"
pub. In Readings in African Humanities – African Cultural Development (ed. by Ogbu Kalu),
Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers Limited, 1978, pp. 45 – 57.
In this paper, I have sought to portray the basis of the Igbo religious world-
view and its theology. I have also highlighted the shrine as the spatio-temporal focus and visible symbol of the communion of the Igbo with the
invisible ' universe of God, the divinities and venerable ancestors, the ethical significance of the shrine for public order and peace was briefly illustrated.
Though the overwhelming majority of the Igbo have converted to Christianity for well over a century now, our discussion here should not be
regarded as an irrelevant exercise in theological history. The development of the spirituality of the modern Igbo, along with the refinement of public
morality in the light of contemporary beliefs, is a continuing task for our religious leaders. It is a task that Christianity cannot fully achieve without
fruitful dialogue with the Igbo theological heritage, and without a sincere recognition of the positive elements of the later. The following may be
numbered among such elements:
i. The essential transcendence and dynamic immanence of the
Supreme Being, God;
ii. The immortality of the human spirit and the ethical implications
thereof;
iii. The integrated vision of the universe of God, the spirits and man;
iv. Chi as the foundation of religious 1iberty in all its dimensions and
implications, and of personal conscience;
v. The communality of religion;
vi. The altar as social and cult symbol;
vii. The social dimensions of sin and the need for an appropriate
theology of sin as a moral and social, pollution.
The above seven concepts constitute the main theological legacy of the Igbo
concept of the deities.
THE IGBO IDEA OF THE SACRED:
CONTEMPORARY OBSERVANCES
BY
T. UZODINMA NWALA
Certain authorities have identified the concept of the sacred or holy as the
essence of religion. Among other key religious concepts are mystery, power, divinity, and transcendence.
These concepts have been variously used to define religion. Thus Francis Arinze defines religion as:
"the consciousness of one's dependence on a transcendent being and the tendency to worship him."
Objectively, he says religion "is the body of truths, laws and rites
(ritual) by which men is subordinated to the transcendent
Being."
We have qualified this definition by adding that the consciousness may be of transcendent Beings rather than one transcendent Being. It is for this that
the religion of a people may be classified as either monotheistic or
polytheistic. In the one case, a Being is acknowledged as the only true God, while in the other, there are several gods. Polytheism, however, is
historically prior to Monotheism. Virtually all societies began their religious
journey from polytheism. Cardinal Arinze's definition was given from a
Christian perspective. And Christianity is one of the newer forms of religion among the Igbo.
Religion is a form of social consciousness found among all people of the
world. It is a historical and cultural fact. .Religious ideas and beliefs are by
definition non-scientific. Religion reflects one form of a people's understanding of the realities of life, society and nature.
Several types of religion have existed in human history. Thus, we find
traditional religion (which was polytheistic and animist), Confucianism,
Taoism, Shinroism, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Godianism, and so many other religions that have sprouted and continue to
sprout to this day. Many of these religions took their names either from the object of religious consciousness, or from the founder of the religion.
Godianism, for example, is said to be a modern rendering of the most primitive and natural form of religion which recognizes no human medium
and directly communes and transacts with God. But, at the same time, it subordinates polytheism to monotheism by transforming the Supreme Being
into the only God. Other gods become his agents, according to the theology of Godianism. The development from polytheism to monotheism is a logical
and historical process.
As science and technology expand the frontiers of human knowledge, the
gods disappear from familiar natural objects and phenomena. Even then we are left with the "inexplicable," though its horizon continues to get
progressively narrower. In the end we are left with the mystery of being, life and creation. We shall still be left with the transcendent, the unknown Being,
who emerges in our thought as the Absolute, the Supreme Being, whom we analogically continue to clothe with our human at tributes.
Forms of religiosity may differ, but all traditional societies practice one form of religion or another. The Igbo are traditionally a deeply religious people.
Arthur Leonard once wrote about them that
"they (Igbo) are... a truly religious people of whom it can be said
as it has been said of the Hindu that they eat religiously, bathe religiously, dress religiously, sin religiously... (the) religion of
these natives is their existence and their existence is their religion. "
This observation is true of every human society in so far as the dominant ideology has a religious character, as does happen among traditional
communities. We see this in the case of the Igbo in their daily lives, in their social ritual, in the numerous monuments and shrines that dot every
compound.
As soon as you approach the typical religious object, isi evuo gi (you are
overawed). Is it the shrine, th0 evil forest, the cave, the river, the tomb of the ancestors! These evoked feelings of dread and reverence. The moral
code was hallowed.
Today, the picture is different.
Ụmụaka atụtụrụla ada kpọ ya ebi.
Nwanyị nnabe ọghọla mbe na-ezi okwu.
Onye olu dị nma agafela ọkpụala Ngwa na-aghayi anya n'azụ.
Onye efu abala nime nkpa, ma isi atagh ya chịikịrịrị.
Onye eze mmụọ ga saghara nwunye ya nọ-asọ ịba ya.
In short the sacred has indeed become the profaned. Like the Greek gods
deserting Olympus, the Igbo traditional deities are deserting the traditional shrines. But where have they gone and who has chased them away?
The forces responsible for the apparent demise or progressive disappearances of our traditional gods, our deities and venerable ancestors,
followed in the wake of our colonial conquest by Europeans, although it is arguable that without our colonial experience the same process would have
come about eventually. Mankind's intellectual, scientific and technological development is not the monopoly of any race or culture. Sooner or later, the
religious phase in mankind's intellectual, scientific and technological development, as Augusto Comte observed, was bound to yield to a dominant
metaphysical and then a scientific phase. Another way of putting it is to say that the forces of modernity would have set in sooner or later.
The historical forces which can be held responsible for the fate of our traditional religion include:
Western education, philosophy, science and technology which have increased our knowledge of nature and its laws.
Western religion, with its ideological campaign against traditional religion and culture.
The process was of desacralization and secularization which Max Weber called the process of increasing rationalization of life.
The same process can be looked at from the perspective of the modern industrialization and commercialization of life. Everything is now the subject
or object of business. Everything is vendible. Nothing is sacred any longer.
The sacred Long Juju of Arochukwu had been converted into a business
outfit, an instrument of garnering' or extorting wealth from people even before colonialism. The defeat of the Igbo by British colonial forces may be
seen as the victory of one religion over another, the defeat of one god (the traditional) by another, namely, the whiteman's god.
Perhaps we can best understand what has happened to out traditional religion from the perspective of man’s world getting transformed as his
productive forces improve.
As we probe and understand more of the laws of nature, we have less need
for superstitions and mysticism. As we improve on our instruments of production and can explore and turn inside out the caves, the burial grounds
and evil forests and, in their place, build our cathedrals and mansions; as we cross the mountains, rivers and seas with our technologies, build our
tunnels, our bridges and flyovers; as we fly high into the skies, we push the gods farther into distant horizons, away from familiar terrain. But wherever
the gods may be, the important thing is that we can deal with our environment, without offending them, or violating taboos.
Whichever way we look at it, the once powerful and dreaded deities and gods – Amadịọha/Kamalụ, Igwe-ka-Ala. Ibina-Ukpabi (Long Juju), Ala, Imo,
Osimiri, Agbala, etc. – have lost their power and sacredness. They have lost their divinity. Yes, "the mighty have fallen." But perhaps they are not fiat on
the ground yet, and may not be for quite some time. Fustel de Coulanges, has observed that:
"The Contemporary of Cicero (the Roman Orator) practiced rites in the sacrifices, at funerals, and in the ceremony of marriage.
These rites were older than his time, and what proves it is that they did not correspond to his religious belief. But if we examine
the rites which he observed or the formulas which he recited, we find the marks of what men believed fifteen or twenty centuries
earlier." The Ancient City, p. 14.
In the same way, there is hardly any rite of our modern Christian religion
which does not have counterpart in traditional religion. Indeed, traditional religion has captured modern Christianity. Both the older denominations and
the newer sects are now completing as to which can be seen as tae most indigenous in approach and which best projects the native spirit in its
appeals. Those Christian priests who ran foul of their orthodox faith when they advocated a synthesis of the Western and traditional elements in
religion, must now feel vindicated as they watch recent developments in our religious observances.
The greatest negative impact of Western colonialism on our society was the attempt to uproot and destroy the entire fabric of our culture and our
religion which was dubbed pagan, and to impose indiscriminately Western religion on our society. Our people were weak and so easily succumbed to
the force of imposed Western religion and as a result acquired a colonial mentality. Sometime ago, I was invited by a student organization to deliver
a lecture as one of the activities to mark the now famous OJI EZINIHITTE, which the student organization was hosting. The traditional ruler of the
community was present. The students presented kola to their guests and we called on the traditional ruler to bless the kola (ịgọ ọfọ) in keeping with
tradition. The man asked us to close our eyes which seemed odd. More
offensive was that he proceeded to offer a Christian prayer invoking the Spirit of Jesus Christ and his Mother Mary. As soon as he sat down the
attention of all was drawn to this incident which some considered all the more unpardonable in that the traditional ruler was hosting a traditional
event, the most typical in the area.
Those who decry the systematic and uncritical destruction and neglect of
traditional religion and culture, do so not solely from the point of view of cultural nationalism or from a metaphysical or epistemological point of view.
The identity of a people, as has often been maintained, is a function of their history and culture. Any nation and any people without such an identity
deriving from their history and culture lack the basic ingredients of stability in national character.
Any contest between Christianity and traditional religion is a contest between one culture and another, between one set of superstitions and
another. Chinụa Achebe has also demonstrated that it is a contest between
two theologies.
We recall the incident in Things Fall Apart about a theological debate between Mr. Brown and Mr. Akunna:
"Whenever Mr. Brown went to that village he spent long hours with Akunna in his Obi talking through an interpreter about
religion. Neither of them succeeded in converting the other but they learnt more about their different beliefs."
"You say that there is one Supreme Being who made heaven and earth'" said Akunna on one of Mr. Brown's visits. We also believe
in him and call him Chukwu. He made all the world and the other gods.
"To this Mr. Brown retorted that there are no other gods and that what Akunna and his men call gods are pieces of carved
wood. But Mr. Akunna said that both the wood and the gods are made by God as his messengers and through whom he could be
approached.
"As to whether Akunna's men give all the worship to “false god” which they
“have created,” Mr. Akunna said “that is not so. We make sacrifices to the little gods, but when they fail and there is no one else to turn to we go to
Chukwu. It is right to do so. We approach a great man through his servants.
But when his servants fail to help us, then we go to the last source of hope “
"Explaining why they appear to pay more attention to the smaller gods, Mr. Akunna said, “we worry them more because we are afraid of their master.
Our fathers know that Chukwu was the name "Chukwuka" – Chukwu is
supreme!”
"When Mr. Brown told Akunna that in his religion . . . Chukwu is a loving
Father and need not be feared by those who do his will," Mr. Akunna replied, 'but we must fear Him when we are not doing His will – and who is to tell His
will? It is too great to be known.’"
As I observed in Igbo Philosophy,
"There could be no better comparative analysis of the theology of the two religions – Christianity and traditional Igbo religion.
Today, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the traditional Igbo possesses a religion or not. His religion is no longer seen as
that of paganism and devil-worship; nor is his culture any longer the devil's work, nor even are his ancestors any longer held to
dwell in hell as was hitherto the fashionable view among Christian religious leaders. "
Moreover the Christian world-view and traditional world-view share common basic characteristics, both being transcendental, mystical, authoritarian,
ritualistic, and held as sacred, based on faith full of myths and festivities, as well as having a code of conduct.
The authorities of the Roman Catholic Church had several decades ago recognized the authenticity of traditional religion. Consequently, during
Vatican II, the Church
"advocated for norms and rules for adapting the liturgy to the
genius and traditions of the people."
The difference between Christian and traditional religions is more of a
cultural difference. The Christian world-view, theology, ritual and moral
codes are embedded in a different cultural and historical reality. In fact when
we eliminate the more astounding superstitions of traditional religion, we shall have a religion purer and more authentic than contemporary
Christianity. Christianity has ceased to be the religion of Christ:
"It is now the religion of Western Capitalist society. It now sees
the world in the eyes of the industrial capitalist society and defends it even though it may verbally criticise it.' Igbo
Philosophy, p. 236.
In the eyes of the modern Christian, the world is nothing but a stock
exchange and the Christian, no less than the Moslem, in Nigeria today sees his mission on earth and destiny as nothing other than becoming richer than
his neighbour. The Ministry has today become a veritable commercial career. As Marx, himself a Jew observed:
"the god of the Jews has been secularized and has become the god of the world. The bill of exchange is the Jew's actual god."
Writings of the Young Marx, p. 206.
And he went on to state that:
"Christianity arose out of Judaism, it has again dissolved itself
into Judaism." p. 247.
Our traditional religion is not quite down and out. Its original influence may
have waned quite tremendously owing to forces which we have examined above. The transference of allegiance from traditional religion to Christianity
was made easier because they share certain common articles of faith, a common ritual and common codes. Their world-views,, logic and morals, as
stated above, have common characteristics. Indeed, Marx was right when he
observed that any two religions are "different' stages in the evolution of the
human spirit, as different snake skins shed by history" and we must
“recognize man as the snake 'that wore them . . ." If the adherents of these religions see them for what they are, "they will no longer find themselves in
religious antagonism but only in a critical, scientific, and human relationship..." The snake that wore the skins called religion can, if it likes,
try putting them on again, though one skin mode is not exactly like the other.
As to whether traditional religion and its gods, the ancestors are surviving or reincarnating, we can only refer to the facts as they manifest themselves
today, namely, that the forces of modernity, of Christianity, secularization, science and technology have not succeeded in rooting them out completely.
This is because that religion was not a separate and autonomous aspect of life. It was part of the totality of man's existence and sprang from the social
and material conditions of his life. It was part of the meaning which life has taken. And since what was put in its place (i.e., Christianity) was itself a
religion, with the essential elements – faith, the sacred, the supernatural, myths, ritual, moral codes, etc. – then what we find today is an adaptation
of the social and cultural practices of traditional religion.
This is why such deep-seated beliefs embedded in the religious practices of
the people – belief in life as a continuous process (with adjunct beliefs in reincarnation, life-after-death and importance of male issue, polygamy,
ancestor veneration, divination, title-taking, masquerade, secret societies, traditional medicine, religious healing, etc. – are still surviving in one form or
the other.
The call for a synthesis of traditional religion and Christianity which was
made by well-meaning clerics (for example, Canon Ilogu) has gone beyond the realm of logic. It is now a cultural fact. Christianity is fast adapting itself
and giving 0very cultural element a Christian garb, a development which
leads to cultural bastardization. The Aladura sects are strongest in this process of synthesis and transformation. The orthodox religious
denominations and sects are fast adopting the Aladura forms of religious expression in order to remain relevant to the peoples' cultural sensibilities.
The religion that has been strongest in trying to capture the spirit and
practice of traditional religion is the Godian Religion which began as neo-traditional religion. The advocates have best heeded Canon Ilogu's advice
and have gone on to systematize the theology of traditional religion by providing it with a philosophical base, a creed, enlarging the corpus of Saints
to include venerable local deities and the ancestors.
Godianism takes its standpoint from traditional religion, whereas the
thousands of Christian sects which spring up almost daily and in every backyard take their standpoint from Christianity. They lack a cultural
philosophy and merely eclectically adapt African and European elements as it suits them. Some of them still remain hostile to traditional culture.
Godianism began as a nationalist and protest movement, as a rejection of Western colonialism and its imported religion. It soon developed into:
"a bold and unique effort 'to give traditional religion a systematic interpretation in the face of Christian and Islamic influences and
in the face of the realities of the modern age".
It has become the evidence of the creative genius of the modern African it
tries to incorporate certain Christian structures in its worship and theological expression.
As we observed, the problems which face the modern African in general and
the Igboman in particular are larger than religious domination. These
problems are largely moral, economic and political. And in the face of the persistence of these problems, religion, be it Traditional, Christian, Islamic
or even Aladura or Godian, has proved utterly impotent. It is even more important today as it ceases to be a sacred affair but the worship of
mammon, of private property and wealth rather than God. These problems hinge on the sorry fact of inequity in our society, the death of democracy
and democratic norms at national, state and local levels. Today the battle for
democracy, for social justice and equality rages in our society in and outside
the walls of churches and temples.
Whether it is a matter of who selects the priest (the Superior priest or the Congregation); or a matter of the right of women to be agents of the divine
as well; whether it is in Igboland, the Christian or Muslim worlds; or at the
Ụmụahia or Aba Presbyterian Church or at Sokoto, the battle for democracy rages. Someone will continue to defend the principle of democracy –
whether it is the -right .of nine feudal kingmakers to select the Sultan without external interference or the right of the bourgeois State authorities
to determine who governs the people, still without consulting the people, the battle for democracy will continue. This is the altar before which religion will
survive or die as a social institution.
UNDER THE EYES OF THE GODS:
SACRALIZATION
AND CONTROL OF SOCIAL ORDER IN
IGBOLAND
BY
O. U. KALU
I. HOLY MUSING:
Recent social commentary draws attention to the diminished powers of the
sacred in the face of secularity and modern technology. Curiously this is used to explain moral decline: when people knew that the eyes of the gods
peered down at them, moral standards were higher. In those days, the holy musing continued to swear by the ọfọ stick was more portentous than
contemporary oaths by the Bible.
However, this paper is not designed to trace the diminishing path of the idea
of the holy in contemporary Igbo life. The interest, at one level, is in the connection between religion and social control. To what extent did the Igbo
people use religion to stabilize social order? Did they deliberately sacralize the instruments of social control, rejecting the efficacy of secular agents?
At another level, it would be useful to examine the impact of ecology and
cultural differentiation in Igboland on modes of social control. The assumption is that the Igbo have identifiable subcultures based on cultural
variations and ecologies. Social control devices betray the moorings of a society as men struggle to survive in their ecosystems. Did various culture
areas design control modes suitable to the imperatives of their culture theatres?
At a third remove, it is suggested that while there are pa n-Igbo cultural forms which bind, studies could reveal a richness in sub-cultural variations.
Talbot, Daryll-Forde and Jones, Onwuejeogwu and Afigbo have drawn attention to the culture-area approach in Igbo studies.52[zz]
Igbo culture areas are often divided into the following:
1. Western Igboland (Asaba axis)
2. North-Western Igboland (Onitsha axis)
3. Northern Igboland (Udi-Nsukka axis)
4. North-Eastern Igboland (Nkanu-Awgu-Abakaliki axis)
5. Central Igboland (Okigwe-Nkwerre-Orlu-Owerri, Mbaise axis)
6. Southern Igboland (Ngwa, Omuahia, Bende, Ndoki axis)
7. Cross River/Eastern Igboland (Arochukwu, Abam, Ohafia axis)
II. DEFINING SOCIAL CONTROL:
52[zz] See, A. E. Afigbo, "Igbo Subculture areas: Rise and Development," in Ground Work of
Igbo History, A. E. Afigbo (ed.) (forthcoming) for a good summary.
First, the terminology must be explained. Much of the literature tends to deal
with this process in the context of the discussion on deviance.53[aaa] Deviance elicits the use of force or coercion to prevent the breakdown of law
and order. Thus, Beattie speaks of the use of force because:
"to maintain an orderly system of social relationship people have
to be subjected to some degree of compulsion; they cannot, all the time, do exactly as they like. For often, self-interest may
incite behaviour incompatible with the common good, and so it is that in every society some rules, some kind of constraint on
people's behaviour, are acknowledged and, on the whole, adhered to.54[bbb]
The point of departure and, therefore, contribution of this paper, is to argue that emphasis on coercion alone is not enough and the study of customs is
too generalized. It is postulated, instead, that a society controls the behaviour of its members in four different but coordinated ways. First, it
enunciates and inculcates acceptable values. This process is evident in the socialization modes -enculturation. Secondly, the society endeavours to
restrain members from flouting those values. Thirdly, the society punishes those who break acceptable norms and values, and fourthly, it rewards
those who affirm these norms and values. The totality of these processes constitutes social control which is the means by which a society preserves
itself from social and moral chaos and extinction.
Thus, as Bottomore suggests, we must distinguish between the types of
social control and the agency or means of social control. The types of social control are predicated upon the goals of a society: to preserve and nurture
life. Thus, core values are derived from the need to (a) maintain moral and religious order, which are embedded in the worldview and in religious beliefs
and practices; (b) preserve the social order or the person to person
relationships, whether male-female (adult, adolescent, child), family
53[aaa] T. Schapera, "Malinowski’s Theories of Law," in R. Firth (ed.), Man in Culture. For
discussion, See T. B. Bottomore, Sociology (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1962), p. 230.
54[bbb] John Beattie, Other Cultures (New York: Free Press, 1964), p. 139.
(nuclear, extended, parent, child, sibling), or communal (ward, village, clan,
environs, strangers in a widening concentric pattern); (c) sustain the economic order. Here, land as a resource looms large, while the ecology
determines the dominant economic life. Here, too, man's relationship to nature is articulated; (d) root a firm political order. Each goal of the society
demands certain characterized values which the society will inculcate in her citizens, restrain them from flouting, punish them 1or breaking and reward
them for upholding creditably.
The specific agents of socialization are the family (nuclear and extended),
formal and informal modes of education, age-grade (peer groups) and secret societies. Restraining instruments include joking relationships, gossip, public
opinion, praise and blame, ridicule, satire (some of which is clothed in proverbs), music, dance, pantomime and religious taboos. Punitive agents
consist of routinized and non-routinized social structures as well as the political structures. These enforce negative sanctions. But the society props
up social order with positive measures which reinforce and affirm major values with prizes, titles and other accolades.
III. THE RELIGIOUS FACTOR IN SOCIAL ORDER:
Obviously, all modes of social control are not religious. Therefore, there is
the need to spell out the specific role of religion, which Durkheim defines as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. Religion is
so central to human society that the enforcement of religious norms is a type of social control. Similarly, religious ritual is used to inculcate, restrain,
punish and reward behaviour in society: thus, religion is also an agent, means or instrument of social control.
This complexity, especially in the Igbo case, arises from the fact that world-views are predominantly religious in orientation. Secular world-views such as
Marxism and existentialism place man at the centre of the universe and work from a background of godlessness. But Igbo traditional societies perceived
their world as created by Chukwu, who is manifested in a variety of ways: as Anyanwu, the Sun, his power, knowledge and omnipresence are revealed; as
Agbala, he is manifested in the fertility of the earth, animals and human
beings; as Chi, he empowers and strengthens human beings; as Okike, he is
manifested in the creation of everything visible and invisible, which ia a never-ending process.
In the three-dimensional perception of space and the cyclical perception of
time, the human world, Uwa, is dominated by. the Earth-goddess (Ala/Ani).
Human beings share Uwa with a number of patron deities, human spirits, nature deities as well as a number of evil spirits, especially ogbanje, agwu
and akalogoli. The third tier is the spirit world where ancestral spirits dominate and through which they pass to reincarnation. Evil spirits also
inhabit this region, including those spirits who cannot reincarnate because they died in a strange manner, from such things as thunder, or inexplicable
diseases such as smallpox, or who were not given second or third burials. They float in the nether world, appearing once in a while in the human world
to frighten the living. Their restlessness haunts their progeny in the human world.
The implication of this spiritualized world-view is that the gap between the profane and the religious in human existence is attenuated. Moral order is
sacralized and human affairs in the journey from birth to death and reincarnation are infused with religious meaning. Thus, the preservation of a
religious moral order becomes the goal of social control techniques while religious ritual is used as an instrument of social order.
Let us examine more closely the sacralization of the agents of social control. In the family, the Diokpala (head of the lineage) as well as the paterfamilias
(head of household) become quasi-priests, who hold the ofo na ogu, and pour libation, to the "living-dead” ancestors. Through their priestly functions,
they preserve the family (nuclear and extended), dispense justice, serve the lineage shrine and keep the memory of the ancestors alive. Age is crucial in
African social relations because age, wisdom, proximity to the land of the
spirits and closer contact with the ancestors go together. But the family heads are obeyed not just because of their age, but because of their priestly
powers.
Thus, the communal leader and his advisers gather as priests. The
consecration ritual at the installation of communal leaders depicts the sacredness of the position. There was no secular theory of obligation; the
communal leader spoke as the voice of the spirits of the land. The relationship of the individual to these family, lineage and communal leaders
was hedged with taboos. Thus, one could not call one's father, mother, an old avuncular figure, a titled councilor, or chief of a community by his first
name or treat them disrespectfully. Neither did these figures carry themselves without dignity. Nka na nzere (old age with dignity) constituted a
core Igbo social value.
Once in a while, the spirits of ancestors came as guests to the human world.
Diviners saw them and mortals saw them in lonely afternoons or in the darkness of the night or even bumped into them, with dire consequences.
Epiphanies were a part of religious experience, though once often than not masquerades represented the visit of the ancestral spirits. The Omabe
among the savannah north-eastern Igbo people, mmanwu among the south-western Igbo people, mmono and a host of secret societies (obon, akang,
ekpe, ebiabu) among the Cross River Igbo – all signify the incursion of the spirit world into the life of the living with profound ethical implications. The
seasonal factor in these appearances merely reflects the predominant
concerns of the community at various points in the agricultural cycle.
The role played by masquerades and secret societies needs greater clarification. Some masquerades, such as omabe, were directly connected
with ethical control. When sojourning among the living, they probed human
conduct and morals, and their return to the spirit world would leave the community tense and expectant thus providing a compelling reason to
observe moral codes. Less significant masquerades appear in the intervening period as reminders and signals. Some masquerades such as Ikenga, in the
northwest, and Ite Odo and Ite Nsi in Cross River, which celebrate the cult of strength, did not enforce morality, but reinforced requisite values for
survival. An aggressive people celebrated the quality which they revered. Other masquerades such as Ulahga and Ojionu, provided entertainment, but
utilized their mask to satirize.
Among the eastern and Cross River Igbo, there is a masquerade called ekpe,
which comes out at the climax of the new year festival. It is more related to
the Ifejioku, god of yam. When it severs a goat's head in a single strike the
community is assured of a good farming year. A burlesque figure called udu performs at the same time and runs an unedited social commentary as it
leads children, like a pied-piper, around the village.
Another set of masquerades, the Mmanwu, is linked to secret societies and
its manifestations are personifications of dangerous spirits who punish both overt and covert offences. These are more powerful in communities where
secret societies are a part of the political system. Otherwise, their wild behaviour during the seasonal appearances could become dysfunctional. In
the south and Cross River area, where Ọkọnkọ exists, these masquerades served as enforcement agencies in some places, while they were merely
entertainment masquerades in others where this secret society was not an arm of the political order. In the latter places, the political arm had
enforcement agencies as well as dances and masquerades, but the latter merely served as the celebration of power; for instance, ịgba and ijele in the
northwest and akpan in Cross River Igboland. A host of other masquerades merely entertained and amused the community.
The sacralization of the familial agents of socialization led inevitably to the sacralization of the rites of passage as well on the first place, the naming
ceremony in most of Igboland is not a casual matter; diviners are consulted to identify which progenitor has reincarnated and this will guide the choice of
a name. The ceremony, therefore, takes the form of a welcoming reception. In certain culture areas, a first son takes the name of his paternal
grandfather, while a first daughter takes the name of her paternal
grandmother. Thus, naming ceremonies become a means of preserving the memory of progenitors by clothing the ritual with religious garb and awe.
Similarly, puberty rites became elaborate religious affairs. The ceremonies
associated with initiation rites such as the Isiji in Afikpo, and Erusi Edda,
among the Edda of southeastern Igboland, combine several functions: a rite of passage into adolescence or early manhood, an educative experience,
inculcation of survival values, a symbolic rebirth, and a means of communal cohesion and identity. In the case of the Erusi Edda, the climax was to
survive the ordeal of the journey and to come face to face with the great shrine of the community. This carried immense psychological, moral and
religious meaning. Other secret societies may not have had the same
powerful religious meaning, but they all clothed the rites of passage with
mystery and awe, served as a means of sex differentiation and sometimes provided entertainment and recreation for an agrarian population.
Religion not only suffused the world-view and sacralized the agents of
socialization, but it was used to restrict or deter individuals from flouting
sacred values. For instance, folk-tales moralized on how the spirits could punish offenders and reward honesty, frugality, respect for elders,
temperance and humility. Children, thus, grew up with stories which inculcated those values, especially as the stories usually included songs and
choruses which involved participation and imprinted the message.
Similarly, the Igbo restrained individual behaviour by means of a wide range
of taboos. Taboos are like the red light which restricts movement. They are invariably expressed in religious terms, and they serve to co-ordinate the
relationships among various hierarchies of humans, and between human beings and the animal world and the world of nature.
Onwuejeogwu argued that taboo symbolic codes among the Nri of northwestern Igboland derived from six sources:
(a)The symbols related to humans, such as twins.
(b)The symbols related to animals, such as pythons.
(c) The symbols related to things, such as "Do not touch this object."
(d)The symbols related to periods, such as "Do not come out in the night‘."'
(e)The symbols related to action, such as sacrifice for purification.
(f) The symbols related to speech, such as "Do not talk or say;" and we
should add
(g)The symbols related to places, such as "Do not enter," such places are
usually cordoned off with ọmụ (tender palm frond).55[ccc]
Taboos were used to educate and thereby restrict human beings in their
social interactions, relationships to animals, nature, periods of the year, decorum of speech and ritual process. Particularly significant is the symbol
of the ọmụ, the tender palm frond for sacralization and restraining purposes. For instance, if a delegation was sent to a neighbouring community, it
carried an ọmụ twig to confer a sort of diplomatic immunity on the members. If goods were heaped in a place, an ọmụ twig placed on the heap
ensured that no one would dare to touch it. If a grave or a building was
encircled or cordoned off with ọmụ, it became a sanctuary. Or, at least, it forced one to pause and ascertain which restrictions were in force; it could
related to sex, colour of clothes, or social status.
The Igbo word which encapsulates all these notions is nsọ, which could
mean holy, sacred, to be avoided, forbidden, restricted, or abominated. This last sense is more forceful when qualified with anị/alị/ala (earth, home god,
fatherland). It becomes an act which the community would regard as not just detestable but an offence or sin against the Earth Divinity, Ana/Ala/Ali.
The earth sustains life and this elevates the earth goddess into peat prominence, and since the offences are committed on the earth,
abominations are usually affronts to her. Thus, theft, murder, sexual offences, abusive language and allegations, and so on are nsọ. They are
taboo. Offenders would propitiate the earth goddess, and the cost of the propitiatory rites could serve as a deterrence. Taboos and cleansing rituals
55[ccc] See, Onwuejeogwu, An Igbo Civilization, Nri Kingdom and Hegemony (London:
Ethnographics, 1981). Ch. 3 on "The Cosmology and Religious Beliefs of Nri and their Political
Relevance;" F. B. Welbourn, "Mary Douglas and the Study of Religion," Journal of Reliqion in
A frica, 3 (1970), pp. 89 – 95.
are religious, because they underprop a religious worldview. Ordinary life
could not be secular in such contexts, especially when the gods frequently intruded into the human world as masquerades.
Religion was used to restrict behaviour in many other ways, either directly or
indirectly. Medicine, magic, divination, oath-taking, cursing, and blood pacts
were rather direct modes. Indirectly, the fear of witchcraft, sorcery and poisoning kept the populace alert to moral misdemeanours.
To explain further: medicinemen (ndi dibia) were very important people in
the community. Some of them served as curator-priests to shrines; others
engaged in healing, while some provided amulets (ekike) which could be used to protect property, and self. Thus, someone could engage a
medicineman to prepare ekike to ward off thieves from his farm and homestead, to keep his wife faithful, to protect himself and his household
from harm, and to ensure his safe journey. His ekike would either kill or prevent the culprit from escaping from the scene of crime. This is quite
different from using magic to acquire extra strength or success in business enterprise and such like. Quite often, ekike ritual was delivered as a curse
which specified the desired goal as well as the manner of punishments.
The custodial medicinemen also supervised oath-taking, either in their
homes or in shrines – iri arụsị/ịta alusi. This could be undertaken to restrict individually from cheating or harming others, or from breaking agreements.
For instance, in eastern and central Igboland, where bride price can be exorbitant, a betrothed girl may be made to swear on an ancestral grave
that she would not change her mind after the prospective groom has spent much money on her. But oath-taking could be a means of detection and
adjudication, the diviner, dibia ịgba afa, being asked to detect offences – theft, adultery and so on, by subjecting suspects to a ritual oath. The fear of
a recourse to such means was an effective deterrent. Similarly, the ọfọ stick
could be used to swear an oath with deadly consequences for the offender. Ọfọ was like a double-edged sword – it restrained the judge from a willful
miscarriage of justice, and the defendants from perjuring themselves.
The blood pact is most common among the itinerant commercial
communities such as Arondizuogu and Nkwerre-Orlu in Central Igboland, but it is also prevalent in densely populated areas of eastern Igboland, where
litigation over land was very common due to land shortage. Two individuals co-operating in an investment enterprise would use igba ndu to seal the joint
venture. Litigants in land cases could use the system to ensure that such disputes did not lead to poisoning or blood feud. The ritual involved eating
kolanuts smeared with the participants' blood. Communities used the same strategy to seal friendship and mutual-aid pacts.
The fear of witchcraft and sorcery restricted individuals in their association, visiting, movement, drinking and eating habits. Frequency of witchcraft
accusations rose with heightened socio-economic stress, and, at such times, unofficial curfews on movement at night would go into force by self-
restraint. The incidence also appears to have been higher among Igbo communities bordering on riverine non-Igbo areas.
Often, when the incidence of poisoning and accusations of witchcraft become intolerable, the community would organize a mass oath-taking where
everybody drank from a medicineman's brow in the open market place. It was believed that witches, sorcerers and those who poisoned others would
die or confess after drinking the potage. Such cleansing rituals reunited the community and warded off prospective mischief makers.
The sacralization of authority has been alluded to in connection with the family. For the ruler of a community, the entire populace constituted his
family; he was also their priest, a being with dual personality. The Igbo political system varied greatly. We may identify the following types:
(1) Those with a monarchical state system (Onitsha, Oguta, Nri, Osomari and Arochukwu); the king had a graded cabinet and often used a
secret society as an executive arm.56[ddd] Titled people (ozo) were
not automatically advisers.
(2) Those in which the village chiefs ruled with titled people (nze or ọzọ/ichie) as advisers, often consulting the people and the women
(ụmụada) and using some secret societies as enforcement agencies.
(3) Those in which the village chiefs ruled with representatives of family
heads and members of a key secret society.
(4) Those in which the village chiefs ruled with representatives of the
authochtonous families and with the oldest age grade. The next two age grades acted as the executive arm while the populace and women
shared in decision making.
There are more subtle variations on the four types, but the point is that the
enforcement of discipline being, to a .very large extent, located in the political system, the sacralization of authority meant that punitive social
control was religious. The democratic core of the Igbo political system is that in all the polities, women and the populace featured prominently. Even in
the monarchical system, one aspect of the ritual of coronation was designed
to teach the king that he owned the people and the people owned him. Provisions were made for consulting the people. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 based on
a Cross River Igbo political structure, is a typology of offences, enforcement agencies and types of punishment.
The central question is whether various culture areas of Igboland reacted differently to the same offence and the explanation of such differences. All
Igbo communities draw a distinction between offences which were abominations or were ritually evil, and others which were practically evil but
not abominations. Some abominable offences were major and other minor,
56[ddd] See C. C. Ifem6sia, Traditional Humane Living Among the Igbo Enugu: Fourth
Dimension Publications 1980).
but all abominations required purificatory sacrifices. Secondly, all Igbo
communities punished witchcrafts, sorcery and sometimes murder with ostracism. But attitudes to these offences sometimes differed:
(a)Communal offences – fines and confiscation of the property of
obstinate offenders;
(b)Economic – Land matters: Pines and dispossession of trade goods;
fines and restitution money; fines,' repayment agriculture; some communities considered theft of agricultural goods as an abomination,
and added a fine for purificatory sacrifice. Others, in rich food-
producing areas, merely fined and disgraced the culprit. Availability of arable land determined the posture.
(c) Sexual offences – most Igbo communities regarded them as serious
abominations, except in the mid-west and some parts of the
northwest.
(d)Communal peace was generally enforced with fines.
Detection techniques also varied. Central and southern Igboland placed
enormous emphasis on oracles. The northeast and northwest communities possessed centres of potent medicine making, while, in the east and Cross
River sectors existing on the borders of the Ibibio and Ekoi, there was a belief that their non-Igbo neighbours possessed more powerful detection
techniques; at crisis points, they were invited. This tendency may explain
how Ibin Ukpabi was introduced into Arochukwu, as Ekejiuba has shown that this oracle was not an aspect of Aro traditional cosmology.57[eee]
57[eee] F. Ekejiuba, "Aro Worldview: An Analysis of the Cosmological Ideas of Arochukwu
People of Eastern Nigeria," West African Religion, 8 (1970), pp. 1 – 11.
Similarly, enforcement or executive agencies varied according to political
rather than cultural variations. The evidence is that the monarchical groups utilized some secret societies to enforce sanctions. For instance the Aro used
the Ekpe secret society. They could operate in the day time. In Oguta, the Oshereji society helped the Obieze (king's court) to execute decisions. The
non-monarchical polities utilized secret societies. In eastern and southern Igboland, the ọkọnkọ society was prominent. In northwest Igboland, various
types of mmanwu were utilized. Mmo Afia dealt with adultery and witchcraft and ensured that witches were banished; Mmụọ Ulagha took care of those
who constituted themselves into nuisance figures in public places and roads; Mmụọ Onyekulu appeared at night to ridicule character defects and
misdemeanours. The only difference is that certain secret societies were well organized and integrated into the political system, as with the riverine
Okuka people who have developed the sekiapu and the sekinini, or the Ekoi, Efik, Qua and Efut have done with the Egbo, and the Ibibio with the Ekpo. In
others, the connection was looser and more informal. In the Cross River
culture area, the age grade rather than the secret society is utilized as a police force. They carry a symbol of sacralized authority during their forays
against offenders, e.g., a staff, a drum, a pot, opia or simply an omu.
Affirmative social control was also clothed in religious language, symbolism
and meaning; these are very perceptible in the ritual of investiture, title-taking or other conferments of authority. We shall briefly classify rewards in
Igboland into the following types:
1. Ascriptive:
1.1. Titles ascribed by community to an individual by virtue of
birth.
l.2. Titles ascribed by virtue of role in cabinet or advisory role.
2. Achieved:
2.1. Titles ascribed as a reward for contribution to the
development of the community.
2.2. Titles such as nze, ozo, ogbuefi, odu (for female), ezeji
(igwa nnu).
2.3. Titles earned by bravery such as ikeọgụ.
2.4. Titles depicting various grades in ekpe secret society.
2.5. Cap, feather and chalking performed with the accompaniment of the Big Drum (Ilu. ikoro).
There are no chieftaincy titles connected with this. It may be imagined that since the ascriptive roles are tied to birth, they are not rewards. On the
contrary, they are images of aristocracy and give the beneficiaries the right to govern. Religious rituals are used to emphasize accession to these
authority roles. In some cases, a candidate could be denied a title on the grounds of moral or physical deficiency.
The achieved rewards point to salient values. The simplest forms are the congratulatory capping of beneficiaries with the award of a cap and brave
bird's feather (ugo) chalking of palms, chest, eyes and toes. The areas chalked relate to personality cults: the hand, face, tongue, feet and, in the
case of women, the umbilicus.
In most of Igboland, the ozo and nze are expensive titles which turn the
individuals to quasi-priests whose lines are hedged with taboos. They emphasize honesty, virtue, courage and wealth. The houses of ndi nze
become sanctuaries. They participate in fearlessly dispensing justice. In the
Cross River areas, where ozo, nze, and ogbuefii do not exist, membership in the ekpe secret society serves as parallel. Brave warriors are called Ikeogu.
The predominance of extensive agriculture and available land make ezeji another very important title.
Individuals labour assiduously until they can perform igwa nnu, (i.e. tying over four hundred yams in the barn), which ends with a sacrifice to ifejioku,
the god of yam, or a shrine built at the back of the yam barn (oba). The celebrant entertains guests with only yams. Encouragement is thereby given
to the sustaining economic mode of the community.
The question may be asked whether anyone could meet the requirements
and yet be disallowed from taking the title. In traditional Igbo societies, only the morally upright would be allowed to perform the various rites.
Genealogies were examined to establish that there were no moral taints. The ọfọ, ogu, otisi and ikenga were powerful symbols of Igbo values.
As Geertz had argued sacred symbols function
"to synthesize a people's ethos – the tone, character, and quality
of their life, its moral and aesthetic style and mood and their worldview – the picture they have of the way things in sheer
actuality are, their comprehensive ideas of order.”58[fff]
Religion legitimized power, achievement and wealth when acquired in
morally satisfactory ways. The society frowned upon the immoral accession to power and wealth and insisted upon a just and humane exercise of these
benefits. Wealth and power had to be enjoyed with moral responsibility.
58[fff] Clifford Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural System: in M. Berton (ed.) Anthropological
Approaches to the Study of Religion (London: Tavistock Publications, 1977), pp. 1 – 46.
IV. SECULAR MODES OF SOCIAL CONTROL:
The Igbo were, however, not so incurably religious that all modes of social
control were clothed in religious garb. Certain secular agents such as age grades served to socialize young folk into the society's mores. Many folk-
tales, proverbs, idiom, dance, and music had no religious dimension, but
were educative techniques and entertainment.
Similarly, individuals were restrained from breaking traditional morals through a joking relationship among peers, ridicule, satire, gossip and
pantomime, which had no religious connotation. All punishments wore not
ritualized; neither were all praise names and pr e1.se songs of a religious nature. Decorative art adorned the homes of the wealthy without any
religious import. The age grade, for instance, was a social organizational system utilized for labour mobilization and development projects. However,
it must be emphasized that secularism was accentuated by western education, colonization and modernization. In the traditional Igbo world,
leaders deliberately manipulated sacrality to cover even mundane aspects of life, because there was no secular theory of obligation. Religious awe was a
good cudgel to control the society’s morals. The gods were truly the policemen.
V. LARGER SIGNIFICANCE:
Social control techniques betray a community's understanding of the nature
and use of power as well as the community's goals and basic character. From this perspective, Chieka Ifemesia's emphasis on the humane
conception and use of power in traditional Igboland has been substantiated by this study. The community may use religion to legitimize power, but it
was hardly a capricious usage. Rather, it was a covenantal relationship: One's chi was a caring, personal god providing generation, nurture,
protection, guidance and success, but requiring obedience and discipline. The bond was like that between an obedient, trusting child and a
responsible, stern but compassionate parent.
This was the same relationship between the earth goddess (Ala) and the
human world. The earth goddess nurtured, but punished abominations. Similarly ancestor8 protected and mediated for the welfare of human
families, but exacted libations, sacrifices, and second burials. These personal, warm, caring images were obviously a control on human political
agents, who, as stewards and managers of the divine estates, would want to rule as august and transcendent beings. At the ofala festival, the proper
relationship was re-enacted: the ruler must be as warm, caring, just and nurturing as the chi, ala and ndichie or nna ochin. Obedience on the part of
the subjects would follow, and social order would be maintained. He could discipline deviance with public approval.
Sometimes, scholars question whether chi, ala, or Ndichie are agents of Chukwu in the enforcement of morality. Onwuejeogwu cleverly avoids the
problem by suggesting that Chukwu manifests himself in various forms. Jacobson provides clues in his Treasures of Darkness.59[ggg] He argues that
certain root metaphors for divinity had socio-economic correlates. Thus, at the stage of food gathering, low-level technology and need for food, powers
and processes immanent in nature were worshipped as divine, and were imagined as powers willing to assume concrete form as phenomena. The
inability to harness the resources of the environment produced ns emphasis
on nature and professional spirits. With the rise of states and empires, these gods, now imagined in human terms, became august and transcendent
rulers over the cosmos which they had created.
Certain Igbo myths refer to this changing political economy with the story of
why Chukwu, who was very close to human beings, went to the sky. Human leaders pose as stewards and endeavour to clothe themselves with a divine
aura as managers of Chukwu's estates. But enlarged scale and sophistication produced a re assertion of the individual symbolized by a reassertion of
personal religion with chi and nna ochie as curbs on imperial pretensions of kings and chiefs (obi, igwe, eze) who pretend to be earthly gods and priests
of ala. Thus, there is an historical dimension to the flowering of arch image; there is also a socio-economic correlate, and there is no conflict between the
imaging of Chukwu and the various divinities and spirits. Chukwu, as the
59[ggg] Thorkild Jacobson, The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976). See, D. I. Nwoga God as Stranger in lgbo Religious
Thought Mbaise, 1985, 1985), Ch. 3.
guardian of morality is a favourite of state systems. He is perceived
differently, not necessarily as remote and hidden, as in other socio-economic and historical times. But at all times, since the world-view is religious, gods
act as policemen to maintain the moral and social order.
Table 1.1: Political Organization in a Cross River Igbo Community
(Type IV).
LEVEL I
EZIE the chief
I – II NDI NWO ALỊ(reps of families from the original founder)
NDI ICHIN (elders based on age – the oldest age grades).
I – II UKE NKPA (the next age grade to Ndi Ichin)
UKE NKPA or UKE JI OGO (the next age grade to Uke Akpan)
LEVEL II
II – I EZIE NDI INYOM (Leader of the women)
ICHIN NDI INYOM (Elderly women)
II – II NDE IKPERIKPE (the next age grade who carries the drum for
the women)
LEVEL III
III – I NZUKO OGO
III – II UMU NKPARAWA
TABLE 1.2: PATTERN OF PUNITIVE SOCIAL CONTROL IN OHAFIA, CROSS RIVER, IGBOLAND
Type of Offence Enforcement Agent Type of Sanction
A. COMMUNAL (Anti- Social)
i Witchcraft Chief Priest – Ndi Ichin,
Uke Nkpa, Nzuko Ogo
Ostracism
ii Sorcery
Chief Priest – Ndi Ichin, Uke Nkpa, Nzuko Ogo
Ostracism
iii Poisoning Uke Nkpa, Ndi Ichin, Priest, Nzuko, Ogo
Fine
iv Levies Uke Akpan, Umunkparawa
Fine, Confiscation
v Communal Work Uke ji Ogo,
Umunkparawa
Fine, Confiscation
vi Hygiene Uke ji Ogo Fine
vii Control of domestic
animals
Uke ji Ogo Fine, Confiscation
viii Stealing Uke Akpan, Ndi Ichin Fine
Pilfering Uke Akpan, Ndi Ichin Fine
Housebreaking Uke Akpan, Ndi Ichin Fine, Ike Agbu
Kidnapping Uke Akpan, Ndi Ichin Fine, Ike Agbu
Waylay Uke Akpan, Ndi Ichin Fine, Ike Agbu
Pickpocket Uke Akpan, Ndi Ichin Fine
B. ECONOMIC
i Land Ownership Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine/Dispossession
ii Boundary Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan
iii Homestead (Okp uali) Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine/Dispossession
iv Farmland (Rent) Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
v Farmland (Ownership) Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine/Dispossession
vi Farmland (Mortgage) Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
vii Trade Goods Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
C. MONEY
i Loan Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
ii Debt Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
iii Payment Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
iv Saving Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
D. AGRICULTURE
i Reg. of Farm Season Ndi Ezie Ji Fine
ii Regulation of Planting Ndi Ezie Ji Fine
iii Reg. Harvest Ndi Ezie Ji Fine
iv Reg. Farm Days Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
v. Stealing -Farming Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
– Yams from Farm Ndi Ichin, Uke Nkpa Ogbere* dance with Fine
– Yams from Barn Ndi Ichin, Uke Nkpa Ogbere dance with Fine
-Cassava Ndi Ichin, Uke Nkpa Ogbere Dance
-Firewood Ndi Ichin, Uke Nkpa Fine
-Vegetable Ndi Ichin, Uke Nkpa Fine
-Domestic Animal Ndi Ichin, Uke Nkpa Fine
E. SEXUAL OFFENCE
i Adultery Ndi Ichin, Ikperikpe Ndi
Inyom
Purification
Sacrifice, Fine
ii Fornication Ndi Inyom Mbuogo Dance Fine
iii Rape Ndi Inyom Sacrifice, Fine
iv Abortion Ndi Inyom Sacrifice
v Incest Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Sacrifice
vi Illegal Pregnancy Ndi Ichin, Ikperikpe Ndi
Inyom
Mbuogu dance,
Fine
F. FAMILY DISPUTES
i Divorce Ndi Ichin Grant of Divorce, Fine
ii Separation Ndi Ichin Fine
iii Fighting Couple Parent Child
Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
G. COMMUNAL PEACE
i Fighting with injury Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
ii Fighting without injury Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
iii Brawling Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
iv Murder Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
v. Homicide Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
vi Suicide Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
vii Alcoholism Ndi Ichin, Uke Akpan Fine
*OGBERE – A Dance in the market place, holding a specimen of the stolen
good; a dance of shame.