CHAPTER ONE: IGBO RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEW
The Igbo group is very religious both in their traditional setting and in contemporary times. Religion refers to a set of theological beliefs and rituals performed by members of a social group (Peil, 1977). Religion is a part of human behavior manifested through verbal and no-verbal means. The verbal aspects consist of expression of belief, mythology, ethical standard and ideas of the supernatural, while the non-verbal aspects are embodied in the use of specific objects and persons to serve ethical ends. The religious belief system of Igbo people are not without above attributes. Their traditional religious belief system was built around a spiritual supreme being ‘Chiukwu’ who was responsible for all creations and on whom the continued existence of all things depended. Apart from the Supreme Being, the people also pay allegiance to a hierarchy of deities who are reached directly and serve as intermediaries to the Supreme Being. It is likely that their inability to fully comprehend the nature of the Supreme Being directs their attention to lesser deities. All deities are attended to by shrine priests who could offer explanations to the misfortunes that befall individuals and groups and the nature of sacrifices required to appease the deity to surmount the problems. Shrine priests are spokesmen of the deities and preside over applicable rites of worship. Apart from the deities, adult males also house symbolical representations of their personal divinities (chi) in sacred huts called ‘obu mmuo’. The personal ‘chi’ is like a guardian angel and is in constant communication with the person. It is normal for men to begin their day by breaking kola nut before their personal ‘chi’ and seeking their guidance and protection. The ancestors and dead relations who lived good life on earth and are accorded full burial rites were also respected and worshipped. They are believed to have successfully transited to the spiritual world and are therefore capable of helping the living. The last element of the people’s traditional religious belief system acknowledges the existence of evil forces that occupy the domain between the spiritual and visible world from where they launch regular attacks onto the living and cause them misfortune. The generic term ‘ajo-muo’ represent all the evil forces but specific names like ‘amosu’ (witch), etc do exist. An important feature of the traditional religion of Igbo people is its tendency to view the world as in equilibrium. No occurrence is of natural course. Hence, enquiries must be made through diviners (dibia afa), seers and shrine priest to explain the cause of every occurrence. Christianity, brought to the area by western missionaries has affected traditional belief systems of the Igbo people. Today the membership of the Christian religion in Igboland has grown tremendously that traditional religion is threatened not only by marked erosion of its tenets but also by the dearth of new entrants. Indeed, there has been continued conversion of the adherents of the old faith to the Christian family. Christianity now enjoys greater followership in the area but exists side by side with traditional religion which still has many adherents. Both traditional religious belief systems of the Igbo and Christian religion have negative interpretations.
1.2 Igbo as Language and People
Now, in the context of this paper, the term Igbo is used as a double signifier. On the one hand, it refers to one of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria. On the other hand, it is used to designate the language of this group, the Igbo people of Nigeria. The Igbo belong to the Sudanic linguistic group of the Kwa division (Uchendu, 1965; Onwuejeogwu, 1981). Igbo language is characterized by its tonality, the monosyllabic root-words and an absence of inflexional endings. In terms of location, the Igbo occupy the bulk of the South-eastern parts of Nigeria. It is usually said that while the other two major ethnic groups in Nigeria (the Hausa and the Yoruba) also inhabit other countries in Africa, the Igbo are found as an indigenous population in no other country in the world than their present Nigerian setting. Igbo elders have maintained that the Igbo are indigenous to their present location in Nigeria and had not migrated from elsewhere to their present location. The Igbo have a common border with the Igala and the Idoma on the Northern part of Nigeria, the Ijaw and Ogoni on the South, the Yako and Ibibio on the Eastern boundary and the Bini and Warri on the West. The principal rivers are Niger, Imo, Anambra, and the Ulasi River. The Niger divides the Igbo into two uneven areas. The bulk of the population lives east of the Niger, with heavy concentration at Okigwe, Orlu, Owerri, Onitsha, and Awka. The other part of the Igbo group lives west of the Niger. Igboland has a tropical climate. The average annual temperature is about 80°F, with an annual range of between 5 and 10°. There are two marked seasons of the year among the Igbo. These include the dry season and the rainy season. The former starts in October and ends in April. The latter commences in April and ends in October with a break in August (Ekwunife, 1990).
1.3 Igbo Worldview and idea of the Universe
A worldview has been referred to as how people perceive and explain their world, or the ways things are or change in their environment. According to Kalu (1978) and Kraft (1979) a worldview can be understood in terms of a unified picture of the cosmos explained by a system of concepts, which order the natural and social rhythms, and the place of individuals and communities in them. In other words, a world-view reflects people’s basic assumptions about, and perceptions of the universe, which give orientation and value to their lives. A people’s worldview stands for their source of explanations for the ways things are in the world, including their theories of illness, death, and misfortunes, and how human afflictions and problems can be resolved. Indeed as Animalu (1990) sees it, a worldview or cosmological framework refers to a people’s way of organizing their activities which explain the how and why of daily existence. According to Animalu, worldviews are products of experiences so pregnant with drama that such experiences give rise to symbols or totems of some sort. The symbols give rise to thought or creative intelligence (ako-na-uche) and creative intelligence gives rise, in turn, to the customs and codes of the society, which are so internalized, from childhood onwards, that they go unquestioned as a way of life. A cultural group such as the Igbo is able from their worldview, to explain reality, life and the human environment, and predict space-time events, and finally exert control over them. In this way, the force of Igbo Religion as of any other religion or ideological system rests with the cosmology, which undergirds it. In the case of the traditional Igbo, all forms of individual and group religious practices occur within the broad outline of their worldview (Ejizu, 1987). Particular belief systems, such as the basis for the ritual naming of a child, the Okuku Onye-Uwa ceremony, and death and burial rites and other traditional values and practices emanate from and are validated by it. It is not only religion, but also most other aspects of Igbo traditional socio-cultural life that come under the influence of Igbo worldview (Animalu, 1990). The Igbo people have a religious conception of the universe. They see their world as made up to two planes: the physical and the spiritual. Igbo worldview, however, abhors the tendency to a digital categorization of things. They believe that there is a dual-traffic and interaction between the inhabitants of the two worlds (Metuh, 1981; Manus, 1993; and Isizoh, 1999). In this way, the understanding among the Igbo is that spiritual beings and cosmic forces are highly intermingled. The activities of spiritual beings and forces often directly impinge on the affairs of humans in the human world. This fundamental religious outlook on life continues to adjust itself each time, to the changing circumstances of the life experiences of the people. The representation of Igbo Cosmology as shown in Animalu (1990) would explain the Igbo outlook in a more detailed form. In Igbo religious worldview, the human world is three dimensional – the sky; the earth, intricately woven with water; and the spirit/ancestral world. Each of the three dimensions operates as a viable reality or a place of habitation; with all three interconnected or contiguous and continuous in a non-hierarchical manner. This means that in such a worldview, although the Supreme Being is believed to live in the sky and major divinities such as Lightning, Thunder, Sun, and Moon are near Him, there is nothing to suggest that the ancestors who live in the ancestral world are inferior (Kalu and Kalu 1993). Supporting the earlier observation, Ejizu (1987: 132) asserts that: “Analytically, a structure of Igbo perception of the universe in terms of space presents a picture of three tiered arrangement in consonance with popular intuition. There is the sky above, Igwe, then, the earth, Ala, and finally, we have the under-world, Ime-Ala. Each of these layers is thought to be densely inhabited”. Perceiving the world in this way, Igbo cosmology understands the sky as the Supreme Being’s (Chukwu’s) palace. He is believed to dwell there with a host of powerful divinities and primordial beings like Anyanwu (the Sun god), Amadioha (the god of thunder), Igwe, (the sky god). In the same way, some local major divinities are equally believed to live in the sky as well. The earth surface is seen as the abode of human beings, the earth deity, minor divinities and personified nature forces. Finally ancestral spirits, myriads of disembodied spirits and other personified forces some of which are malevolent and capricious to the living, populate the underworld (Ejizu, 1987; Kalu, 1992; Arazu, 2005; Chukwu, 2008; Tuche, 2009). One important characteristic of this spatial ordering of reality in Igbo worldview is the due recognition extended to the exalted position and power of the preternatural order and supersensible beings over humans and the material order. Yet, humans and their world are located at the center of the traditional Igbo cosmic structure. This is because human life, for the Igbo, although received from God, is the greatest good to be fostered. In this way, Igbo traditional world-view is seen as heavily anthropocentric. In it, the activities of the various categories of spirits as well as the happenings in the other realms of the universe are seen as meaningful insofar as they relate to human life and the general welfare of humans in the environment. Furthermore, in Igbo worldview, the human world is perceived as a mirror of the spirit world. In this way, the traditional Igbo cosmology inspires and sustains a religion that is this-worldly affirming (Nwoye, 2005). Seen in this way, and knowing that human life and the general welfare of the human world are the central focus of attention, the primary thrust of most religious activities among the Igbo, is geared towards the enhancement of human life and the promotion of human being’s total well being. Thus influenced by such anthropocentric cosmology, slaves used to be buried alive with their masters so as to continue serving them in the spirit world. In such a cosmology the human world itself is seen as an alive or dynamic universe that humans share with a host of malevolent human spirits (such as witches and sorcerers); guardian spirits of various professions such as hunting, fishing, farming, and so on; animal spirits; evil spirits; and the Earth Goddess (Achebe, 1975; Ejizu, 1987; Kalu, 1992). In this perspective, a filial relationship is believed to exist between the Earth Goddess and the water spirits, called Mami Water. Such Igbo worldview further reflects the fact that Igbo deities are arranged spatially in four levels as follows:
The structure shows that in Igbo religious worldview, male deities predominate in the first and fourth levels while female deities dominate in the second and third levels as seen earlier. The deities in the sky, such as lightning, thunder, and sun, who live near the Supreme Being, are males while the earth and water under the purview of the Earth Goddess and Queen of the Coast are females. In addition, female ancestral rituals exist, but most rituals are male, as if the females lose their identity at death. In Igbo worldview, human existence is perceived as precarious in the effort to tap the resources of good spirits to ward off the machinations of evil spirits. In this way, the socio-political and economic aspects of life of the Igbo are predominated by a highly spiritualized and religious world. In it, relations to kin, neighbors, and spirits are seen as at once a source of security and often that of affliction and distress. Some of the negative implications of the kind of precarious world-view which the Igbo evolved include the prevalence of the element of fear of countless hosts of spirits and cosmic forces in the people’s religious experience. People feel constantly threatened by all sorts of supersensible forces. Supporting this estimate Ezeanya (1969:20) observes: “We notice that the unflinching fidelity to the various religious practices is motivated not so much by the love of the divinities or ancestors as the fear of the consequences that might result from failure to perform certain rituals demanded by the gods”. For the same reason, charms and other protective consciousness are particularly helpful in defending oneself against unpredictable malevolent spirits and their agents. A related problem with this aspect of Igbo cosmology is the tendency among the Igbo, to manipulate and bargain with the gods as an integral feature of their religion. It is this point that Kalu (1978: 42) was making when he observes that: “A votary would variously plead with patron gods, placate evil spirits and end by threatening the god that if he failed to perform, his grove would be over-grown with grass. After all, what use could there be in a god or a charm, which failed to yield dividends on the amount of energy and money, spent on it”. A tendency similar to the given orientation is the widespread exercise of divination and other forms of oracular practices as the traditional Igbo endeavor to decipher the dispositions of the spirits and nature forces in order to predict and control them. In Igbo religious worldview, key areas, such as land, river, hills, forests, caves, are believed to be controlled by female deities. Such sites are also connected with agriculture, fertility, morality, mores, beauty, and blessings. Yet among the Igbo, yam is regarded, as the king of crops and one of the indices for assessing a man’s wealth is the number of yam tubers he has in his barn. The importance of yam in the economic and social life of the Igbo guaranteed the religious prominence of Ifejioku (yam god) in many Igbo communities. It also accounts for the dominant presence of yam as a ritual object in many Igbo religious ceremonies such as the Igbo naming ceremony, the Okuku Onye Uwa ceremony, and Abam n’Obi ceremony as will be presented in subsequent reports by this same author. Consequently, the god of yam is accorded primacy of place among the people, and yam cultivation is a male occupation. Many religious rites are centered around the cultivation and harvesting of agricultural products. According to Oguagha (1989: 89): “In Igbo land, an elaborate ritual ceremony preceded the harvesting and consumption of the new yam. In such a ceremony, the senior elder of each lineage is expected to offer sacrifices at the shrine, which is followed by a feast. It is after the ceremony that new yams are declared fit for consumption”.
1.4 Igbo Beliefs and Theories of Illness and Misfortune
In Igbo worldview, worry and tribulations arise when the values of children, marriage, health, prosperity, and harmony are threatened. Indeed, among the Igbo, life is perceived as precarious in nature. This is because of disease, shortage of resources with which life can be attended, and the difficulties of getting on with those with whom one is deeply and daily involved. In Igbo society presently while some sources of affliction have been reduced (smallpox, warfare with neighboring ethnic groups, starvation etc) others have appeared (AIDS, heart attack, traffic accidents, premature retirements, and unemployment). All these are experienced by the people as sources of affliction and worry which they need to act upon in order to solve them. Part of the goals of Igbo religion is to assist in helping worshippers to confront and control these problems. This follows from the fact that Igbo people believe that misfortunes can be caused by spirit agents whom we cannot see, and human ones, whose hearts we cannot know. Because cursers or sorcerers in Igbo worldview are people with whom there is conflict, they are understood as people with anger, malice or resentment in their hearts. The Igbo use the metaphor of the heart to speak of volition and emotion and of the self that is often opaque to other people. The first response to a problem in Igbo worldview is usually a restricted one. The difficulty or challenge is perceived as limited in scope amenable to a simple solution. In the case of illness, the symptomatic perspective almost always entails a medicinal mode of action. Should this response fail to achieve the intended effect, the next move is the use of divination to explore the basis for the problem and what can be done to assuage the situation. Hence the pragmatic attitude of experimentation informs the Igbo’s approach to the crisis of affliction and uncertainty in their world. In Igbo worldview, use of both medicinal and relational (spiritual) measures sometimes helps. The insufficiency of relying on one means for dealing with misfortune seems clear to them on many occasions especially when misfortune comes, continues and worsens. For example, when family members fall ill one after the another, when a man fails to keep a wife, when the patient dies anyway, after the first attempt at controlling the problem has failed the conclusion is suggested that something more than the ordinary is involved. The people are forced to reflect again about whether the diviner or the hospital doctor spoke truly, or if other causes were at work simultaneously. This pushes them to think further whether rituals were done properly, or whether the invisible agent suspected had desires and purposes that had not been fully understood. For the Igbo, uncertainty about the problems and the means for dealing with it, are interrelated. Hence Igbo worldview favors a holistic approach to the problems of the human experience. The given observations reveal that both physical and spiritual, in Igbo worldview, are the two theories of causes of affliction or misfortune in human life. They use the pragmatic approach to sort out which one is involved, physical or spiritual, in any given case. They start with experimenting with the natural process of setting things right before they resort to the spiritual process as a last option. This way of attending to afflictions and misfortunes is what some Igbo elders refer to as the technique of Ijee n’iru, Ijee n’azu. In Igbo cosmology, just as among the Kalabari people of the South-Eastern Nigeria (Horton, 1962, 1967b), the key spiritual agencies of the religion come into three categories:
(1) The Supreme Being,
(2) The Divinities including nature deities and patron spirits and
(3) The ancestors.
These, according to Horton (1967b), are conceived by most Igbo as independent and autonomous to one another and are each served in their own rights. The Igbo tend to share an eclectic/egalitarian orientation and a non-hierarchical attitude in their assessment of and interaction with the spiritual agencies of their religion. Igbo society derives a sense of security from kinship relations, locality, religion, and keeping of tradition. One of the chief cosmogonic myths that underpin Igbo worldview is the myth of Nne Mmiri or the mammy water goddess, the chief of the local water spirits and deities, the source of wealth and fertility. According to this myth, the Igbo „water mother? or Nne Mmiri or water goddess, controls the entry and exit into and from this world. She is the goddess of crossroads. Before one is born, he or she must cross a river. There, the Nne Mmiri or water goddess confronts the individual. She challenges the pact of destiny, akara aka, made between one’s body, ahu, and one’s soul, Chi, witnessed by the Supreme God, ChiUkwu. One’s destiny can be changed with the help of the goddess. But if the goddess helps a person to change his or her destiny on earth, for example, to become wealthy or successful in life, rather than merely a housewife and mother, then that person must be the goddess’s worshipper. If this is not recognized on time, or if the person so assisted by the goddess before birth later refuse her calling, then the goddess can cause madness, misfortune, or premature death, either of the individual or beloved ones. The indications show that for the Igbo, humans are at the mercy of the myriads of highly aggressive spirits and forces that surround them in their world like a beleaguered city, ready to strike at the least provocation. This makes the traditional Igbo worldview “a highly precarious vision with tremendous implications for the life of the people” (Ejizu, 1987: 133; Kalu, 1978). In this way, humans? fortune and destiny are perceived as part of the unwritten covenant between them and the spirits.
1.5 Conclusion
The activities of Christian missionaries greatly changed the religious landscape in Igboland, Nigeria, West Africa just surveyed. However, many of the basic features of the indigenous beliefs and practices of the Igbo have survived to this day. Among these are a number of important transitional ceremonies with strong religious import. This article has attempted to present a socio-cultural context and worldview from which scholars, worldwide, interested in Igbo studies could draw for their effective understanding of those four transitional ceremonies popular among the Igbo people of Nigeria, West Africa, namely: the Igbo naming ceremony; the Igbo ceremony of taking-over of a homestead; a component of Igbo marriage ceremony called Okuku Onye Uwa; and Igbo burial/funeral rites. These are important transitional ceremonies in Igbo religion, which have, in some parts of the culture area, resisted change because they mark and celebrate the significant changes and closures that take place in each individual's life. They constitute a unique set of definitional ceremonies of Igbo culture and religion because in them, unlike in other forms of transitional ceremonies, both the key individual directly concerned in them as well as the members of his/her community take part in the ceremony. The members of the community participate in them as the "witnessing community" (William, 2000: 23) or as “outsider witnesses” (Myerhoff, 1986) and add credibility to the ceremony by their presence. This article serves as an epic introduction to Igbo socio-cultural values and worldview that give background and meaning to the practices and rituals encompassed in such definitional ceremonies of the religion.
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