The pre-1940s history, indigenous culture, and heritage of the Ìgbò and their neighbours.
Titled elder Onyeso of Agukwu Nri washing hands for a rite before a shrine to Agwụ̀, a divinity of doctors (dibị̀à). Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911. MAA Cambridge.
Agwụ̀ is an entity of unconventionality and hence creativity that guides the dibị̀à. Agwụ̀ is related to strange occurrences and mishaps. Such occurrences are often signs to individuals that are destined to become doctors.
Objects of the shrine of Yọ́k Òbòlò of the Andoni, Agwut Obolo, present-day Rivers State. By A. A. Whitehouse who led a raid on the shrine, 1904. British Museum.
Andoni was difficult for missionaries to penetrate. Yọ́k Òbòlò was condemned by figures like Ajayi Crowther, who led the destruction of its offshoots in Bonny, for its role in the resistance to Christianity in the area, especially in the case of Jaja of Opobo who was in dispute with Crowther and Christian missions.
Symbol of Ala, the Earth Mother, among the Eda Igbo, present-day Abia or Ebonyi State. P. A. Talbot, c. 1920s.
Most Igbo people in the past did not perceive themselves as belonging to a religion. The split between culture and religion did not exist. All practices were viewed as duty. This view of duty, compulsory rites that place tradition and service and reverence to ancestors over belief itself, still exists in the kola nut rite, ịche ọjị, for example, which could've been classed as a religious rite.
An ọ̀gwa, an ancestral meeting and reception shrine hall of household patriarchs photographed by P. Talbot around or before the mid-1920s in reference to Ogwashi Ukwu. Ogwa Nshi Ukwu means the great ọ̀gwa of founding Nri-Igbo migrants.
Alụsị with its priest and its ritual iron belled staff, Ösü (Orsu), West Isuama Igbo. Photo by G. I. Jones, 1930s. MAA Cambridge.
The attitude towards what are termed alụsị / arụsị, etc. varies among Igbo people. Generally, the nature spirits are handled by dibia and by family heads. They were set up in order to protect the community or provide for some need of the community, like fertility, or were temporarily used like in times of war; in that case, the etymology of alụsị / arụsị may point towards the Igbo view of these entities, where arụ [work] sị [emphasis] may refer to a spirit that has been built up into the community through dibia work.
In most cases, just as how arụsị have been 'built up' is also how many can be taken down since many do not necessarily represent a fundamental part of worship in various Igbo communities.
Some entities referred to as alụsị or agbara, etc., depending on the Igbo community may be a focal point of worship, speculatively some of these entities may be stand-ins for the fundamental elements of the universe in Igbo worldview such as Anyanwụ and Ala, it does not appear that a fundamental entity like Ala can be taken down.
Igbo shrine house photographed by Gustaf Bolinder, 1930-31.
Ogu is divine retributive justice in the Igbo world view. In many communities iji Ogu is the act of holding ọmụ (tender palm fronds) at a sacred place whether at a woman’s hearth for instance or a shrine and declaring one’s innocence in a dispute or quarrel and for whatever one is accused of. The act is meant to appeal to the spirit of Ogu in order to vindicate the swearer, or in the case of a false declaration of innocence, an exposure and usually death. The act of iji Ogu can also include the calling of accusers names by the swearer, in this case if the swearer was falsely implicated then the wrath of Ogu falls on the accuser and the accused vindicated. Whenever the spirit, Ogu, acts on mortals in whichever way, that is when iji Ogu bara n’erere, meaning that the swearing to Ogu had yielded a spiritually potent result. Re is an interesting Igbo verb that’s associated with spiritual potency, like that of a talisman.
Ogu is paired with Ọfọ, which is roughly ancestral authority, which can also be authority of divinities, and together they form a two-fold form of spiritual appeal and justice in Igbo society. Unlike Ọfọ, Ogu, apart from the ọmụ, does not usually have any specific emblem and it can be freely and openly appealed to by men and women alike without a mediator. The other universal force that humans, of all walks of like, have the ability to appeal to without a mediator or emblem in Igbo society is the universal Chi.
As one’s own personal chi and eke is connected to all others, the course and trajectory [chinaedum] of these personal divine attributes cannot be blocked, diverted, or manipulated, you cannot block a chi on its course out of malice, out of spite, or by mistake because divine retributive justice in the form of Ọfọ na Ogu and Chi na Eke will clear the blockage in the road [chimaraoke]. Even though chi all come from the same source, some chi are considered stronger than other chi, this could be between a divinity and a mortal for instance, but it can also be between humans [chika]; between humans, the strength of the chi is determined by the eke, the divine mission apportioned to the person [chidera].
The work of Ogu na Ọfọ and Chi na Eke does not mean free-will is done away with, but rather divine order and balance is believed to always take precedence.
Edit: Just as a further note, Ogu is of the right hand just as Ọfọ is held in the left hand, in some communities ogirisi or some other shrub or shoot may be used instead of ọmụ when 'holding' Ogu, in other communities one may use the right hand alone and place it or a finger on the ground.
"The goddess of the earth," as described by P. A. Talbot, c. 1932. Musée du quai Branly. This may be Ala, the Igbo earth divinity and the man pictured may be an Eze Ala, a head priest of Ala. Ala is represented by trees and shrubs.
WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS NZE, ỌFỌ AND IKẸṄGA (ONI[CH]A OLONA).
