Igbo/Ibo Religion

1. Igbo/Ibo Religion By:

2. Ibu Forest Spirit Mask Religion • It is estimated that 50 percent of Nigerians are Muslim, 40 percent are Christian, and that the remaining 10 percent practice various indigenous religions. • Islam in Nigeria is similar to Islam throughout the world. Christianity is most prevalent in the south of Nigeria. • The vast majority of Igbo are Christians, as are many Yorubas but most are muslim. Conflict with the way some missionaries administered the churches during colonial times also created several breakaway African-Christian churches. • While Islam and Christianity are the dominant religions in Nigeria, neither is completely free of influence from indigenous religions. • Most people who consider themselves good Muslims or good Christians often also follow local religious practices. • Most indigenous religions are based on a form of ancestor worship in which family members who have passed into the spirit world can influence things in the world of the living. Aladura priests follow basic Christian doctrine but also use prophecy, healing, and charms to ward off witchcraft. Ibu Goat Hunting Mask

3. Ibu Water Spirit Mask Religion cont’d Ibu Sickness Spirit Mask • Many Nigerians follow the teachings of purely indigenous religions. Most of these religions share the idea that one supreme god created the earth and its people, but has left people to decide their own paths in life. • Followers of the traditional Yoruban religion believe that hundreds of spirits or minor gods have taken the place of the supreme god in influencing the daily lives of individuals. • Because the vast majority of Igbos converted to Christianity during colonialism, few practice the traditional Igbo religion, which is based on hundreds of gods, not a single creator. • According to Muslim and Christian traditions, officials in these religions tend to be male. • For most indigenous religions, priests and priestesses are common. • In the Igbo religion men serve as priests to Igbo goddesses, and women serve as priestesses to Igbo gods. • While both men and women can rank high in the Yoruban religion, women usually are among the most respected of traditional priests.

4. Religion cont’d • Because many of the indigenous religions are based on various spirits or minor gods, each with influence over a specific area of nature, many of the traditional rituals are based on paying homage to these gods and spirits. • Likewise, the area of control for a spirit also marks the places that are holy to that spirit. • The Kalabari, Okrika, and Ikwerre tribes of the Niger Delta region all have festivals in honor of water spirits sacred to their peoples. • Many traditional religions, especially those of the eastern tribes, believe in reincarnation. • Many in-depth ceremonies are necessary to prepare the body before burial. Regardless of religion, Nigerians bury their dead. • Muslims are buried so that their heads face the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. • People also cover the body with black earth during burial because many believe that red earth will result in skin blemishes in the next life. • Women, children, and adolescents tend to have much less elaborate funerals. Ibu Water Spirit Mask By Other Depiction

5. Religion cont’d • The Igbo are a profoundly religious people who believe in a benevolent creator, usually known as Chukwu, who created the visible universe (uwa). • In a common phrase the igbo people will say Bekee wu agbara. This means the white man is spirit. • The alusi are minor deities, and are forces for blessing or destruction, depending on circumstances. • There is a strong Igbo belief that the spirits of one's ancestors keep a constant watch over you. • Those ancestors who lived well, died in socially approved ways, and were given correct burial rites, live in one of the worlds of the dead, which mirror the worlds of the living. • The funeral ceremonies and burials of the Igbo people are extremely complex, the most elaborate of all being the funeral of a chief. • Single births were regarded as typically human, multiple births as typical of the animal world. • Religious taboos, especially those surrounding priests and titled men, involved a great deal of asceticism. • The desire to offer the most precious sacrifice of all led to human sacrifice – slaves were often sacrificed at funerals in order to provide a retinue for the dead man in life to come.

6. Main Gods They Worship These minor deities claimed an enormous part of the daily lives of the people. The belief was that these gods could be manipulated in order to protect them and serve their interests. If the gods performed these duties, they were rewarded with the continuing faith of the tribe. Different regions of Igboland have varying versions of these minor deities. Below are some of the most common: • Ala – the earth-goddess, the spirit of fertility (of man and the productivity of the land). • Igwe – the sky-god. This god was not appealed to for rain however, that was the full-time profession of the rain-makers, Igbo tribesmen who were thought to be able to call and dismiss rain. • Imo miri – the spirit of the river. The Igbo believe that a big river has a spiritual aspect; it is forbidden to fish in such deified rivers. • Mbatuku– the spirit of wealth. • Agwo – a spirit envious of other’s wealth, always in need of servitors. • Aha njuku or Ifejioku – the yam spirit. • Ikoro – the drum spirit. • Ekwu – the hearth spirit, which is woman’s domestic spirit.

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8. AuthorsBoth Sites • Nnoromele, Salome. Life Among the Ibo Women of Nigeria, 1967. • Ojaide, Tanure. Great Boys: An African Childhood, 1948. • Owhonda, John. Nigeria: A Nation of Many Peoples, 1998. • Ransome-Kuti, Olikoye. "Who Cares for the Health of Africans? The Nigerian Case." Transcript of lecture given in Kaduna, Nigeria, on March 19, 1998, as part of the International Lecture Series on Population Issues sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 1998. • Smith, Robert S. Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 1988. • Stremlau, John. "Ending Africa's Wars." Foreign Affairs (July/August 2000): 117–132. • Thomas, T. Ajayi. A History of Juju Music: A History of an African Popular Music from Nigeria, 1992. • Turtoe-Sanders, Patience. African Tradition in Marriage: An Insider's Perspective, 1998. • UNAIDS and World Health Organization. Epidemiological Fact Sheet on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections: Nigeria, 2000. • Uwechue, Ralph. Reflections of the Nigerian Civil War, 1969. • Veal, Michael E. Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon, 2000. • Wall, L. Lewis. Hausa Medicine: Illness and Well-being in a West African Culture, 1988. • Williams, Jeff. "Nigeria." The Lonely Planet: West Africa, 1999. • —T IM C URRY Second Site • written by Katharine Slattery and Dr Leon Litvack • Under Supervision by Dr Leon Litvack