Mazi Ogbonna

Mazi Ogbonna

CEO Mother Tongue Academy

Wednesday, 28 August 2019 05:28

IGBO TRADITIONAL RELIGION

 

 

We, the Igbos, are known all over the world as a people who are ardent in matters of our traditional religion and worship. I clearly remember how, a few years back, the catholic congregation in my hometown – Abagana – sparked serious trouble with the local people by pulling down a local religious shrine in the name of ridding the town of evil spirits and demons. If not for the timely intervention by well-meaning people of Anambra state, I’m sure the incident I’m trying to reference here would have degenerated and became drastic as well as an international news item.The igbo traditional religion and worship

To shed more light on what Igbo traditional religion and worship entails, an eminent Igbo scholar, Arinze F. A., in his book titled: “Sacrifice in Igbo Religion” published in 1978 by University Press Ibadan pointed out that the subjects of worship in Igbo culture and tradition are of three (3) levels which are; Chukwu/Chineke, Ndiichie, and Arusi.

·       CHUKWU/CHINEKE:
We, Igbos, believe that Chukwu is greater than all spirits and beings both visible and invisible to the physical eyes. The various names we have given Chukwu reflect the level of faith and confidence we repose in Him. For instance; Chukwu which is a shortened form of “Chi Ukwu” implies “Great Being.” While, Chineke means “The Being that creates.” We don’t believe anyone can accurately describe Chukwu or make his perfect image that is why in all of Igboland, there is no shrine where an image of Chukwu is carved or painted. In fact, in Igbo traditional religious system, it is a taboo to attempt producing an image of Chukwu.

·       NDIICHIE:
When we talk about Ndiichie in Igbo traditional religion and worship, we are referring only to the spirits of our holy ancestors and not the spirits of all of our departed ancestors. The ancestors we regard as Ndiichie are those that lived their lives on earth according to the Laws of Chukwu – they are the saints or the kind of souls the christians refer to as saints.

Our belief concerning how we should relate with Ndiichie is reflected in many ways. For instance; we, Igbos, first call on Ndiichie when we want to say prayers with a kolanut in hand. We also make libations to them when we want to drink alcoholic drinks in formal traditional events and ceremonies in Igbo land.

We believe Ndiichie fight spiritually on our behalf to protect us from harm and negative attacks. They help facilitate childbearing and survival of any particular lineage, they provide spiritual guidance to those still on earth, and they also mediate between Chukwu and us.

We communicate with Ndiichie through dreams, through apparitions, and through the eyes of holy spiritual seers.

·       ARUSI:
Arusis are elemental beings. The 4 basic elements of land, water, fire, and wind have elemental gods and goddesses who are in charge of everything that concerns them. That is, the formation, development and transformation of land, water, fire, and wind anywhere on earth which makes earthly existence possible. In Igbo traditional religion and worship, these gods and goddesses are lower than Ndiichie but are very powerful and unswerving in their activities such that any man who misapplies their effects will die within a short time.

Some of these Arusis have shrines where they can be approached from, and also they possess material things like servants, trees, animals, piece of land etc mainly because they are more closely connected to the earth than the other two subjects of worship in Igbo traditional religious system.

  are going to enjoy our breakfast.

Wednesday, 28 August 2019 05:28

Kola Nuts and Its Significance On Igbo Society

 

Kola nuts are not only known for its origin to many American and European soft-drinks and its chewing by labourers to diminish hunger and fatigue, but even more for its sacred significance in Igboland. 

Attending a kola nut ceremony is almost inevitable for anyone visiting Enugu and is Igbo tradition at its best. Elder agree that once the 5-centimetre nuts are blessed with incantations, the visitors will feel ensured that they are welcome. People are more than willing to explain the ceremony, and where there is no kola nut available, the host will need to do the explanatory apology to his visitors. The kola nut tradition is used for a variety of events, but principally to welcome guests to a village or house.

kola nut
Breaking of Kola Nut

The ceremony may vary depending on the occasion and people present at the ceremony, but there is a common understanding in the traditional way of breaking them. To illustrate this delicate ceremony, I will take the occasion of welcoming a group of visitors to a village. The host presents a plate with a number of Kola nuts (ranging from two up to sixteen) to the leader of the delegation, who will take the plate and shows it to the most senior member of his entourage. To acknowledge that he has seen the plate, he briefly touches the plate with his right hand, before it is shown to less senior members and so forth till most members have taken a glimpse of the plate. After that, the host gets the plate returned from the visitor and takes one of the kola nuts and gives it to the visitor while saying:

‘Öjï luo ünö okwuo ebe osi bia.’
When the Kola nut reaches home, it will tell where it came from.

This proverb says that the visitor needs to show the kola nut to his people at home as a proof of having visited this village.

 

Usually, the oldest man among the host audience is asked to bless the kola nuts. He will take one of the nuts in his right hand and makes a blessing, prayer or toast using a proverb, e.g.

‘Ihe dï mma onye n’achö, ö ga-afü ya.’
What ever good he is looking for, he will see it.

Subsequently, the presenter or an appointed person breaks the kola nut with his hands or using a knife. An aid or close relative breaks the remaining nuts. The visitors now explain the purpose of their visit, while the kola parts are distributed to the people, occasionally coming along with palm wine, garden eggs and peanut butter.

As mentioned before, it is the breaking that is the significant part of the ceremony. The more parts the kola breaks up to, the more prosperity it gives to its presenter and visitors. Though there is one exception: if the nut yields only to two parts, it signifies no good as it signals that the presenter has a sinister motive behind the kola. Because of that, Kola nuts with only two parts are avoided for this ceremony and therefore the purple/reddish coloured nuts, cola acuminata are preferred over its greyish counterpart, the cola nitida, as the latter one only breaks up in two. Four parts coincide with the four market days of the Igbo week. Five or more broken parts mean prosperity for the family. In some parts of Igboland, when the kola breaks into six, a separate celebration is required and sometimes even including the slaughter of a goat. 

There are many other rules surrounding the kola nut ceremony, which you can read in the books mentioned in the references. I will mention only a few more things: kola nut should only be presented with two hands at the same time, and also as the kola tree is associated with man, only men can climb and pluck the kola tree. Sorry ladies!

 

Wednesday, 28 August 2019 05:28

Igbo Fashion and Designs

As Steve Kerr admitted before the Warriors' 118-91 Game 2 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday to tie the Western Conference Finals at 1-1, there's a "fine line" between good shots and bad shots for the Warriors. In losses such as Game 1, the Warriors' shot selection tends to trend toward the latter (bad shots). In Game 2, their shot distribution was more of the former (good ones).

They never said winning was easy. Some people can’t handle success, I can. I’m giving you cloth talk, cloth. Special cloth alert, cut from a special cloth. How’s business? Boomin. Egg whites, turkey sausage, wheat toast, water. Of course they don’t want us to eat our breakfast, so we are going to enjoy our.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt.

They key is to have every key, the key to open every door. We don’t see them, we will never see them. To be successful you’ve got to work hard, to make history, simple, you’ve got to make it. They never said winning was easy. Some people can’t handle success, I can. I’m giving you cloth talk, cloth. Special cloth alert, cut from a special cloth. How’s business? Boomin. Egg whites, turkey sausage, wheat toast, water. Of course they don’t want us to eat our breakfast, so we are going to enjoy our breakfast.

Wednesday, 28 August 2019 05:28

Traditional Igbo Marriage - Dos and donts

Before a man marries an igbo girl/ woman, he must first ask for her hand in marriage, from her parents, as well as her umunna (her extended family, represented by the elders). The onyibo/ western-style ‘marriage proposal on bent knee to the woman’ doesn’t count – her ‘yes’ to you (the groom) is not really only or final say, you still have to formally “ask” her parents, as well as her kindred (extended family) in her Nigerian home town.

So, it’s not enough to also announce your (marriage-) intentions to her parents. Marriage is a communal thing in Igboland, like everywhere else in Nigeria, so you (the groom) are expected to ask her clan for her hand in marriage in accordance with the Igbo custom and tradition.


Wednesday, 28 August 2019 05:28

Traditional Family Ceremonies

 

Birth, marriage and burial are considered the three most important family events in most cultures, and Igboland is not an exception to that.

It is common to get invited to a traditional marriage (Igbankwu) and certainly worth witnessing one. Marriage in Igboland is not just an affair between the future husband and wife but also involves the parents, the extended family and villages. First the groom asks his potential partner to marry him. Assuming that this is affirmative, the groom will visit the bride’s residence accompanied by his father. The groom’s father will introduce himself and his son and explain the purpose of his visit.

The bride’s father welcomes the guests, invites his daughter to come and asks her if she knows the groom. Her confirmation shows that she agrees with the proposal. Then the bride’s price settlement (Ika-Akalika) starts with the groom accompanied by his father and elders visiting the bride’s compound on another evening.

They bring wine and kola nuts with them, which are presented to the bride’s father. After they have been served with a meal, the bride’s price is being negotiated between the fathers. In most cases there is only a symbolic price to be paid for the bride but in addition other prerequisites (kola nuts, goats, chicken, wine, etc.) are listed as well. Usually it takes more than one evening before the final bride’s price is settled, offering guests from both sides a glamorous feast.

Another evening is spent for the payment of the bride’s price at the bride’s compound when the groom’s family hands over the money and other agreed prerequisites. The money and goods are counted, while relatives and friends are served drinks and food in the bride’s compound. After all is settled, the traditional wedding day is planned. The wedding day is again at the bride’s compound, where the guests welcome the couple and invite them in front of the families. First the bride goes around selling boilt eggs to the guests, showing to both families that she has the capability to open a shop and make money. Then, the bride’s father fills a wooden cup (Iko) with palm wine and passes it on to the girl while the groom finds a place between the guests. It is the custom for her to look for her husband while being distracted by the invitees. Only after she has found the groom, she offered the cup to him and he sipped the wine, the couple is married traditionally. During this ceremony, there is also the nuptial dance where the couple dances, while guests wish the newly weds prosperity by throwing money around them or putting bills on their forehead.

 

Nowadays, church wedding follows traditional marriage . During this ceremony, the bride’s train, made up of the bride followed by her single female friends, enters the church dancing on the music, while the guests bless the bride’s train by throwing money over the bride and her entourage. The groom receives the bride at the altar for the final church blessing by the priest. Sometimes, the traditional marriage is combined with the reception that is then preceded by the church ceremony.

 

Birth celebration, as the wedding ceremony, varies from village to village. On the eighth day, the child (male only, though there are some discussions whether it should apply females as well) is prepared for circumcision, and on the twenty-eighth day, the naming ceremony is performed, each event accompanied by a feast for the relatives.

Death in Igboland is regarded as the passing away of the person from the world existence to the spirit world. However, only after the second burial rites, it is believed that the person can reach the spirit world, as otherwise, the departed relative would still wander between earth and the spirit world. The honour of the death varies dependent on the background, title, gender, relationship with family and circumstances around the death. The corpse is normally buried at the village in the person’s compound after it has been preceded by the wake keeping. During the funeral ceremonies, relatives and friends of the deceased pay their last respect to the dead and mourn with the bereaved in colourful ceremonies marked with singing and traditional dances. In the olden days, the wake keeping was accompanied by masquerades, traditional music and animal sacrifices. A high-ranking chief or traditional ruler would be buried with two human heads alongside his body and would go along with the release of canon gun shots to notify the general public on the loss. Many more customs surrounded the burial rites, but the church nowadays has overtaken most of these traditions. To go in more details would go beyond the scope of this book, and I would suggest to read the books mentioned before for further research.

 

Nigerian chophouses typically list a number of soups with meat or fish ingredients, served with either pounded yam, eba (steamed garri), semovita or jollof rice. Pounding yam is an effort on its own, and after observing its pounding, you probably value your food a lot more. The soups are mostly palm oil based and the most popular ones in Igboland are:

  • bitterleaf soup, with bitter leaf not very distant from spinach;
  • ora and ogri soup, a vegetable-based soup, most commonly eaten in villages;
  • egusi soup, yellowish soup based on melon seeds;
  • okro soup, sticky, viscous ‘draw’ soup made out of sliced okro pods;
  • ogbono soup, another ‘draw’ soup based on ogbono pods and
  • vegetable soup, the most exclusive soup, because of its ingre

     

    .

Meat or fish is a key component of the soup, mostly originating from cow, chicken, goat, turkey, dry fish or stockfish. Stockfish is air-dried codfish that is soaked and cooked in the soup. Some restaurants advertise bush meat as well, which can be from antelopes, but more valued is the grass-cutter (also called bush or cane rat), or maybe even less familiar species. Bush rat meat is worth a try, when cooked properly, as it is very tender and well spiced. Vegetarians, unfortunately, may find themselves limited to only a few non-meat dishes on the menu list. 

The less hungry people may try moi-moi or suya. Moin-moin is a delicious steamed bean cake; suya is a brochette with thin slices of grilled cow or goat meat. To make this section complete, you can find the recipes for egusi and okro soup:

Egusi Soup:

675 g of meat, chicken or fish,
½ cup of dried shrimp or crayfish,
1 ½ cup of tomato paste,
2 cups of leafy spinach, bitterleaf or other greens,
2-3 chilli peppers,
1 cup of palm oil,
½ cup of sliced onions,
1 cup of egusi seeds (or melon seeds),
salt to taste.

Cut the meat into bite-sized chunks and add 1 cup of water, ½ teaspoon of salt and half cup of onions to it and cook it for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the finely chopped onions, tomato paste and peppers for 5 minutes in palm oil. Grid or crush the egusi seeds and mix it with enough water to make a paste and add to above together with the shrimp or crayfish. When the meat gets brownish, add it to the above sauce to cook until tender. Add the bunches of bitterleaf (finely chopped) 10 minutes before the end of cooking time.

Okro Soup:

5 pods of okro,
Meat or fish,
1 medium onion
3 peppers
½ cup crayfish
1 dessert spoon of palm oil
1 stock cube and salt

Trim, wash and cut meat or fish into small pieces and boil until cooked. Pound together the onion, peppers and crayfish, add it to the meat and let it simmer for 3 minutes. Add the okro, stock, salt, palm oil to the soup and cook for a further 3 minutes. Note that for vegetable soup, you can use greenleaf instead of okro.
Both soups are to be most typically served with pounded yam or garri.

 

There are many local chop houses and street food around in Enugu. There is also a considerate number of western (O’Neill’s and Hobby’s) and Chinese restaurants (Raya and Genesis) in the town, as well as fast-food places (Bubbles and Mr. Biggs) with pizza’s, hamburgers and fries served. Nightclubs, such as Frenzi (in a beautiful colonial style building), Spring Fellows and Vincent Gardens, do only serve light snacks.

 

{Curled from the Internet for Space holding

 

Igboland’s traditional religion is based on the belief that there is one creator, God, also called Chineke or Chukwu. The creator can be approached through numerous other deities and spirits in the form of natural objects, most commonly through the god of thunder (Amadioha). There is also the belief that ancestors protect their living descendants and are responsible for rain, harvest, health and children. Shrines, called Mbari, are made in honour of the earth spirit and contain tableaux of painted earth. Other shrines keep wooden figures representing ancestors and patrons. The evidence of these shrines, oracle houses and traditional priest in the villages still emphasise people’s beliefs, though with the western influence, Christianity has taken a more dominant role in modern Igboland.

Nowadays, there are a large number of churches as well as mosques and traditional religion worship centres available in Enugu State. The state is predominantly made up of Christians (some argue that history has it that Igbos descended from Israel), and there is no acrimony between the adherents of the different religious beliefs.

 

There is almost an equal split between catholic and protestant churches in Enugu. The state hosts two catholic cathedrals: the Holy Ghost Cathedral can be found next to Ogbete Main Market in the city; the other Cathedral in Enugu State is located in Nsukka. Most people are very disciplined to attend church services and it is hard for them to believe in the existence of ‘free thinkers’, i.e. people who do not feel committed to any religion. 

One of the most important events in Igboland is Christmas and it signifies home return in the village. Even though they live most of the time in the city or somewhere else in Nigeria, Igbo families consider their one and only real home their house in the village. It is the two weeks around Christmas which bring families back together to the village. It is the time to catch up with other family members on what has happened over the year and visit relatives and friends in the neighbourhood. You will find the cities empty during this period only preceded and followed by the traffic peaks caused by travelling back and forth between the village and the cities.

Easter is the other event, though smaller in scale, which provides Igboland a break for festivities. People tend to go to their villages but most of them stay around in the city to visit friends and relatives. 

In line of this, Mother’s day is the last one I want to mention. On this Sunday the mothers prepare special food for the whole family, which is obviously a feast on its own.

 

Ndigbo are highly respectful to elders and titled people. But  their competitive stance makes others think they are over zealous for money and other earthly things. The average Igbo man has pride and does not seek hand outs which they abhor as a sign of weakness.

Here are some answers from different contributors:

  • When you have people in your home you are expected to have a Kola-nut and your expected to share it with them.
  • Marriage: You must pay the father with money or other things worth value.
  • Marriage evolves both sides of the family. It is common to get invited to a traditional marriage (Igbankwu) and certainly worth witnessing one. Marriage is not just an affair between the future husband and wife but also involves the parents, the extended family and villages. First the groom asks his potential partner to marry him. Assuming that this is affirmative, the groom will visit the bride's residence accompanied by his father. The groom's father will introduce himself and his son and explain the purpose of his visit.

 

 

Tuesday, 27 August 2019 10:07

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Significance

Ohanaeze Ndigbo is an apex Igbo socio-cultural organization in Nigeria. Ndigbo, by census records, make up one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. Ohanaeze Ndigbo  ensures that the interest of all Igbo communities within and outside Nigeria is protected.

 

Although Ohaneze Ndigbo is not a political party, part of its primary objectives is to foster unity of purpose  among Ndigbo for an effective political representation within the democratic system of governance in Nigeria. The  goals of the organization are  currently under review in order to enable it address some very important, if not threatening issues, confronting Ndigbo in present day Nigeria.

The organization came into being after the Nigerian civil war through the vision of some prominent Igbo people  who identified the need to unify Ndigbo  under a common umbrella entity with a single voice on all issues affecting Ndigbo. This initiative was received with much enthusiasm considering the huge socio-economic  displacement suffered by the Ndigbo  during the Nigerian war and the resultant need for some level of group rehabilitation.

 

An organizational assembly was thus created and named Igbo National Assembly (INA). This organization was later banned by the Federal Military Government at the time, probably due to an unfounded Government's fear of a grand suspicious agenda being cultivated by Ndigbo via the organization. Following the ban, Professor Ben Nwabueze ( a foremost constitutional lawyer) assembled other prominent Igbo leaders to form Ohanaeze Ndigbo  in 1976. He also became the pioneer Secretary- General and held the position for twenty years.

 

The organization was effectively championed and supported by Kingsley Ozuomba  Mbadiwe, Dr. Francis Akanu Ibiam, Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, Dr. Pius Okigbo, and Chief Jerome Udorji  among other notable Igbo personalities.

The current Secretary-General of the organization is Chief Nnia Nwodo.

 

 

As Steve Kerr admitted before the Warriors' 118-91 Game 2 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday to tie the Western Conference Finals at 1-1, there's a "fine line" between good shots and bad shots for the Warriors. In losses such as Game 1, the Warriors' shot selection tends to trend toward the latter (bad shots). In Game 2, their shot distribution was more of the former (good ones).

They never said winning was easy. Some people can’t handle success, I can. I’m giving you cloth talk, cloth. Special cloth alert, cut from a special cloth. How’s business? Boomin. Egg whites, turkey sausage, wheat toast, water. Of course they don’t want us to eat our breakfast, so we are going to enjoy our.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt.

They key is to have every key, the key to open every door. We don’t see them, we will never see them. To be successful you’ve got to work hard, to make history, simple, you’ve got to make it. They never said winning was easy. Some people can’t handle success, I can. I’m giving you cloth talk, cloth. Special cloth alert, cut from a special cloth. How’s business? Boomin. Egg whites, turkey sausage, wheat toast, water. Of course they don’t want us to eat our breakfast, so we are going to enjoy our breakfast.

Ndigbo At A Glance

 

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