Igbo Traditional Religion Research Articles

Women, Leadership, and Ordination in the Anglican Church in Nigeria

Paul’s injunction in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 has often been used to restrict women from holding certain leadership positions in the Church. This paper examines 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 in light of the female ordination debate in the Anglican Church in Nigeria. Through an exegetical study of the text, Paul’s perspective on women is demystified. To understand the place of women in the Church using scriptural texts, this article examines the perspectives of egalitarian theory, complemen­tar­ian theory, and liberation theology. The latter is included because it aims at interpreting biblical texts in a liberational way — Scripture is meant to deliver humans from all kinds of bondage and not to enslave. Exegesis is accompanyied by an examination of leadership roles of women in Igbo Traditional Religion, in which women are recognized as priestesses. The place of women in leadership in Igbo Traditional religion is pertinent to this work. Biblical texts are necessarily interpreted from the perspectives of human experience — including African women’s experiences. This article discovers through exegetical study of 1 Corinthians 14:26–40 that Paul was correcting a problem in the Corinthian church rather than hindering women from participating in the worship service or serving as leaders in the church. The Church should thus stop using the text to silence women or restrict them from holding certain leadership positions.

Endurance of Conviction and the Reservation towards Child- Adoption in Family Preservation among Igbo Christians

This study investigates the fundamental reasons behind the reservation towards child adoption in family preservation among Igbo Christians. The survey was conducted in three main cities of Anambra state; Awka, Onitsha, and Ihiala. It made use of a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative instruments in analyzing the data. The four point-Likert scale was used to obtain qualitative data from the field and was further converted to quantitative data using descriptive-analytical and inferential statistics. The finds traced the persistent reservation towards child -adoption among Igbo Christians to the endurance of conviction in Igbo traditional religion and worldview. The result indicated three major dynamics of this conviction; the non- indigenous nature of the practice (adoption), the bridge of the ancestral lineage by the practice, and social stigma that goes with the practice. These tripartite socio-religious factors continue to influence the choice of an average Igbo Christian toward child adoption. The paper argues that while the traditions (Christian and Igbo) have the right to propagate their different worldviews and beliefs on marriage and child -adoption, the choice of the individual couples on the subject matter remains primal. Provision and enforcement of a functional supportive legal framework that protects the adopted and adoptive parents from every form of societal stigmatization cannot be relegated to the background.

Customary Arbitration: Religion, Culture, and Law in Igboland

The Igbo traditional religion provides institutions for the amicable, natural, and lasting resolutions of conflicts within Igboland. One of such institutions is the Igbo customary arbitration mechanism. This article aims at unavailing and bringing to the fore, the numerous positive aspects of customary arbitration which include the quick dispensation of justice, less financial implications, and purposeful and acceptable awards. It uses indigenous procedures and actors in arriving at an award. It focuses on the deployment of cultural, religious, and legal components in its procedures and findings. It therefore offers a better alternative as litigants could benefit from it. The practice also encourages cultural revival. This study makes use of documents, interviews, and observational methods while deploying a sociological (functionalist) methodology in its analysis.

Reappraising the Nsukka Ọmabe festival through the lens of ethno-aesthetics, therapy and healing

In Igbo traditional religion (ITR), there are different means through which therapy and healing are achieved. One such means is through the Nsukka-Igbo Ọmabe masquerade festival rituals and performance theatre. To seek out this aspect of the cultural festival that has been under-researched, this study delves into detailed discussions of the pre-arrival, arrival, events in between, departure and postdeparture of the Ọmabe masquerade festival. Relying on a qualitative method, the study analytically and descriptively discusses the data gathered through participatory observations and interview sessions with some of the devotees possessing sufficient knowledge of the masquerade tradition and festival. Photographs have been included to flesh out the narratives, as well as enrich and enhance the readers’ engagement with the article. Also, relevant materials from extant literature are quoted and cited. The study examined the rituals, music, performances and other interesting key components of the festival and found that the traditional practice through masquerade festivals such as the Ọmabe is therapeutic, leading to emotional activation and healing. Undoubtedly, this has been sustaining its re-enactments in the face of neoreligious intolerance, urbanisation, modernity and globalisation that have been adversely affecting cultural practices.Contribution: The article critically engages with the reappraisal of the Ọmabe cultural heritage festival among the Nsukka-Igbo people, providing thought-provoking, impactful research as well as insightful reading towards achieving an understanding of its rituals, materiality and performance theatre and their accompanying therapy and healing benefits. Bearing in mind that HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies focuses on religious issues and that the ‘masking festival’ is a part of Indigenous religious practice, the author considers this article to be suitable for its objectives.

Cultural Reconstruction of Ọzọ Initiation Rites in Igbo-Ukwu Southeast, Nigeria and Identity Preservation

Abstract Most aspects of Igbo culture were abandoned and some faced the threat of extinction as a result of colonialism and Christian religion. Ọzọ title taking, an exclusive title for honest and successful men was abandoned in Igbo-Ukwu because of its connection with Igbo traditional religion. The study employed qualitative approach to investigate the traditional ọzọ initiation ritual, the reconstructed version and the role of the ọzọ title taking in preserving Igbo culture and identity. The study established that the realization of the role of ọzọ institution in building morals and preserving Igbo identity by the traditional leadership of Igbo-Ukwu led to its revival by reconstructing its initiation rite. The reconstruction involves removing parts of the ọzọ initiation rite connected with Igbo traditional religion to make it more acceptable to people of all religious leanings. Although, some people argued that the disconnection of the ọzọ title from Igbo traditional religion has reduced it to a mere social title. They fail to realize that any aspect of culture that is not adapted to meet the current societal need will eventually be extinct. The study recommends the thorough character investigation of prospective ọzọ candidates to ensure they are honest and responsible men. Van Gennep’s Rites of Passage is adopted as explanatory framework for this study. Secondary data were used to compliment primary data collected. Primary data were analyzed descriptively.

“Ibu-Ubu” boyhood initiation rites and the conservation of cultural heritage in Afikpo, southeastern Nigeria

PurposeThe study explores the nexus between Ibu-Ubu boyhood initiation and the conservation of cultural heritage in Afikpo, Southeast Nigeria. The study is motivated by the rarity of such cultural conservation through initiation rites in an age of Christian-inspired culture terrorism against Igbo traditional religion, arts and relics.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted cultural anthropological research method. The boyhood initiation rite was studied through participant observation of the initiation between September and November 2017. As a cultural anthropological study, oral evidence was derived from the men who had undergone the rite. Through the oral evidence, interpretations were given to the material culture, monuments and heritage that have been conserved through Ibu-Ubu initiation rite.FindingsThe study discovered that amid the deluge of Christian-motivated culture terrorism and erosion of Igbo cultural arts, relics and heritage, the people of Afikpo have preserved most of their tangible and intangible heritage through the Ibu-Ubu boyhood initiation rites.Originality/valueThis study will assist in the reinvigoration of campaigns on environmental and heritage conservation in Igboland. It is sufficient to posit that Igboland is ridden with myriads of environmental and cultural terrorism, perpetrated by some Christian fanatics. The study reveals the relevance of the boyhood initiation rites in ensuring the preservation and conservation of Igbo cultural heritage in a century marked with fanatical Christian evangelism, culture-terrorism and destruction of both tangible and intangible heritages, which the Christians have labelled evil, barbaric and fetish.

Women in Igbo traditional religion and politics: prospects for women’s political leadership role in Nigeria

The struggle for political visibility, participation, and leadership of women has been a recurrent issue in all societies, including the most developed democracies. Whereas an appreciable improvement has been recorded in many western countries, Africa still ranks low generally as far as gender inclusivity in political leadership is concerned. Some scholars on Igbo society and culture cling to the popular opinion of blaming this scenario on colonialism. Such scholars usually paint an image of an ideal, precolonial, egalitarian Igbo society where women were more or less accorded more political and leadership space than in the present. In their opinion, reclaiming the past is a sure way to better gender inclusivity in politics. This paper is designed to interrogate critically such images of the past Igbo society. The author approaches the paper with the belief that such romantic view of the past, if not cautiously guided and critically appraised, may well result in nostalgia for a past that never was. The paper aims at hermeneutical-critical reading of women’s visibility and/or invisibility in the pre-colonial Igbo political leadership landscape, with the view of presenting a possible link of the present situation with the past, as well as tracing from this a path for the future of women’s political visibility, participation, and leadership in Nigeria.
 Keywords: Igbo, women, politics, leadership, colonialism

Shifting the Paradigm of Ududu-Eze: The Mystical Pot of Clay from Aguleri which Severs as the Symbol of Power That Creates the Eze Nri in Igbo Traditional Religion

Shifting the Paradigm of Ududu-Eze: The Mystical Pot of Clay from Aguleri which Severs as the Symbol of Power That Creates the Eze Nri in Igbo Traditional Religion

Aso-Ebi (Group Uniform): An Imported Symbolic Culture That Projects Solidarity And Cohesion in Traditional Igbo Cosmology

It is a known fact that every culture has the responsibility of describing reality, its origin and models of structural development as well as the hidden knowledge and truth about being. This responsibility is evidently illustrated, addressed or depicted in Igbo paradigm in form of symbols. Devoid of these symbols, signs and images, the traditional life experiences of the Igbo’s will completely be void, abstract and meaningless because some of these symbols represented in tangible visible forms were believed to be real and living. This paper focuses towards understanding Aso-ebi cloth in the Igbo context through the examination of the dynamics of the cloth production, patronage, consumption and social significance of dress projecting high social solidarity and powerful cohesion in traditional Igbo paradigm. The proper underpinning of this social psychology of Aso-ebi cloth on the indigenous people of the Igbo’s will go a long way in the full integration of the Igbo people’s life and their immediate cultural ecology with messages it disseminate. It must be noted also that despite the significance of this integration, it must be informed that such is evidently limited in their transmission of reality. This paper investigates how the Aso-ebi clothe although an imported culture from the Yoruba tradition basically play significant roles in mediating and facilitating religious communication in Igbo Traditional Religion, giving rise to thought, interpretation, and symbolic meanings. In Igbo cosmology and leadership, the Aso-ebi fabrics encapsulate so many things which are very distinctive thereby representing so many things and ideologies.

<I>Sōteria</I> [salvation] in Christianity and <I>Ụbandu</I> [wholeness] in Igbo traditional religion: Towards a renewed understanding

This study affirmed the fact that there is the idea of salvation in all religions whether revealed or indigenous. This applies categorically to Christianity and Igbo traditional religion (ITR). The basis for this comparative study of sōteria [salvation] and ụbandu [wholeness] in both Christianity and ITR is to juxtapose the two religions’ intrinsic value and distinctive heritage for wider readership and shared knowledge. The aim of this study is to carry out a critical comparative study of the concepts of sōteria and ụbandu in both Christianity and ITR locating their nexus and point of departure. This study is therefore comparative in approach. The methodology applied to this effect is, firstly, the lexical analysis which involves a critical study of the uses of sōteria in the New Testament Greek Bible. Secondly, in the context of ITR, our discussions on ubandu and sōteria as form and expression of doctrine of salvation call for the application of a phenomenological lens; through this, we used oral interviews as source of primary data. This study discovered that both Christianity and ITR define soteria and ubandu from a physical standpoint to include God’s providence, protection and preservation. It is on eschatological experience of sōteria and ụbandu that both religions have points of nexus and divergences. It deciphers the fact that eschatological experience of sōteria in Christianity is highly dependent on the belief in Jesus and his mediatory role which can be either accepted or refused by humans. Eschatological experience of ubandu in ITR is ancestorhood which is highly dependent on the use of coercive force through the enforcement of omenala [Igbo moral codes] in ensuring its experience on the part of practitioners when they transit to the ancestral world.

Religious Change Among the Igbo During the Colonial Period

The study of religious change among the Igbo during the colonial era has suffered from two major problems. The first is inadequate awareness on the part of scholars of the nature and strength of Igbo traditional religion. The second is overdependence on the archives of the missionaries in Europe to the neglect of oral evidence in the field. The result of all this is that the degree of religious change among the Igbo during the period of colonial rule has not been satisfactorily demonstrated. After many years of encounter with Igbo religion Christianity spread rapidly. This break-through has been mistaken for intensive christianization. Using oral sources for the most part this article wishes to show that the dominant note in the religious change among the Igbo was adaption and accommodation. It also contends that during the period under consideration traditional religion still ruled the minds of most Igbo to a greater extent than has generally been realized, notwithstanding outward manifestations to the contrary. But what was Igbo traditional religion all about?

Religious Change Among the Igbo During the Colonial Period

The study of religious change among the Igbo during the colonial era has suffered from two major problems. The first is inadequate awareness on the part of scholars of the nature and strength of Igbo traditional religion. The second is overdependence on the archives of the missionaries in Europe to the neglect of oral evidence in the field. The result of all this is that the degree of religious change among the Igbo during the period of colonial rule has not been satisfactorily demonstrated. After many years of encounter with Igbo religion Christianity spread rapidly. This break-through has been mistaken for intensive christianization. Using oral sources for the most part this article wishes to show that the dominant note in the religious change among the Igbo was adaption and accommodation. It also contends that during the period under consideration traditional religion still ruled the minds of most Igbo to a greater extent than has generally been realized, notwithstanding outward manifestations to the contrary. But what was Igbo traditional religion all about?

The Concept of Death and the After-life in the Old Testament and Igbo Traditional Religion

The Concept of Death and the After-life in the Old Testament and Igbo Traditional Religion

The Belief in Reincarnation Among the Igbo of Nigeria1

The modern Igbo of Nigeria, even when adhering to the Christian religion, have preserved many features of Igbo traditional religion. The belief in reincarnation seems to be particularly strong. The Igbo believe that reincarnation usually occurs within the same immediate or extended family. They try to identify the reincarnated ancestor by means of birthmarks, statements a child makes when it becomes able to speak, and behavioral resemblances between the child and the deceased person of whom it is the presumed reincarnation. Oracles are frequently consulted to make or confirm an identification. The Igbo believe that deceased persons inhabit a discarnate realm, but they conceive this as an undesirable limbo from which discarnate souls are eager to return to a new terrestrial life. The Igbo concept of reincarnation includes belief in a group of souls called ogbanje who are born, die in early life, and are reborn in the same family, often repeatedly.

The Belief in Reincarnation Among the Igbo of Nigeria1

The modern Igbo of Nigeria, even when adhering to the Christian religion, have preserved many features of Igbo traditional religion. The belief in reincarnation seems to be particularly strong. The Igbo believe that reincarnation usually occurs within the same immediate or extended family. They try to identify the reincarnated ancestor by means of birthmarks, statements a child makes when it becomes able to speak, and behavioral resemblances between the child and the deceased person of whom it is the presumed reincarnation. Oracles are frequently consulted to make or confirm an identification. The Igbo believe that deceased persons inhabit a discarnate realm, but they conceive this as an undesirable limbo from which discarnate souls are eager to return to a new terrestrial life. The Igbo concept of reincarnation includes belief in a group of souls called ogbanje who are born, die in early life, and are reborn in the same family, often repeatedly.

The Supreme Being, divinities and ancestors in Igbo traditional religion: evidence from Otanchara and Otanzu

Opening ParagraphThe subject of Igbo traditional religion has aroused a considerable amount of interest among scholars in the past few decades. The works of early ethnographers like Talbot (1926), Meek (1937) and Basden (1938) eloquently spelt out some of its principal themes. Among these are what we may refer to as the three major pillars of Igbo traditional religion, namely the Supreme Being, divinities and ancestors.One of the problems with most of the existing studies is the tendency to generalize for the whole of Igboland on the basis of evidence which is valid for some Igbo areas only. Given the Igbo type of political system which is characterized by the existence of a very large number of autonomous communities, it is not surprising that there is a greater amount of heterogeneity in the religious system than is the case in the centralized kingdoms of pre-colonial Africa. To understand the diversity of Igbo religious beliefs and practices there is an imperative need for the study of the religious systems of specific Igbo communities.