THE CONCEPTS OF SACRIFICE IN THE IGBO LAND TRADITIONAL RELIGION

THE CONCEPTS OF SACRIFICE IN THE IGBO LAND TRADITIONAL RELIGION

ABSTRACT

Sacrifice is religion in practice, a means of expressing one’s intension to a divinity believed to exist. Sacrifice is seen in almost all human communities and religion. It definitely will have a role to play in these societies and religion. The igbo traditional society is the community of people who share igbo world views and institutions. This works is to know the significance of sacrificial acts system and society. There are changes in igbo society and traditional practices now more than ever, we need to study the igbo traditional society and the institution and also belief that held the society to get the best of new society in this society to get the best of the two world without completely losing our identity. This is the reason why the role of the sacrifice in igbo traditional religion and society should be studied, to help correct the false impression people have about Igbo sacrifice and learn the significance of sacrifice in the igbo traditional society.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

Man as an intellectual being has always questioned the origin, sustenance, and existence of the universe. In a like manner, these numerous questions on the mysteries of life have led to the discovery of religion, hence man is regarded as a homo religious. Unlike other religions namely; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that have (known) origins, African Traditional Religion has no one specific founder. Christianity for instance, according to the Bible in the second book of Luke popularly known as the Acts of Apostles, points to Antioch as the place of origin of the word “Christians. In other words Christ was the founder and the disciples were for first time called Christians in Acts 11:26. In the case of Islam, it was Mohammed who founded it. In this regard, Africans have no recorded founder (s) or initiator (s) of their religion. Yahwehism (Judaism) on the other side of the coin, according to Okwueze (1998:51) is suggested to be founded by Moses. African Religion is as old as the continent itself. This has contributed immensely to the nature of the religion with multivariate practices of this religion all over the continent. This idea was echoed by Arinze (1970) in his book, “sacrifice in Igbo Religion”. Arinze said this with regard to sacrifice but it is so in many aspects of the traditional religion. That is why there are a lot of variations from one smallest indivisible society of Africa to another. In this vein, Isichei (1977:13-14) posits that:

One should not neglect to mention the value of traditional religion...West African religion tend to hold that the Supreme God is benevolent but that he stays remote from affairs of men. It is therefore believed that worshippers should give most of their devotion to many lesser spirits… Because they did not write, their wisdom has usually died with them.

All things being equal, its concept of the divine ultimate or transcendent being revolves around the Belief in the Supreme Being, the Belief in Divinities, Belief in Spirits, Belief in Ancestors, and practice of Magic and Medicine (Ugwu and Ugwueye 2004:32-49), Idowu in Gbenda (2006:19), and Quarcoopome (1987:40-43). From this, we can understand the belief pattern of other nations or societies in Africa irrespective of their languages and cultures like the Igbo nation or society, and other sub-regions or sections within the Igbo world like the Agbaja people of Enugu State.

According to Ogugua (2005:68), “between the Supreme Being and man is a region inhabited by spirits. Onunwa (2005:35) places African Traditional Religion (human being), in a triangular form with man at the center where God (the Supreme Being) is at the apex, divinities and spiritual forces occupy other two sides of the isosceles triangle, and the ancestors are at the base.