TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AS THE PILLAR OF HUMAN EXISTENCE AMONG AKPO PEOPLE OF AGUATA LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF ANAMBRA STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of 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 religious being. Unlike other religions namely like Judaism, Christianity and Islam that have known origins, African Traditional Religion has no specific founder. Christianity for instance, according to the Bible in the second book of Luke popularly known as the Acts of Apostles chapter 11:26 points to Antioch as the place of origin of the word Christians. In other words Christ was the founder and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. In the case of Islam, it was Mohammed who founded it. Contrasts to this, Africans have no recorded founder(s) or initiator(s) of their religion. Yahweh’s (Judaism) according to Okwueze (1998:51) is suggested to have been 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.

  That is why there is 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 tradition 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, African Traditional Religion 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). 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 Akpo people of Anambra 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 sides of the Isosceles triangle, and the ancestors are at the base.

These researches tell us man’s relationship with the spiritual world. According to Abanuka (2004:5) for example there exists in Igbo Religion, symbols as chi (reality):

Belief in Supreme Being (chukwu) and gods (Arusi/Agbara) such as Anyanwu (sun god), Ala (earth goddess), Agwu (god of medicine and healing, Ahiajioku (god of yam), and Ikenga (god of achievement and success in life). He never kept aside the belief in ancestors (Ndi-iche).

Ifesieh (1989:25-41) while treating the Igbo perception of the world which has religions bearing, relates the people’s belief in celestial/semi-celestial sphere:

The sky (igwe) star (kpakpando), the sun (anyanwu) etc as abode of supreme God (chineke), the Earth addressed as the (mother of fertility). They said (land) is a free gift from chineke, spiritual significance is also given to tree, like the ofo trees, ogbu tree etc, mountains ugwu, rivers, irrational  animals like mmuookuko spirit of fowl, mmuoanuofia spirit of wild animals e.t.c, spirit of family/kingship mmuo Uno or spirit of the house (domestic). He calls all these spirits Igbo four-arch spirits, and the individual spirits-Ancestors (Nna-Anyifa).

Onah (1992:21-28) views them thus:

Belief  in supreme God, Belief in  minor Deities-namely the sun Deity-Anyanwu, sky or Thunder Deity Igweor Amandiioha, and the   Earth  goddess-Ala, the  Belief in Ancestral veneration, and  belief  in Evil spirits and forces –Arusi.

Madu(1997:5) categorizes Igbospiritual beings based on their vital ranks as follows:

                        …First, the supreme being (chukwu orchineke), the creator, Second, the   deities (muo) which include (a) Anyanwu-lord of light and life, (b) Ala-the earth goddess mother of life and the queen of morality (c) Amadioha –God ‘s orderly and agent of instant justice, (d) Muo-mmiri the divinely appointed temptress, (e) Ahiajioku-lord of agriculture (g) Agwu-nsi-lord of divination and healing. Third in his ranking is the spirit forces (Arusi/Alusi), fourth is the Ancestors (Ndi-ichie), and fifth is the medicine (ogwu).

Having seen these Igbo belief patterns, we ought to see in this work how the traditional Akpo people as part of Igbo people pay reverence to some all of those spiritual beings in form of worship from past to the present. This is because this research is concerned with the nomenclature given to the reverence Igbo (Akpo) give to supernatural beings inform of worship from time immemorial. Traditionalist in Akpo is often misunderstood to have belief in some things barbaric, devilish, and heathen and of no value.