Supreme Being, Deities & Ancestors
How many MAIN types of deities are there?
3 deities
-God
-Spirits
-Ancestors
What three areas do the spirits cover?
sky, earth (land and water), ancestral/spirit world.
How many market days are in a week?
4
What does the Earth Goddess Ala represent/do?
She represents the source of law, morality, and social order
True or False:
Meetings, marriages, or significant gatherings can begin without breaking a kolanut.
False! Any of them can start until it's broken or shared.
If you get cold at night, can you trust that God would help you?
Probably not, since God does not deal with the minor problems at night. Instead he would send his messengers (spirits/Ancestors) to help you instead.
Name at least four different types of spirits (hunter-gathering, etc.)
Hunter-gathering, one spirit for each day of the four day week, air spirit, matron deity, guild deity, marine deity, etc.
What does Chi determine in a person's life?
What does a serious offense do?
A serious offense pollutes the land, not the offender
What is the New Yam festival for?
To give thanks to deities for bountiful crops!
True or False:
Ancestors cannot be a spirit
False! Ancestors can be a spirit and they inhabit the spirit world along with involving themselves in daily human life.
Do people pray for both evil and kind spirits? (yes/no/maybe)
Maybe, people pray to kind spirits for a good destiny, and life. Some pray to evil spirits to leave them alone.
Who divided the world into four parts?
Chukwu
Why did a serious offense require the cleansing of the entire community?
What is the purpose of performing Afa divination?
It is performed to seek life guidance from deities and resolve conflicts.
Ancestors are just like spirits except they care more about their lineage
True! Ancestors have shrines just like spirits and they are both God's messengers.
What is the Uman spirit called?
(Hint: The Uman spirit determines destiny)
Uman spirit is called: Chi
What does Ofo represent?
Ofo represents a force that enforces punishments.
An accused man swears before Amadioha his innocence and a year passes. What has he proved?
It shows he was truthful, since the deity would have killed him within the year if he had lied.
What does the funeral ritual guide?
The ritual helps guide the deceased into the spirit world and integrate them into the realm of ancestors.
Name all the ways you could reincarnate as a Ancestor.
If lived honest lives, did not die from inexplicable diseases, and had full burial rites can be ancestors or reincarnate
What is the difference between ogbanje spirits and akalogolu spirits?
Ogbanje spirits are spirits who usually look like children and they have positive traits. They usually die fairly early.
Akalogolu spirits are spirits who are evil, and like to scare villagers on paths.
How do Ogbanje torment a family?
Ogbanje are repeatedly reincarnated as children, dying intentionally to cause grief.
A man is accused of a serious offense but dies before anything is done about it. Can we conclude he was guilty?
No. If he died before anything was done, he had not yet taken the oath by the deity. The deity only kills a man who has sworn falsely. He never swore so his death tells you nothing.
What are the 4 steps of Igbo traditional marriage?
1. Visiting each other's houses.
2. Researching each other's background and health history.
3. Negotiating and making a list of required items and a symbolic bride price.
4. Wine-carrying ceremony - drinking wine all together.