THE RELEVANCE OF ỌGBỤ CHI TO WOMEN IN IGBO TRADITIONAL RELIGION

Abstract

Chi is an individual’s personal god which accounts for the fortune or misfortune that befalls the individual in his life time. A man’s or woman`s chi has a special hold over him or her such that no other spirit or powers can control. In Igbo culture, a married woman fully stabilizes in her husband’s home after some years of marriage when she has instituted her Ọgbụ chi – a sacred tree, the absence of which could result in marital hiccups, misfortunes and marriage instability. In recent times, modernity has truncated the idea of this personal chi. Also, Christianity is trying to overshadow and abolish a lot of traditional heritage which invariably has affected the Ọgbụ chi. Hence, this study is aimed at the process of Ịrata/Ịrọta/Ịmawata chi/Ime Ekwe in Ụmụnri Igbo in Njikọka Local Government Area and Ikem in Nando in Anambra East Local Government Area both in Anambra State. It also delves into the installation, traditional worship of and reverence to Ọgbụ chi. The study examines the relevance of Ọgbụ chi to womanhood in Ụmụnri Igbo and Ikem, Nando. It equally evaluates the current attitude of these married women in Igbo traditional religion in Ụmụnri Igbo and Ikem, Nando towards Ịrata/Ịrọta/Ịmawata chi and Ime Ekwe after the advent of Christianity and finally, investigates how Christianity, harmful human practices/activities like felling of trees to erect structures in family compounds and natural disasters like flooding and erosion in flooding and erosion prone areas have destroyed this totem Ọgbụ tree. The researcher sourced information from the library and conducted oral interviews. Emile Durkheim’s feminist theory of religion (1973) was used because the study was based on married women in Igbo traditional religion. Some men and women of Ụmụnri Igbo in Njikọka Local Government Area in Anambra Central Senatorial District and Ikem in Nando in Anambra East Local Government Area in Anambra North Senatorial District were also interviewed to collect information about the Ọgbụ chi. The research was based on historical and survey methods. The significance of the study is to re-emphasize that Ọgbụ chi invariably makes the women folk of the Igbo traditional religious worship complete in their husbands’ homes in Ụmụnri Igbo in Njikọka Local Government Area and Ikem in Nando in Anambra East Local Government Area, Anambra State. This is because in the Igbo traditional religion, a person’s chi is his other identity in the land of the spirits which complements his physical existence and the need to encourage and sustain this traditional religious worship among the married women in Igbo traditional religion in Ụmụnri Igbo in Njikọka Local Government Area and Ikem, Nando in Anambra East Local Government. It was however found out that because of the advent of Christianity, the women in Igbo traditional religion in Umunri Igbo and Ikem are playing down on the installation and possession of Ogbu chi. Instead, they make use of the mobile wooden image (the effigy) or the Ido chi to conceal their chi and make it less conspicuous.