Odinani
Odinani, also known as Odinala, Omenala, Odinana, and Omenana, is the traditional cultural belief and practice of the Igbo people of South East and South South Nigeria. These terms, as used here in the Igbo language, are synonymous with the traditional Igbo "religious system" which was not considered separate from the social norms of ancient or traditional Igbo societies. Theocratic in nature, spirituality played a huge role in their everyday lives. Although it has largely been syncretised with Catholicism, the indigenous belief system remains in strong effect among the rural, village and diaspora populations of the Igbo. Odinani can be found in Haitian Voodoo, Obeah, Santeria and even Candomblé. Odinani is a pantheistic and polytheistic faith, having a strong central deity at its head. All things spring from this deity. Although a pantheon of other gods and spirits, these being Ala, Amadiọha, Anyanwụ, Ekwensu, Ikenga, exists in the belief system, as it does in many other Traditional African religions, the lesser deities prevalent in Odinani serve as helpers or elements of Chukwu, the central deity.
Lesser spirits known as ágbàrà or árúsí operate below the other gods and higher spirits. These lesser spirits represent natural forces; agbara as a divine force manifests as separate arụsị in the Igbo pantheon. A concept of 'the eye of sun or God' exists as a masculine and feminine solar deity which forms a part of the solar veneration among the Nri-Igbo in northern Igboland. Arụsị are mediated by Dibia and other priests who do not contact the high god directly. Through áfà, 'divination', the laws and demands of the arụsị are communicated to the living. Arụsị are venerated in community shrines around roadsides and forests while smaller shrines are located in the household for ancestor veneration. Deceased ancestors live in the spirit world where they can be contacted. Below the arụsị are minor and more general spirits known as mmúọ loosely defined by their perceived malevolent or benign natures. These minor spirits are not venerated and are sometimes considered the lost souls of the dead. Ancestor worship and the worship of various gods and spirits, form the main component of the traditional Igbo religion, standing in contrast with Abrahamic religions.
The number of people practicing Igbo religion decreased drastically in the 20th century with the influx of Christian missionaries under the auspices of the British colonial government in Nigeria. In some cases, Igbo traditional religion practice known as ọdịnala was syncretised with Christianity, but in many cases indigenous rites were demonised by Christian missionaries who pointed out the practice of human sacrifice and some other cultural practices that were illegal under the colonial government. Earlier missionaries referred to many indigenous religious practices as juju. Igbo religion is most present today in harvest ceremonies such as new yam festival and masquerading traditions such as mmanwụ and Ekpe.
Remnants of Igbo religious rites spread among African descendants in the Caribbean and North America in era of the Atlantic slave trade. Igbo ọ́bị̀à was transferred to the British West Indies and Guyana as obeah and aspects of Igbo masquerading traditions can be found among the festivals of the Garifuna people and jonkonnu in the West Indies and North Carolina.
Etymology
Ọdịnala in central Igbo dialect is the compound of the words ọ̀ dị̀ + n + àla . Other dialectal variants include ọdịnanị, ọdịnana, omenala, omenana, and omenanị. The word ọdịnala and all its variations is also associated with the culture and customary laws of the Igbo people. Many of the laws and culture were counterparts with religion such as taboos and laws concerning sacred spaces like a deity's sacred forest. Since customary law is recognised in Nigeria, many in Igbo society find themselves syncretising these beliefs with other beliefs and religions.Beliefs
Ọdịnala could loosely be described as a polytheistic and panentheistic faith with a strong central spiritual force at its head from which all things are believed to spring; however, the contextual diversity of the system may encompass various theistic perspectives that derive from a variety of beliefs held within the religion. Chukwu as the central deity is classed among the, 'invisible beings', an ontological category of beings which includes Ala the divine feminine earth force, chi the 'personal deity', the ancestors, and the minor spirits. The other ontological category consists of ndi mmadu, 'visible beings', which include ánụ́ animals, ósísí plants, and the final class ùrò which consists of elements, minerals and inanimate beings. While various gods, the spirit class of Arusi, and ancestors are worshiped and prayed to; no sacrifices are given to Chukwu and no shrines and altars are erected for it. If an Arusi is assigned to an individual, it becomes a chi, a personal guardian god/spirit.Complex animism builds the core concept of most traditional African religions, including Odinala, this includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship and the belief in an afterlife. While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview, most follow a polytheistic system with various gods, spirits and other supernatural beings. Traditional African religions also have elements of fetishism, shamanism and veneration of relics.
Nigerian American professor of indigenous African religions at Harvard University, Jacob Olupona summarized the many traditional African religions as complex animistic religious traditions and beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic "colonization" of Africa. Ancestor veneration has always played a "significant" part in the traditional African cultures and may be considered as central to the African worldview. Ancestors are an integral part of reality. The ancestors are generally believed to reside in an ancestral realm, while some believe that the ancestors became equal in power to deities.Olupona rejects the western/Islamic definition of Monotheism and says that such concepts could not reflect the complex African traditions and are too simplistic. While some traditions have a supreme being, others have not. Monotheism does not reflect the multiplicity of ways that the traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings.
Chukwuemeka Mbaegbu from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria, describes the Igbo religion's system as "Monopolytheism", referring to the belief in many distinct gods and spirits, but with one distant and unpersonalized supreme force, which resulted in the creation of everything, but is not a god per definition.
Chi
In Odinani, the Igbo people believe that each person has their own personal spiritual guardian called Chi, appointed to them before and at the time of their birth. The Chi remains with them for the rest of their lives on Earth. A person's Chi is the personification of that individual's fate, which is credited for an individual's life's successes, misfortunes and failures. The Igbo believe that their success in life is determined by their Chi, and that no man can rise past the greatness of his or her own Chi. In this respect, the concept of chi is analogous to the concept of a guardian angel in Christianity, the daemon in ancient Greek religion, and the genius in ancient Roman religion. Culturally, people are seen as the creators or makers of their own destiny. The breath of life is in the heart, óbì. Chi can be masculine and feminine. A Dibia can identify a person's chi through divination and advise adherents of ways to placate it. Éké is one's ancestral guardian spirit but exists at the periphery of human life and remains a mystery to the people. Households usually contain a shrine for veneration of the Chi, which could be focused on a tree. In marriage a woman takes her chi shrine along with all her belongings to her matrimonial home. A shrine to ones chi is set up at daybreak to summon the spirit from the sun. The shrine of an individual's chi is destroyed when they die. Around Nkarahia, in southern Igboland, there are the most elaborate chi shrines which are decorated with colourful china plates inset into the clay walls of the chi shrine building; the altars hold sacred emblems, while the polished mud benches hold offerings of china, glass, manillas, and food. As a marker of personal fortune or misfortune, good acts or ill, chi can be described as a focal point for 'personal religion'.Cosmology
The community of visible interacting beings and the cosmos is referred to as ụ̀wà, which includes all living things íhẹ́ ndi dị́ ńdụ̀, including animals and vegetation and their mineral elements which possess a vital force and are regarded as counterparts to invisible forces in the spirit world. These living things and geomorphological features of the world therefore possess a guardian deity. Igbo cosmology presents a balance between the feminine and masculine, perhaps, with a preponderance of female representation in Igbo lore. In Igbo cosmology, the world was divided into four corners by the high god corresponding to èké ''órìè àfọ̀ ǹkwọ́ which are the days of the week in the Igbo calendar regarded as market days. The universe is regarded as a composite of bounded spaces in an overlapping hemispherical structure, the total spaces are referred to as élú nà àlà. In one Igbo cosmological theory reported by W.R.G. Morton in the 1950s from an elder in Ibagwa Nike in northern Igboland, Chukwu sees that the sun travels across the world in the day time and then cuts into two in order for the moon to pass on a perpendicular route, and so the world is divided into four parts and four days. The quarterly division of the earth and the days makes the number four sacred to the Igbo. The élú nà àlà space is defined by two boundaries: élú ígwé, 'sky's limit' composed of heavenly bodies under the main forces of the 'masculine' sun and 'feminine' moon, and élú àlà, 'earth or lands limit' consisting of the four material elements of fire and air, and earth and water.The pattern of two and four recur in Chukwu's creations. The days correspond to the four cardinal points and are its names in Igbo, èké east, órìè west, àfọ̀ north, ǹkwọ́ south. The Nri-Igbo claim the market days to have been introduced to the Igbo by their divine progenitor and king Eri in the 9th century after encountering the days as deities. These Arusi are venerated as the primary or as a major deity under Chineke in parts of Igboland. In terms of hierarchy, some communities recognise èké as the head of these Arusi, while others prioritise órìè and ǹkwọ́ first after the high god. Market days may have local deities representing the spirits in some places, in many southern Igbo towns Agwu is the patron of Eke, Ogwugwu the patron of Orie, Amadioha the patron of Afọ and Ala for Nkwọ.
The Cosmos itself is divided into "four constituent complexes" known as Okike, Alusi, Mmuo, and Uwa''. Okike is the event of "Creation", the Alusi are the lesser deities, Mmụọ are the spirits of the Ancestors and all other beings, and Uwa is the World.