Igbo Background

EDITORIAL Magazine

Igbo Culture: A broken culture.

Well, that’s not true. Attention to you, dear reader. Google today as we know it is something we do effortlessly. We do this so competently that we never truly understand the danger of a single story. As I know it, the people of the Igbo community is a culture that holds beauty the common people neglect everyday of their lives. A few years ago, I would never have regarded this wonderful community for what is was. To you my dear reader, I have the nerve about their nature to reveal something. I have had the privilege to witness marriage, delegations, religious rituals and more.

Nigeria consists of very large ethnic groups and consists of 200 different groups. In my travel, I have noticed how many individuals of the Igbo culture believe in myths. I had the chance to talk to many of the people that live in Ummofia, and their believed originate from a myth of Chukwu in which they shared that the world was once filled with water and Chukwu presented the earth with humans. The fable reveals that Chukwu gave them the ability to sow yam seeds above the graves of the deceased. Through this many of them shared that this is why their life evolves around religion. The myth points to agriculture as well, which I have identified as their way of living. The Igbo culture system is based on shifting cultivations of their fields which means that they plant on the same fields for several years.

Their elders rule the Igbo; an organized group based on descents. This lineage is mostly derived from the descendants from father to son. A commoner amongst the Igbo conveniently informed me about the ranks and stages of their political and social structures. First, called the Uno, which consists of natural families. The second, called the Umumma consisted of a number of related houses through different wives and children and lastly the Obodo, which is the highest territory of authority amongst the Igbo community. Igbo communities are also known to be democratic however as I toured around the community, they do not seem to have centralized governments like the west does.

The council of members are members that delegated disputed in a gathering. In my 2 weeks of staying in Nigeria, I had the priviledge to see the council of members delegate disputes between people. They are highly respected by the oldest living representative of ancestors. This is quite interesting in their culture because of how close the connection between the political structures and councils are. It allows connections to be made. Age groups also play significant roles as this allows societies to remember past events without written records unlike the west.

I also got the opportunity to see a marriage ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony. The bride was dressed with jewellery and the Igbo people really emphasized Palm wine, which is traditional in the community. They were happy and I had never witness such a custom before. I interviewed a man in the ceremony in which he acknowledge that marriages in the Igbo custom were regarded as a bondage in towns and a corner stone of whole social structures. I questioned him about how their village celebrates it in terms of reactions and behavior, and he replied “Oh, we take is very seriously. It’s a beautiful ceremony to see to people brought together. We also need to consult to members of the council as we take it seriously and children are valued extremely highly within our community.” Unlike the west, several wives instigated the status of a mans prestige.

I happened to venture near a forest, as we don’t have many forests in England, and many people of the Igbo community gave me stares as I began to ever so slightly walk on the grass. There was talk in the village of twin babies. Igbo cultures are extremely religious and regarded as supernaturally charges in which many cultures do different things with them. At first in all honestly, I thought it was just inhumane. However understanding the importance of religion I looked deeper into understand that the excess of fertility is considered bad just like it is with rain and agriculture. Rules of the Igbo community also examines homicide. “We consider it a serious offense to our Earth Goddess, Ani. If a family member commits homicide, we should not even try to sow seeds. Its useless as we’ve made her angry.” A question came to mind about war. War is a subject the Igbo had to consult to the oracle first, and if they were allowed especially in the 19^th century, they had to commit homicide. Igbo community held a cleansing ritual before joining the lineage again.

Igbo oracles are highly important to the community. This does reflect on their religion and they are believed to reside in religious shrines behind bushes. Oracles are told to receive messages from dead relatives and warned individual communities about impending danger. Individuals consulted the Oracle if they had twins or bad harvest. They were feared and respected. I think that this is a really fascinating to see how they connect to the community. However when asked about the Oracle, I was answered “I’ve never seen her. One was believed that they would die if they ever saw and Oracle.” Therefore they communicated with the priest/priestess. The Igbo people would even pay large sums of money to receive answers.

So you see now the restricted content about the African culture we do ignorantly bypass. Don’t let the media infiltrate your mind with antagonistic views of the African culture because politicians of media should not be the only form of information that dictates your only perspective of how the Igbo community live their live. I personally invite you to experience the thrill of seeing a new world close up.