Chinua Achebe pretty much got the true picture of the Igbo traditional religion right in things fall apart.

In Igbo traditional religion Chukwu/Chiokike/Olisa/Obasi/Oliseh, depending on your part of Igboland is the creator, hence Chineke, he created all. But he is a boss, and wouldn't entertain incessant disturbance from his creations, so created the gods, to run things on earth for him. The gods act as a link between men and the creator, the creator don't interact directly with men, men reach the creator through the gods.

The gods all work for the creator. Even Ekwensu the trickster god. So the Igbo religion is Monotheistic, as there is only one God, with gods serving as a link between man and God.

kmariko:


Does Uka as church have a meaning in Igbo besides the christian interpretation.
Here christanity is inserted into the traditional religion .. hence changes its origianl meaning

Alusi is idols please, not shrine.
idols are mediators between the gods and men, just as rosaries, holy water, handkerchief, etc are used by xtians .
Idols are made of wood, stone, clay, etc.

Ife alusi means to worship idols in English ,

Igbos never worshiped alusi, we rather appeased them, the phrase was "i guo alusi/nmuo", to appease the gods/spirits. We never had the phrase "i fee alusi", to worship the gods.

We knew that only the creator was to be worshipped.

ralmix:
.in d land of jesus nd devil d destiney of a graet nation lies on d sholder of a wonderful trybe her name #IGBO....

Onye iberibe!

pazienza:
Igbos never worshiped alusi, we rather appeased them, the phrase was "i guo alusi/nmuo", to appease the gods/spirits. We never had the phrase "i fee alusi", to worship the gods.

We knew that only the creator was to be worshipped.

Ife alusi is used in my part of igboland please .
Who are you calling 'we '? Are we from the same place?
it simply means worshipping the gods through those objects/idols/alusi , just as holy water, cross et al is used in xtianity.

Alusi apilapi are those carved from woods.

InyinyaAgbaOku:


Ife alusi is used in my part of igboland please .
Who are you calling 'we '? Are we from the same place?
it simply means worshipping the gods through those objects/idols/alusi , just as holy water, cross et al is used in xtianity.

Alusi apilapi are those carved from woods.

What part of Igboland are you from?

InyinyaAgbaOku:


Ife alusi is used in my part of igboland please .
Who are you calling 'we '? Are we from the same place?
it simply means worshipping the gods through those objects/idols/alusi , just as holy water, cross et al is used in xtianity.

Alusi apilapi are those carved from woods.

The guy is rather correct in saying igo alusi instead of ife alusi because the term ife alusi is used by christians to refer to worship of idols but the adherents of our igbo traditional beliefs do not use the term that way because they understand that the ultimate and only omniscient and omnipotent God,Chukwu is the only being deserving worship or ofufe.
Take some time to observe this fact from the adherents of igbo ways of worship in your locality.
ka Chukwu abiama gozie gi.

chibecanglobal:
The guy is rather correct in saying igo alusi instead of ife alusi because the term ife alusi is used by christians to refer to worship of idols but the adherents of our igbo traditional beliefs do not use the term that way because they understand that the ultimate and only omniscient and omnipotent God,Chukwu is the only being deserving worship or ofufe.
Take some time to observe this fact from the adherents of igbo ways of worship in your locality.
ka Chukwu abiama gozie gi.

ok. thanks to you and pazienza .
But I know alusi is idol.

InyinyaAgbaOku:



ok. thanks to you and pazienza .
But I know alusi is idol.

A deity is a more appropriate word and not an idol because not all alusis are represented in a graven image.
The colonialists/early missionaries didn't understand that the igbo system of worship is monotheist in nature. Our people had the concept of Chukwu,Chineke etc long before their advent here.During my childhood days when i noticed that most of the so called idol worshippers will never fail to give thanks to Chukwu or Chineke whenever in a discussion and i used to wonder as a kid how these supposedly idol worshippers. make more reference to Chukwu or Chineke in stead of Ogwugwu or Udoowere or any of those lessee deities we saw them offer worship and sacrifices to.

chibecanglobal:
A deity is a more appropriate word and not an idol because not all alusis are represented in a graven image.
The colonialists/early missionaries didn't understand that the igbo system of worship is monotheist in nature. Our people had the concept of Chukwu,Chineke etc long before their advent here.During my childhood days when i noticed that most of the so called idol worshippers will never fail to give thanks to Chukwu or Chineke whenever in a discussion and i used to wonder as a kid how these supposedly idol worshippers. make more reference to Chukwu or Chineke in stead of Ogwugwu or Udoowere or any of those lessee deities we saw them offer worship and sacrifices to.

Copied Definitions:

...An idol is an image or other material
object representing a deity to which
religious worship is addressed or any
person or thing regarded with admiration,
adoration, or devotion.

....In religious belief, a deity 1] is a
supernatural being, who may be
thought of as holy, godly, or sacred ...I am not disputing your latter points but deities are supernatural beings, idols are objects of worship to the gods.

LOL


UR FUNNY

emmysoftyou:
tonychristopher ,are yu now a mod?
ur topic dey mak frontpage since dis week,
happy 4 u bro..
wetin be d secret ?

Back to the topic, Ndigbo knew the name of God before the coming christ,

chukwu
chineke

igbo kwenu,
we no dey cary last at all

ChynoBEATS:




What I distaste about we igbo's is that we've totally forgotten about our Own alphabet which is Nsibidi ........

99% of US don't know how to read nor write Nsibidi .... .... Nawa' o

Well @ChynoBEATS do you?
i.e. read and write in nsibidi?

Which is off-topic anyway.

InyinyaAgbaOku:



ok. thanks to you and pazienza .
But I know alusi is idol.

not all idols are deities and vice versa.E.g Chukwu is not an idol,the catholic/Islamic rosary which is idol is not a deity.

The key to Ekwensu is the root "su" or "s" sound. It means to move (quickly).

Hence "S" (moving) deals with travelling. Travelling for bargains and market and festival and war. Travelling as the moon in different positions in the sky.
It is the same as:
Khonsu, Shu, Asar, Bes (Kemet/ancient Egypt).
Egbesu (Ijo/Ijaw)
Oshu and Eshu (Yoruba).
Yeshua/Jesus (Hebrew).
Eze/Ozo (Igbo)

Ekwe (herald, drum, instrument) Nsu (instigation, living word or living action, action or word that moves out quickly)

Ekwensu is the herald of the living word. The principle of travelling or "cross-roads".
Ekwensu was/is also a type of shrine used to pray for protection after travelling in war, for markets, for immigrating into new lands. You pray that you make the right decisions at the "cross" roads. In fact the root of ekwe is "kwe" meaning "to cross together, to agree, sing, harmonize, manufacture, weave together in crosses". Ekwe can mean drum (cross section of a tree) but also whip, barn stacks, cross section of neck or back of the head. Coincidentally, "Yeshua" of the Bible mythology is associated with carpentry and manufactured things especially of wood.

The Ijaw still have Ekwensu as Egbesu, where it is both a shrine used for war, especially on rivers and for protection to new lands they immigrated to. Egbesu is their name for God as well.

The words Joshua and Yeshua (from where Jesus is translated) comes from the African-Asiatic cultures and people and was the word for deliverer, messenger, traveller, evacuator, savior. Like Eshu, Oshu (Yoruba for moon), Khonsu, Ekwensu, Egbesu and so on.

In Western university, this is all deduced through the science of "Cross Comparative Linguistics" cross comparing (related) languages.