Igbo people

The Igbo, sometimes (especially formerly)
referred to as the Ibo, are a West African
ethnic group numbering in the tens of
millions. Most Igbos live in southeastern
Nigeria, constituting about 18% of the
population of the country; they can also be
found in significant numbers in neighboring
Cameroon and other African countries. Their
language is the Igbo language.


Geography

The Igbo in Nigeria are found primarily in
Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo,
stretching into adjacent states like Delta and
Rivers. The Igbo language is predominant
throughout this area, although English (the
national language) is also spoken. Prominent
towns in Igbo country include Aba, Awka,
Owerri, Orlu, Nnewi, Mbaise, Nsukka, Enugu,
Onitsha, Afikpo, Okigwe, Umuahia, Asaba,
Ohafia, Ututu, Ideani, Alayi, Arochukwu,
Abiriba, Ihechiowa, Item, Nkporo, Bende and
Awkuzu amongst others.
Traditional religious beliefs
The traditional Igbo religion believes in a
benevolent creator, usually known as
Chukwu, who created the visible universe, the
uwa. Opposing this force for good is agbara,
meaning spirit or supernatural being.
Apart from the natural level of the universe,
they also believe that it exists on another
level, that of the spiritual forces, the alusi.
The alusi are minor deities, and are forces
for blessing or destruction, depending on
circumstances. They punish social offences
and those who unwittingly infringe their
privileges.
The role of diviners is to interpret
the wishes of the alusi, and the role of the
priest is to placate them with sacrifices.
Either a priest is chosen through hereditary
lineage or he is chosen by a particular god
for his service, usually after passing through
a number of mystical experiences. Each
person also has a personalised providence,
which comes from Chukwu, and returns to
him at the time of death, a chi. This chi may
be good or bad.


It is Igbo belief that the spirits of one's
ancestors keep a constant watch over them.
The living show appreciation for the dead and
pray to them for future well being. It is
against tribal law to speak badly of a spirit.
Those ancestors who lived well, died in
socially approved ways, and were given
correct burial rites, live in one of the worlds
of the dead, which mirror the worlds of the
living. They are periodically reincarnated
among the living and are given the name
ndichie – the returners. Those who died bad
deaths and lack correct burial rites cannot
return to the world of the living, or enter that
of the dead. They wander homeless,
expressing their grief by causing harm among
the living.

The Igbo expected in their prayers and
sacrifices, blessings such as long, healthy,
and prosperous lives, and especially children,
who were considered the greatest blessing of
all. The desire to offer the most precious
sacrifice of all led to human sacrifice –
slaves were often sacrificed at funerals in
order to provide a retinue for the dead man in
life to come. There was no shrine to Chukwu,
nor were sacrifices made directly to him, but
he was conceived as the ultimate receiver of
all sacrifices made to the minor deities.
These minor deities claimed an enormous
part of the daily lives of the people. The
belief was that these gods could be
manipulated in order to protect them and
serve their interests. If the gods performed
these duties, they were rewarded with the
continuing faith of the tribe. Different regions
of Igboland have varying versions of these
minor deities.


Modern religious distribution

Some Igbo still practice traditional Igbo
religion. Although the Igbo have been largely
Christianized, indigenous belief systems
retain some influence, particularly in the
suburban and rural villages. As with most
Christianized peoples, Christian Igbos
incorporated many of the culture's indigenous
values, customs and traditions in their own
systems of Christian worship -- merely
deemphasizing their origins. Most of the
Christian Igbos are Roman Catholics.
Origin
The Igbo appear to have come south from
the area where the Niger and Benue Rivers
come together.


According to Professor A. E. Afigbo, a
scholar of Igbo heritage, "the Igbo, and
perhaps the Idoma and most likely the Ijaw
(Ijo), would appear to be the one of the only
surviving coherent ethnic groups from the
first set of proto-Kwa speakers to penetrate
the forest areas of Southern Nigeria and who
at one time occupied areas as far to the west
as Ile-Ife in Yorubaland.

The origins of the Igbo people has been the
subject of much speculation, and it is only in
the last fifty years that any real work has
been carried out in this subject:

...like any group of people, they are anxious to discover their origin and reconstruct how
they came to be how they are. ...their experiences under colonialsim and since Nigeria’s
Independence have emphasized for them the reality of their group identity which they want to
anchor into authenticated history.
Analysis of the sources that are available
(fragmentary oral traditions and correlation
of cultural traits) have led to the belief that
there exists a core area of Igboland, and that
waves of immigrant communities from the
north and west planted themselves on the
border of this core area as early as the ninth
century. This core area – Owerri, Orlu and
Okigwi – forms a belt, and the people in this
area have no tradition of coming from
anywhere else. Migration from this area in
the recent past tended to be in all directions,
and in this way the Igbo culture gradually
became homogenized. In addition to this
pattern of migration from this core area,
other people also entered the Igbo territory in
about the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries.
Many of these people still exhibit different
characteristics from that of the traditional
Igbos – for example geographical
marginality, the institution of kingship, a
hierarchical title system and the amosu
tradition (witchcraft). For some time some
Igbo-speaking peoples claimed that they
were not Igbo – the word was used as a term
of abuse for “less cultured” neighbours. The
word is now used in three senses, to describe
Igbo territory, domestic speakers of the
language and the language spoken by them.
(see (A.E. Afigbo,1981: Ropes of Sand,
Caxton Press,Ibadan. and T. Shaw:1970;
"Igbo Ukwu: An Account of Archaeological
Discoveries in Eastern Nigeria", Faber and
Faber, pp. 268-285


Pre-colonial life

Pre-colonial Igbo political organization was
based on communities, devoid of kings or
governing chiefs. With the exception of towns
such as Onitsha, which had kings called
Obis, and places like Nri and Arochukwu,
which had priest kings known as Ezes, most
Igbo village governments were ruled solely by
an assembly of the common people.
Although titleholders were respected because
of their accomplishments, they were never
revered as kings, but often performed special
functions given to them by such assemblies.
This way of governing was immensely
different from most other communities of
Western Africa, and only shared by the Ewe
of Ghana. Igbo secret societies also had a
ceremonial script called Nsibidi. The Igbo
had a calendar in which a week had four
days. A month consisted of seven weeks and
thirteen months made a year. In the last
month, an extra day was added. This
calendar is still in use in villages and towns
to determine the market days.

They also had mathematics called Okwe and
Mkpisi and a saving and loans bank system
called Isusu. They settled law matters by
oath-taking to a god. If that person died in a
certain amount of time, he was guilty. If not,
he was free to go, but if guilty, that person
could face exile or servitude to a deity.


Colonial period

The arrival of the British in the 1870s and
increased encounters between the Igbo and
other Nigerians led to a deepening sense of a
distinct Igbo ethnic identity. The Igbo also
proved remarkably decisive and enthusiastic
in their embrace of Christianity and Western
education. Under British colonial rule, the
diversity within each of Nigeria's major
ethnic groups slowly decreased and
distinctions between the Igbo and other large
ethnic groups, such as the Hausa and the
Yoruba became sharper.


Nigerian Civil War

Following a military coup which removed
Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi from power, the Igbo-
dominated southeast of the country seceded
from Nigeria as the Republic of Biafra. A civil
war, after which the federal government
reabsorbed Biafra into Nigeria, stretched from
1967 until 1970.

In July 2007, Emeka Ojukwu renewed calls
for the seccesation of the Biafran state as a
sovereign entity. He reaffirmed that "the only
alternative is a separate existence" and went
further to say that "what upsets the Igbo
population is we are not equally Nigerian as
the others", but was reminded that his fellow
Igbo people are not equally treated by their
own people. Mr Ojukwu is openly known to
be pro Osu, a mean, discriminatory and
pagan tradition which has left over 6 million
Igbo men and women second class in their
own country. "Mr Ojukwu and the Igbos
should first bury discrimination at home"
said one observer


The Igbo diaspora

After the Nigerian Civil War, many Igbo
emigrated out of the traditional Igbo
homeland in southeastern Nigeria due to an
absence of federal presence, lack of jobs,
and poor infrastructure. Not only have the
Igbo people moved to such Nigerian cities as
Lagos and Abuja, but have also moved to
other countries such as Cameroun, Equatorial
Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Togo, Ghana, Canada,
the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Prominent Igbo communities outside Africa
include those of London in the United
Kingdom and Houston, California, Atlanta,
and Washington, D.C. in the United States.
[citation needed] Of prominence also are
Igbos in Finland .


Modern Igbo society

After the Nigerian Civil War, Igboland was
severely devastated. Many hospitals, schools,
and homes had been completely destroyed in
the brutal war. In addition to the loss of their
savings, many Igbo people found themselves
discriminated against by other ethnic groups
and the new non-Igbo federal government.
[citation needed] Due to the discrimination of
employers, many Igbo had trouble finding
employment, and the Igbo became one of the
poorest ethnic groups in Nigeria during the
early 1970s. Igboland was gradually rebuilt
over a period of twenty years and the
economy was again prospering due to the
rise of the petroleum industry in the adjacent
Niger Delta, which led to new factories being
set up in southern Nigeria. Many Igbo
eventually regained government positions.
The Igbo, however, continue to face many
problems and challenges. Even today, Igbo
people have sometimes continued to face
discrimination from other ethnic groups.
Also, because the traditional Igbo homeland
was becoming too small for its growing
population, many Igbo have emigrated out of
Igboland.


Igbo language

The Igbo people largely speak the Igbo
language. The language was used by John
Goldsmith as an example to justify deviating
from the classical linear model of phonology
as laid out in The Sound Pattern of English. It
is written in the Roman script. Igbo is a tonal
language, like Yoruba and Chinese.



Igbo music

The Igbo have a rhythm of music which
consists of drums "ikoro" "udu", flute "opi",
Ogene, Igba, Ichaka and other instruments.
They also have a style of music called
Ikorodo which involves a vocal performance
accompanied by several musical instruments.
Nigeria is known as the land of music, and
many Nigerians express themselves through
music. Nigerians have acquired a great
capacity for the love of music, which usually
involves percussion accompaniment, although
not always. Traditional Igbo music includes a
lot of drum beats. Another popular musical
form among the Igbo tribe is Highlife, which
is a fusion of jazz and traditional music and
widely popular in West Africa.[citation
needed]


Funeral ceremonies

The funeral ceremonies and burials of the
Igbo people are extremely complex, the most
elaborate of all being the funeral of a chief.
However, there are several kinds of deaths
that are considered shameful, and in these
circumstances no burial is provided at all.
Women who die in labour, children who die
before they have teeth, those who commit
suicide and those who die in the sacred
month – for these people their funeral
ceremony consists of being thrown into a
bush. Their religious beliefs also led the Igbo
to kill those that might be considered
shameful to the tribe. Single births were
regarded as typically human, multiple births
as typical of the animal world. So twins were
regarded as less than humans and put to
death (as were animals produced at single
births). Children who were born with teeth (or
whose upper teeth came first), babies born
feet first, boys with only one testicle, and
lepers, were all killed and their bodies thrown
away in secrecy.[citation needed]


^^ Who ever wrote that, clearly does not know
what they are talking about. In the bo
Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe, It clearly
states that anybody that dies during the
sacred month, or commit suicide, or people
who do not deserve a proper burial will not
be thrown in a bush, but they will be caste to
die in the Evil Forest. -Tiffany =) You're
welcome!

http://nigerianwiki.com/wiki/Igbo_people