eplanning:


Ibin Ukpabi the Oracle where convicted criminals were supposedly eaten by the gods. But unknown to the people, these "criminals" were sent through the backdoor to Calabar where they were sold as slaves and shipped to the Americas.
3
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ukpuru.tumblr.com/post/139281680182/an-entrance-to-the-ibini-ukpabi-oracle-or-the/amp

PAGAN9JA:


Abeg grow up. We are not discussing juju here. We are discussing religion.

If you want to satiate your illusions of more wealth, you watch Nollywood.

uzoexcel:


will you call it religion or tradition? just curious

uzoexcel:
@seun @lalastica,
i reckon the time has come where topics dealing with tradition and culture should be prioritized on the front page of nairaland on a particular day. it will be an avenue for people to learn more about their traditions and culture.
christians have Sundays and muslims have fridays.

Thursday sounds fair enough

PAGAN9JA:


So does this dead white jew man bring wealth?

CAPSLOCKED:


THEY'RE MESSING UP OUR THREAD AND RELIGION. BUT ONCE IRRELIGIOUS PEOPLE MAKE IT TO THEIRS THEY REMEMBER RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND OTHER NONSENSE THEY TALK ABOUT. HISTORY SHOWS CHRISTIANS KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BOUNDARIES. THEY WANT THEIR RELIGION TO BE RESPECTED AND ABSOLVED FROM CRITICISMS BUT ALWAYS WANT TO ENFORCE EVERYTHING ABOUT THEMSELVES ON EVERYONE ELSE.

descarado:

There is one I have visited in my village as a kid( we usually fetch firewood at the back. Big thick forest). I can remember seeing some old women always sweeping that big shrine. Everywhere is carved. Those carvings reminded me of st Peter's basilica in Rome. There is one kindergarten hall built there outside the shrine. The artefacts in that shrine are still preserved till date.

sonmvayina:


How old are you self? So you mean you have not figured out that Jesus is a fictional character.. Hmm, your matter tire me oh

So you still have not known that Jesus is a scam. You really think if there was any power or the story was real, the European will give him to you?.. Wake up from your slumber
.

PAGAN9JA:


The point herein is that Pagan Animist Tribal religions are not like abrahamic religions.

They are deeply intertwined with our indigenous culture and independent ideology and thought process.

For example, it is because of our indigenous religion that many of our indigenous animals and plants have survived and been protected in sacred groves and totemic reverence.

When we talking about traditional religion we are talking about preserving our natural ecosystem and (tribal) societal balance as well.

Therefore it becomes of utmost importance to preserve them.


Our natural religions are non-proselytizing so they can co-exist harmoniously with any religion. As a Pagan I can visit a mosque and church although I prefer not to because I don't get back the same respect for my beliefs and culture in return.

Animism is Spiritual Sciences . It keeps our mind open to the existence of unlimited posibilities. What you are inferring about religious is based on your exposure to an abrahamic upbringing and environment so you don't really understand where we are coming from.

When I read your tirade on Wole Soyinka I understood that you don't understand his ideology. It is the same as ours. Ogun is a part of his existence. Whether he worships it or not he respects and participates in it.

As a born Pagan I never went through any process of conversion. I joined my people in local festivals and rituals and that was it. It is a part of our natural unique existence.

Many of the great Greek scientists such as Archimedes, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Euclids etc., were fervent Pagans themselves. There spirituality never interfered with their quest for science as there was no dictat to stop them in their pursuit. These are entirely two different subject matters.

Indigenous religion leads to Nationalism and anti-colonialism but unfortunetly it was stunted at a very early phase in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. (Although there were isolated cases as well where indigenous religion took on an anti-colonial role).

Japan and India capitalized on using traditional religion as a catalyst to sucessfully inspire anti-colonialism just as the UK and Western Europe used christianity to justify colonialism. We were too late and divided in this race because we could not recognize our diverse similarities and forge it into a unified force.

In conclusion, I would say it is better to recinstrct traditional religion and reform it keeping core concepts intact.


Africans and human beings in general need spirituality in their lives. This is practical. We need to decolonize and opt for the best alternative that suits our natural psych. Our ancestors already laid out the pathway for us. We just need to believe in ourselves.

Phut:


A lot of Nigerian christians and moslems are intolerant, do not know anything freedom of religion/association and definitely do not practice the doctrine of live and let live. There are many instances of them burning down traditional religion shrines - mental slaves, doing the work of their masters

uzoexcel:
@seun @lalastica,
i reckon the time has come where topics dealing with tradition and culture should be prioritized on the front page of nairaland on a particular day. it will be an avenue for people to learn more about their traditions and culture.
christians have Sundays and muslims have fridays.

Thursday sounds fair enough

CAPSLOCKED:


SADLY, THAT'S GOING TO BE BAD FOR BUSINESS. OUR PEOPLE ALREADY SEE THEIR TRADITIONS AS EVIL, SO WHEN TRADITIONAL TOPICS MAKE THE FORUM'S FRONTPAGE ON A REGULAR, THERE'S CERTAINLY GOING TO BE A DROP IN NUMBERS.

Phut:


A lot of Nigerian christians and moslems are intolerant, do not know anything freedom of religion/association and definitely do not practice the doctrine of live and let live. There are many instances of them burning down traditional religion shrines - mental slaves, doing the work of their masters

eplanning:


When we say tradition tradition tradition or even traditional religion.... Are you aware that there's pure Bantu/ negro worship that is without bowing down and offering sacrifices to idols? That's what the Most high Himself gave us. Worship doesn't have to involve idols to be powerful.

All that Idolatory, our ancestors learnt from other nations (Egypt, Nubia, Kush etc.) as they migrated through the continent. And YISOLELE (ISRAEL) is still unwilling to REPENT.

The Most High has always been against the making or worship of idols, whether wood, stone, men or ancestors and he's not about to change. He alone deserves worship.

PAGAN9JA:



Better you migrate to Kenya, Egypt, Israel, Nubia, Somalia.or whatever. There is no mention of Nigeria in your post.

You are beyond repair and have been accustomed to bowing before and considering any foreign belief or custom as superior as long as its not Nigeria. Better you leave this country.

PAGAN9JA:
1. Ikoro Umu Nze

2. Ikoro Obibabku

3. Ikoro Umunze

4. Ikoro Uga Anambra - Now burnt and destroyed recently by christian 'crusaders'.



Sacred Ikoro War Drums

They hearken back to the headhunting past of Igbo people. The sacred Ikoro drum would be strategically placed at the centre of market suare to alert the entire village to war or religious festivals.

Motifs and Symbols Addressing the Igbo Spiritual World View and Procreation

Male and Female Duality - Dual Forces

Using the dualistic view of the cosmos by the Igbo people, one can best describe the recurrence of both male and female forms on Ikoro as a representation of this dualism in human existence. The Igbo man believes that things are in twos (ihe di abua abua). There is day and night, good and bad, spirit and human world, up and down, left and right. In the same vein, there is man and woman. Without woman there can be no man (and vice versa). Therefore, on many ikoro drums, the number of carved male figures at one end of the drum is balanced with equal number of females at the other end. The presence of male and female figures also suggests procreation – something very precious in the Igbo world. Every man prays for the continued existence of the family through procreation as demonstrated in such Igbo names as Obiechina (may the lineage not come to a close), Amaechina (may the compound not close down), Ahamefuna (may I not lose my identity).
Nothing gave the Igbo person a sense of assurance than the fact that he still had a place to visit and stay when he died and became an ancestor. He must strive to get as many children as possible in order to actualize this ideal aptly illustrated in the name, Maduakonobi (the compound never lacks people) which in short, is called Akonobi or Maduako. In Igbo family therefore, when a man fails to get male children through his wife he, takes another one with the hope of getting male children to ensure the continued existence of the family name. Sons would generally die in war and so they were of utmost importance for continuity of the line. Ikoro Eziagu has two female figures and a male figure on the drum body, probably illustrating the above idea. Ikoro Umuchu has a pregnant woman interacting with another figure while Ikoro Ogbudu, Ikoro Ogbunka and Ikoro Obibiaku (in Umunze) have a male and female fibures on the drum.


Importance of Sacred Animals in Igbo Religion : Snakes (Pythons), Lizards (Crocodile) and Tortoise - Forbidden to Kill

There are some meanings attached to the ritual animals which appear on Ikoro drum. The snake, the lizard (crocodile) and tortoise are sacred animals in many communities and are often not killed. They are also believed to be the primordial animals as told in folklore and myths.
Many Igbo folktales that touch on origins and beginnings of life usually start with ‘long long time ago, before the beginning of time, itself, when the lizards moved in twos and threes, and when the python moved along the pathways with royal gait…. Among the Igbo people, there is a school of thought that thinks that the tortoise shell symbolizes death, but a more popular belief is that the tortoise represents the typical character of an Igbo man. ‘His’ tricks, successes and failures, are illustrations of Igbo wisdom (and foolishness). It is said in local circles that whatever story that excudes the mbe (tortoise) becomes tasteless. Consequently, on some ikoro drums, especially in Amuzu and Ngwa areas of Imo State, the tortoise is shown in constant relationship with the heavenly bodies (the moon and stars) and also with other primordial beings – the python and the lizard (crocodile). The python, as a messenger of the deity that owns the drum, represents that deity. In the shrine of Ajala, the deity that owns Ikoro Ajala, the same python was carefully sculpted in clay meandering its way around the Ajala figures. By appearing on Ikoro Ajala, Alachebe affirmed that the manifestation of Ajala deity on the Ikoro was complete. The use of python as a motif in Ikoro drum body is wide spread in Igboland and it shows the degree of importance attached to it as a sacred animal. For this reason, it is hardly killed by many Igbo communities. If it was inadvertently killed it was given a burial that almost equalled that given to a human being. On an ikoro, a python is sometimes shown swallowing another animal, meaning a greater community symbolically swallowing a weaker community. It is in line with the Igbo proverb which says that though many animals exist in the forest, there exists the python who owns the forest (Anu juru n’ohia ma o nwelu eke nwe ohia). It is the linear incisions (akika) on the ikoro that could be termed exclusively decorative. For example, on the ikoro in Umudioka, Awka, oblique lines serve as background textures for figures carved on the drum while on Ikoro Ngele Ojii, the lines are used as a decorative device. It is true that the relief representations of forms on ikoro drums are statements which help to explain what the ikoro stands for, it is also clear that ikoro is the community’s collective voice for making outstanding pronouncements that concern all vital aspects of the community’s life. However, the representation of a man holding a head in his outstretched hands, a man holding a machete and a head, human heads on the drum, the myths attached to ikoro, the war cry sent out by the drummer while beating the ikoro and the language of ikoro significantly point to the fact the ikoro was first and foremost a martial drum. It was the martial success and quest for more successes that the first ikoro drum symbolised.


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PAGAN9JA:


Strange why did you remove that post?

LordReed:
www.nairaland.com/attachments/12191138_images20200822t104524_655_jpeg_jpegd6e050d49076c0061a0a28e39775066a

Tomorrow you people will say unclothedness is a foreign introduction. Is this not a woman bare chested in this pix?

PAGAN9JA:


Don't count me amongst the "you people". I've always advocated for traditional nudity wherever needed. It is not sexual. Our ancestors never felt that pervertedness because they were accustomed to it. It is the barbaric abrahamic cults that are responsible for the degeneration of our youth's mentality.

LordReed:
Well that's good cos some people who hypocritically mention Africans as having "modesty" as culture are the ones I am referring to. I also know the religious folks are also prudish but their own is on a different level.

IduNaOba:
That uga own vex me because it's a very old artifact.
For say money dey I for buy am!
Even I talk say I go still sue them for destroying a precious artifact...
Ndị a ji ụka ndị ọcha na emebiri anyị ihe dị be anyị mehn.
Ndị ara ndị ara

PAGAN9JA:



All Tribal Animist religions around the world have the the same core concept . They are natural Spiritual religions.

They need to be saved for the balance of the Earth and nature to be maintained.

solite3:

A god that is represented in items is not God! Those gods had to be represented materially because they are no gods, their power is only in the minds of the worshipers.

solite3:
Dont get blinded by tribal sentiment. The truth knows no colour.
It is either God or the devil there is no middle ground.
God has open the door for all nations of the earth to be saved.
Dont let satan keep you out from God's grace by using, tribe or gender.
Jesus died for you all, listen God has flung the gate of eternal life open to all who will come to Jesus.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.