Reflection on Prayers of Malediction During Ogba Festivals.

By:
Ajukura, Fidelis O.
ajukurafidelisobi@gmail.com
16th August, 2023

Festivals are periods of merrymaking; a period when family members gather to celebrate. In Ogba land, there are many festivals but the outstanding ones are Nchaka and Egwu Ogba.

Like every other festival, prayers of benediction are offered to the gods to bless the people as well as their land. One thing that makes Ogba festivals unique is the casting of aspersions and heaping of malediction on, not the malevolent spirits but individuals who exhibit debased and wicked behaviours like; stealing, cheating, lying, backbiting etc. This prayer is such that demands immediate destruction of the lives of those believed to be bad.

In Ogba festivals, fire plays a very significant role. Fire is used to burn all works and workers of iniquity. This fire is used in a symbolic sense and not in a physical sense. In offering prayers of malediction, certain word, phrases and sentences are used repeatedly such that they have become chants synonyms with the festivals. In these festivals, chants like; "fire consume witches/wizards, thieves, liers, cheaters etc" are common. In the just concluded Egwu Ogba festival, fire and the chant "njor" meaning that "fire should consume all works of iniquity" was, as usual, used lavishly.

But how many people are actually free from these curses? Who can boast of being a saint? No one. Some people who are more vociferous when it comes to heaping of maledictions on workers of iniquity are as perverse and corrupt as the people they want to be consumed by fire. At the end, people are just ignorantly heaping curses on themselves. The harsh economic condition in the country has made the situation even worse: there's hardly any man who is not involved directly or indirectly in one unethical conduct or the other. Therefore, whenever prayers of malediction are offered during festivals, people should remember that they too are deeply enmeshed in the deprevity which they want terminated in their land.

Are Ogba people Igbo?