Many of us were intrigued by stories about the extraordinary feats and adventures of Hercules the Greek demigod. What we did not know is that like Hercules, ‘Ọ̀jadịlị’ the great Igbo warrior who went to wrestle spirits in the spirit world is every inch a demigod. We proudly present the original ‘Ọ̀jadịlị’ myth as told by our then grandparents.
‘Ọ̀jadịlị’ was the greatest warrior in the land who fought and won all his fights. At no time did any of his opponents come close to throwing him to the ground.

Ndi Igbo have a very deep respect and value for the human blood. It is a taboo in Igbo land to spill the blood of a human being especially of one’s kin. This is why there is an urgent need for a balance in the presentation of Igbo culture in Nollywood movies; one that would educate the world about the religious and judicial functions of rituals, shrines and oracles in Igbo land.

While rituals and shrines are channels and locations of worship in the Igbo traditional religion, oracles serve as courts of appeal in Igbo judicial system.

Did you know that before colonization, there was a total non existence of beggars in Igboland? This was possible due to the activities of ‘Umuada/Umuokpu/Umungboto’ whose responsibilities then contributed to equity, fairness and order in Igbo land.
Photo: Blackpast.org However, with Colonialism and chiristainity came Western gender ideologies, which promoted male supremacy and ended the traditional equality between men and women, which in turn, affected the activities of ‘Umuada’ in Igboland.

In Igbo cosmology, ‘Nne Mmiri’ is the powerful female water spirit and a symbol of female fecundity, sacredness of life and water. She is the goddess of crossroads who confronts the unborn and challenges the pact of destiny ‘akara aka’, made between the person and his Chi, and witnessed by the Supreme God, Chi Ukwu.

An individual’s destiny can be changed with the help of the goddess. She's represented by the python or crocodile or tortoise.
Most communities with water bodies like rivers and large streams have ‘Nne Mmiri’ as their prominent deity

Ifo chakpiii! Wooo!
“Once upon a time, ‘Mbe nwa aliga/aniga’ the tortoise borrowed some money from his friend, ‘Ezi’ the pig. Although he promised to pay back the money, he defaulted and kept defaulting until the pig got angry, went to his house and threw away the tortoise wife’s grinding stone not knowing it was the tortoise.

Child naming (Iba Afa/Igu aha) in Igbo land entails a series of activities that culminates in the actual giving of names. Names given to a child can be seen as a story, told of the prevailing circumstance or philosophy at birth. A child could be given up to 5 names including the one given by his/her ‘chi’ to respect the deity of the date of birth. Thus, any child born on any of ‘Afo’, ‘Nkwo̩’, ‘Eke’, ‘Orie/Oye’ automatically bears the name of that day; (Okorie/Okoye, Nwafor, Udenkwo, Akueke, etc.