Let us share and identify the different aspects of Odinani or Igbo Traditional Religion so we can revive it.

Iseee!


1. Alusi Spirit in a shrine with its Dibia priest (seated) and it’s Osu (Spirit Attendant), Orsu, West Isuama Igbo

2. One of a group of Alusi figures Nri-Awka Igbo

3. Alusi Spirit with its Dibia (priest) and its ritual iron belled staff, Orsu, West Isuama Igbo

4. Alusi Orsu, West Isuama Igbo

1. Four Obu shrine figures, Abiriba

2. Uxurhe Staffs

3. Alusi figure in an ancestral shrine, North Ika

4. Alusi Spirit, Nri-Awka Igbo

1.

2. Alusi Shrine figure in another shrine of a tutelary Deity of one of the adjacent villages erected on the road from Udi to Ngwo on the escarpment above Enugu township, Obioma town, Abaja, Northern Igbo

3. Alusi Orsu, West Isuama Igbo

4. Ibudu Mud shrine made to protect and prosper a household

1. Alusi in shrine, Obioma town, Abaja, Northern Igbo

2. Ofo, Uxurhe, Alusi Ikenga and other pieces, North Ika

3. Okike, Alusi Ikenga and other Shrines, North Ika

4.

1. Alusi Shrine of a tutelary Deity of one of the adjacent villages erected on the road from Udi to Ngwo on the escarpment above Enugu township, Obioma town, Abaja, Northern Igbo

2. Alusi Dibia (priest) in his Shrine

3. Alusi Spirits. Several of the same group of Alusi figures

4. Alusi, Nri-Awka

All this Jax no de bring wealth

1. Alusi Uma Ukpai, the Presiding Alusi Deity of the Obunkwa Shrine with his Spirit wife on his shoulder, Asaga Ohafia

2. Two Alusi Ikenga, Nri-Awka Igbo

3. Three Alusi Ikenga Nimo, Nri-Awka Igbo

4. Alusi Ikenga, Nri-Awka Igbo

Braintrain:
All this Jax no de bring wealth

So does this dead white jew man bring wealth?

1. Alusi Ikenga Achalla, Nri-Awka Igbo

2. Alusi Ikenga Achalla, Nri-Awka Igbo

3. Alusi Ikenga Nimo, Nri-Awka Igbo

4. Alusi in portable household Shrine, North Ika

1. Arunsi near the Obu, Abam

2. Alusi Spirit With Alusi Ikenga and other ritual objects, Orsu, West Isuama Igbo

3.

4. Ohafia Headhunting war dancers with Oyaya (headboard with trophy skulls)

This is beautiful...i believe Africans have the best history

1.

2. Foreign collection

3. Alusi Shrine figures, foreign collection

4. Alusi Shrine figures, foreign collection

thugmanwiz:
This is beautiful...i believe Africans have the best history

I know right!

Its such a pity we have lost all the skills to carve these authentic Alusi shrine figures.

We have forgotten our indigenous skills and we need to revive it. But it can only be revived if the old religion is ressurected.

Mbari Shrines

Old and New

Mbari Shrine

Goddess Ala (Alusi Ala)

Ala (also known as Ani, Ana, Ale, and Ali in varying Igbo dialects) is the female Alusi (deity) of the earth, morality, fertility, and creativity in Odinani. She is the most important Alusi in the Igbo pantheon. In Odinani, Ala rules over the underworld and holds the deceased ancestors in her womb. Her name literally translates to "ground" in the Igbo language, denoting her powers over the earth and her status as the ground itself. Ala is considered the highest Alusi in the Igbo pantheon. Ala's husband is Amadioha, the sky deity.


As the goddess of morality, Ala is involved in judging human actions and is in charge of Igbo law and customs known as omenala. Taboos and crimes among Igbo communities that are against the standard of Ala are called nsọ Ala. All ground is considered holy land as it is Ala herself. With human fertility, Ala is credited for the productivity of the land. Ala's messenger and living agent on earth is the python (Igbo: éké), which is especially revered in many Igbo communities. In art, Ala is often represented as a regal figure seated on a throne, surrounded by her family. In the past, such figures took the form of life-size mud sculptures in special festive shrines dedicated to the deity and known as mbari.

It is said that if a person commits a taboo in a community, that they have also desecrated or insulted Ala as the abomination (called ajo njo or Aru Ala, Alu Ani) was committed on her earth. Ala is also responsible for many aspects of Igbo society and guardianship of women and children in general. She is often depicted with a small child in her arms and her symbol is the crescent moon. It is believed that the souls of the dead reside in her sacred womb. All in the community have to respect Ala as everybody lives on ala, the Earth. It was sometimes believed that Ala could swallow people up into the underground.

Ala is still worshiped by the Igbo of Nigeria and is annually paid homage to during the Yam festival .

1. Alusi Ala, the Divine mother flanked by her children

2. Alusi Ala, the Divine mother flanked by her children

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4.

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2. Mbari Shrine

3.

4.

Abeg I need jazz for wealth.

MyVILLAGEpeople:
Abeg I need jazz for wealth.

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.

1. Ibudu, Orlu

2. Ancestor Spirit Shrine figures along the wall of the Obu, Asaga Ohafia

3. Chief of the Obu house (Ancestor Spirit Shrine and Meeting Hall), Abiriba

4. Dibia Shrine priest in the Obunkwa, Asaga Ohafia

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.

Guy calm down na. Naso una dey win person to una religion??

MyVILLAGEpeople:


Guy calm down na. Naso una dey win person to una religion??

My Pagan father taught me not to lie and mince words. Even if I want my deed done.

That is the job of those lieing thieving pastors who feed their flock with sweet poison.

I am showing you the beauty of our traditional religion and you are comparing it with jazz?

Such words are what demonzied our forefathers and foremothers religion and tradition.

We have to institutionalise and fine tune our traditional religion as it was done before.

1. Alusi Tutelary and fertility ySpirits — Ishieke, Isu

2. Alusi Tutelary and fertility Spirits — Ishieke, Isu

3. Spirit to protect crops, Orlu

4. Ibudu Arunsi, Ohafia

1. Alusi figures, Ohafia village

2. Arunsi Spirit near an Obu in Abam

3. Sacred tripod drum, Abiriba

4. Sacred Ogbukere drum, Ekpeya Igbo

1. Figure of woman and baby Spirit (Note the
Ikoro sacred drums hanging from the ceiling of
the Obu), Abiriba

2. Figures in a Obu house: Female Spirit with pot on head, male spirit with cutlass and trophy head, Abiriba. The Igbo were formerly headhunters.

3. Male Spirit, Abiriba

4. Female Spirit, Abiriba


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1. Dibia Priest and Osu Shrine Attendant

2. Dancing initiation masks, Boys initiation, Nkporro Igbo

3. Sacred Ogbukere drum, Ekpeya Igbo

4. Dibia Priest divining

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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Rich culture. This is beautiful

PAGAN9JA:
Cc gwafaeziokwu, CAPSLOCKED, Ibuewuoffia, letu, Omaricha002, OruExpress,Gjrich, IduNaOba, jollofmonster, BIXYBABE, obiekunie2,sonmvayina, izuswift, UdechiHD, bunbit23, IgboPikin, Ugwuoke347

Abeg, I Wan make we interact properly.. Wire me dm me your WhatsApp number

Lalasticlala please can you help this get more views?


At topic, from the pictures and the stories behind them, most religions have lots of things in common e.g. goddess of fertility. Though some are well hidden under different narration to make people accept they are not worshipping idol. Lol.

Good topic for discussion pagan9ja