The Yoruba Religion

Many people see others fairly balanced than others. In the Novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, states that their Igbo culture is important to them. Men focus on taking titles to show supremacy and admiration, their culture runs on tradition, respect, and reputation. The novel takes place in a small village called Umuofia, Nigeria in the twentieth century. Therefore, social groups in the novel are represented by their successfulness, power, and credibility towards their role in the Igbo culture.

The rituals that these religions perform are different but are all done to reach closeness or get direction from their god or gods. One of the Yoruba’s religions rituals is divination. A diviner does this ritual and is a priest that must be trained for years. Divination is a process where the future of and individual is revealed. Throughout the other rituals that are preformed in this religion a priest must be there to oversee the ritual. During rituals in the religion of Christianity priest are also

Throughout the reign of the Missionaries, the Igbo religion became lost. Clan members no longer worships their sacred gods and goddesses. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination,” (153; pt.2, ch.17) Okonkwo says in regards to his fellow clansmen converting to Christianity. At first, many members of the clan did not notice the changes around them. They became oblivious to the missionaries and what they had brought with them, “the white men has not only brought a religion, but also a government.” (155; pt.2, ch. 8) The changes brought by the white men, occur slowly and cautiously, until it becomes too late for the clan members to react. Members of

Sub- Saharan Africa is one of the most versatile places in the world. It’s climate is wet during the summer and dry during the winter. It’s home to the tropical Savanna zone and many types of people causing this continent to be very diverse. The main language spoken is Swahili but many also speak Lingala and Zulu. In Sub- Saharan Africa language shows people’s background by separating cultures and colonies.

Yes, I agree, there are different definitions of the word primitive. It’s hard not to see that they meant it in a derogatory way, once you reflect and compare it to the other terms that were being used to describe what is now called, Indigenous Religions. The scholars called it primitive and basic simply because, they were more interested in the religions that were written vice to those that were taught orally. The scholars should have engaged the followers of these religions further. I am sure once they studied them and reviewed their practices; their minds changed about referring to these different religions as primitive. They have been practiced extensively by their members for numerous generations and should be treated with the all due

The Igbo are one of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups. They are mainly found in the area of southeastern Nigeria and have a population of around 20 to 50 million people. It was created when. The Igbo’s religion “Odinani” is a vehicle, used by all of the people who practice it, to help better understand their world called “Uwa” (princeton.edu). Chukwu is the Almighty God of the Igbo religion. The Igbo people think that all things come from Chukwu. They think he controls everything on earth and the wind. He is the supreme deity and most powerful deity, as he encompasses everything in space. He is also the source of all of the other deities since he assigns them all their different tasks. These other spirits and forces exist in other parts of Igbo peoples’ beliefs and folklore (princeton.edu). Added to all of the other Igbo religious spirits and forces, the Igbo also have certain religious ceremonies and traditions, have certain sacred places, and they faced problems just like any other religion

Igbo culture includes the various customs, practices and traditions of the people. It comprises archaic practices as well as new concepts added into the Igbo culture either through evolution or outside influences. These customs and traditions include the Igbo people's visual art, use of language, music and dance forms, as well as their attire, cuisine and language dialects. Because of their various subgroups, the variety of their culture is heightened further.

The Igbo homeland is located in Nigeria, Africa. The Igbo people are considered one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Before British colonial rule, the Igbo were a politically diverse group. The were divided into villages and clans. They had their own religion and culture viewpoints than other culture. Today, the majority of the Igbo people are Christian, although many also retain belief in their traditional religion. The Igbo religion is different now than what is used to be before the missionaries came; the religion is similar to Christianity, they do rituals for the deities of the creator, and it is heavily influenced by Christianity.

During the time of Moses, the Israelites had many types of customs. Some types of customs are shown in Exodus, Genesis, Deuteronomy, Leviticus,and Numbers. The Israelites only believed in one God, which is called monotheism (Ancient Civilizations, p.201 ). The Israelite faith became the religion known as today as Judaism.

In Nigeria there are many group of people with different cultures and traditions. Every group of people has unique life style that makes them different from other group. In specific Igbo people have their own life style. The Igbo people are the largest ethnic group of southeastern Nigeria. They have lived in villages that surrounded by their farms. Igbo people believe in Ancestor. In Africa, ancestor worship is the universal in this continent. They have many different festivals, but the main festivals are called masquerades. In addition, those practices played important role to the structure of the authority.

Medicine, in westernized societies, draws upon scientific formulas and is used to treat illnesses and diseases of the physical health. What is taken for granted, pharmaceutically, in these societies is not so in others. Alternative methods of healing are used in cultures that either do not have access to this type of medicine or choose to treat illnesses on the basis of their spiritual and religious beliefs. Focusing specifically on Yoruba culture and religion, traditional healing practices are an integral part of their society. Quote on their importance of having good physical health. Spiritual health, as well, is an important aspect of Yoruba culture. To westernized cultures, this form of healing can sometimes be perceived as ineffective and insignificant to orthodox medicine (western perception of natural healing will be discussed further in this paper); however, to the people of this religion, healing on the basis of natural elements is a positive and essential process to living a fulfilled life. This paper will be exploring Yoruba traditional healing practices both physically and spiritually. As well, the specific Yoruba deities associated with health and herbal medicine will be discussed.

In the complex land of Nigeria, author Chinua Achebe tells the story of an ethnic group of Igbo people whose pre-colonial religious beliefs were very strong and spiritual. The Igbos religious beliefs greatly had to do with the representation of spirits through physical people of a certain type. These are like their goddesses such as Ani, the earth goddess and Ezeani her priest. Their beliefs and ways of doing things began to change after post-colonization. However, their beliefs before that represent the Igbo people in a unique way, showing interesting things that they felt strongly about. There are interesting views of medicine as well. The Igbo people ultimately consult with and base their actions upon Agbala; the Oracle.

Maybe if I thought about things differently my life would have been better, but sometimes or even most of times things are just what they are – right or wrong. There is an Igbo folklore that I am going to tell you about the tortoise and the birds. Once, there was a feast in the heavens and all the birds were invited, not the tortoise. However, because of the cunning nature of the tortoise, he wanted to go with the birds. But, how was he going to do that? Well, he had to look for a way to fly so he decided to borrow feathers from the birds with the trick that he was going to be their spokesperson. But then, things changed as got they got to heaven. The tortoise told the officials that his name was ‘All-of-you,’ so when all the foods and gifts came, the officials said ‘this is for all of you,’ and the tortoise claimed everything for himself. The birds got so angry they all left him stranded in heaven except for the Parrot. The tortoise sent a message through the Parrot to his family to bring out all the soft things in his house so he could land on them, but the Parrot still enraged told his family otherwise. All the hard things were brought out and the tortoise landed on them, which is the reason why the tortoise has a broken shell today.

This beautifully crafted bowl is from the Yoruba tribe. It was used for the practice of Ifa, or divination. Divination is used today in the modern world, and was used back in the early times of the Yoruba tribe, too. The divination process consists of a skilled spiritual leader or priest throwing 16 palm nuts into a bowl, like the one being presented. They would throw it onto a surface, usually a divination tray or bowl. They would record the markings that the nuts made and would use it to predict one’s future. This prediction would be presented to the person and would help them determine how to prevent their future, if it has a bad

In the story, “Cell One” by Chimamanda Ngozi talked about a family that lived in Enugu, Nigeria. The story was about this boy named, Nnamabia who was a rambunctious individual that stole his mother’s jewelry. Nnamabia also was a hardheaded and suborn kid, when ever he did anything bad his parents would cover his back and give him money in order to repay or repair the damageous. This was based on a realistic event called, “The Nigerian Cult”. The story by Ngozi took place around the mid 1900’s. Knowing this knowledge of the Nigerian Cult helps the reader better analyze the story, understand characters’ behavior and purpose of this story. Without this extra source it would have been difficult to understand this short because, it