Today I want to talk about REINCARNATION in Igbo society and belief system.
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Societies all over the world believe in reincarnation, from the Hindus, Budist, Mayas, Zulus to the least human society or religion on earth, as a Catholic family, we believe in reincarnation. It is in every religion and in the mystic studies as well. Because understanding reincarnation can go a long way in explaining some things about our existence.
REINCARNATION can explain some of life's mysteries, it is confirmation that life does not end at death.
In Igbo land when a child is born, the parents normally goes to Afa (divination), to inquire about the life of the child, while some Children will mistakenly mentioned the name of the person they reincarnate to, when something strange happened to the child.
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As my little sister did, when she was seriously ill and all medication had no effect on her illness, until she mentioned the name of our great grandmother, whom even my mother did not know. And after that, we started calling her "Nne Emmanuel" that's how she recover from the sickness and she automatically became so healthy and happy starting from that day. Most people visiting 'Afa' ( fortune teller or sought sayer) are doing so to know who among his ancestors reincarnated in his family, this is usually done before the 8th day after child birth. Children are given names on the 8th day from the date of their birth in Igbo land and some may take long in finding the exact ancestor that reincarnated into their family.
There had been vivid cases of reincarnation in igbo land, Especially after the civil war, where many people do not know the where about of their loved ones who went to the war. Because the tradition in Igbo land is that when a person is presumed lost, the family should wait for 7 years before doing the burial ceremony of the lost person.
Many had reincarnated with different degrees of injuries, some children were born with open bullet wounds which miraculously heals without treatment after births. Some were born with injuries in the place that caused the death of the person. These were pure evidence of reincarnation, which nobody can dispute. Because when these families sort to know the reasons for these strange happening, they were normally told that their relatives who died on the war front, has reincarnated so that they can do the burial ceremonies. Then the family will welcome the reincarnated spirit, through some ceremonies. Stories abound of elderly people who told their children or grand children, that when they die they will reincarnate as one of their children. Some children has demonstrated vivid examples of their past lives, through telling stories that happened in the lives of those who are their reincarnations, like case of my younger sister who mentioned the name of my great grandmother who I don't even know her name.
There are children who had suffered various degrees of misfortunes, because their parents thought it is not worth it to find out about this or simply put, they don't believe in reincarnations. Onye ụwa, ịnọ ụwa is a term common used to describe reincarnations. Reincarnations is part of igbo belief, it is believed that those who died prematurely. Or those who are not perfect to work with Ndị ichie/chie, always comes back to earth. And they choose the family at which they can reincarnate, they decides how and when to reincarnate.
There are stories of people who died as results of juju, domestic violence, woman who died as a result of wickedness from a man or a man who died as results of woman.. These people vowed that in their next life, they will never die of these circumstances. And when they are reincarnated, these things are evident in their lives.
So the belief in life after death is rooted in igbo culture, through this reincarnations and Ndị Ichie /chie which is the belief that the spirit of our ancestors. Who has no need to reincarnate, is working in the spiritual world guiding and protecting us from evil and guiding us to the right path. This is why we pour libation, offer them kola nuts which is of great importance to the igbo culture, we drop foods to them before we eat. This is also the reason burials rites and ceremonies are important to the Igbo, because it is the right of passage of the deceased. Because if burial rites of deceased is not performed, it is believed that the person has not right of passage to the spiritual world. That his spirit is wandering about in the universe, until such a time it will be done.
But lately in Igbo communities, reincarnation is viewed with disdain and reproach. Because the foreign religion that took over Ndị Igbo started demonising reincarnation, as such 85% of today's ndị Igbo do not know the person that reincarnated in them, For me am my father's father, that's why my father called me Nnaya, and my mother called me Nnadiya likewise to my father's brother and his wife they are all regard me as same. My grandfather while alive regard me as his in-law. Many who knows my grandfather don't ask where I come from, whenever they met me. Because I inherited everything from him,both in his skin fairness and colour of his hair.
But,The religion made it taboo to do these things now and one do not need to be a seer to see the effects in the overall society. The chaos of our present societies, can be traced not only to the neglect of reincarnation but to various aged traditions that today's world believes are evils.
The church fought against reincarnation, just because they want to weaken the spiritual base of ndị Igbo. Because even the bible talks about REINCARNATION, this was why many people believed that Joh the baptist was the reincarnation of Elijah. Through out the bible there are numerous stories of reincarnation, but because my Christian brothers and sisters do not even understand or read the bible. Their interpretation of Bible is according to what the pastor says, not what is actually written in the bible. They were manipulated to abondoned the practice of finding out who reincarnated who. Because the pastors do not have the capacity to find out who, and also allowing this practice is admitting that our ancestors were right. So the church decided to abolish this practice, today in Igbo land, if you talk about REINCARNATION the só called Christians will see you as a pagan.
The major reason the church fought against reincarnation, is not because it is not in the bible, but because it will confer some kind of legitimacy to our ancestors who they denominated as pagan and worshippers of devil.
But nevertheless, it is important to note that 90% of successful igbo men or women, at one point in there lives. Had to find out who reincarnated them and do some rituals to appease them and reunite with them. I dare say that this is one of the ways to success as an igbo person, but because we are living in a Christian society. Where admittance of this is associated with idolatry, many people keeps it secret. It is only when you are too close to some people that they will tell you what to do, because knowing who reincarnated in you will help you understand the course your life will take. This has led many young people to engage in money rituals and other get rich quickly, with the resultant consequences. Because they believe that, to make money or to be successful they should engage in this demonic acts, simply put these young people are misguided. Because they were not told the truth rather, they were indoctrinated that all their woes are caused by devil. So they focus their attention on fighting the devil they do not know, and the pastors in helping them to fight this devil, is making a lot of money. This is the simple reason churches are prospering in Africa, because people a made to believe that their problems are caused by devil. In Western world, people do not believe that devil is the cause of their problems. Because in Africa people are not able to differentiate between failure of government and the Devil. They spent a lot of time praying to God to solve problems that will be solved by government.
The same goes to their spiritual lives, they spend their life praying and fighting the devil. For the problems caused by their neglect of their traditions, they pray until the last day of their lives and still die in penury.
REINCARNATION is part of universal law of continuous existence, life is infinite. At that we only changes forms, it does not end there. The igbos understood this as it is evident in their cultures of reincarnation and Ndị Ichie. When people say that our ancestors were pagan or that they worship idols, I just sit down and laugh. Because most of the people saying this when you ask them to give reasons, usually they point to shrines scattered all over igbo land as evidence of idolatry. Another day we will talk about shrines maybe we will learn of or two things, from that.
Life is such a wonderful thing that everybody sees it from their own perspectives and believe that they are right. But the most annoying sect of these people are those religion nothingness, who are living under illusions of knowledge. They condenam, judge or even fight anymore who does not agree with their views.
The old wise people said, true knowledge is to admit that you know nothing, learning from everything, everyone around is the demonstration of wisdom.
Source of article is from the link below.
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