Anayo Uche
Before the coming of Christianity, the Igbo people of southern Nigeria has odinala which comprises the traditional religious and cultural beliefs of the people. The Igbo people in their traditional religious practice believes in a supreme God (Chukwu or Chineke ) as the source all things .
Although, in Igbo traditional religion there are a Parthenon of lesser gods (spirits) which are Ala, Amadioha, Ikenga and Ekwensu, Agbara or Arusi which operates below the high God Chineke or Chukwu.
These spirits represent natural forces; agbara as a divine force manifests as separate Arusi in the Igbo pantheon. The Arusi are venerated in community shrines around roadsides and forests while smaller shrines are located in the household for ancestral veneration.
And different kind of carved effigies are used as representatives of the Arusi or Agbara in communities or as family deities.
However, with the coming of Christian missionaries in the 20th century, the adherents of the Igbo traditional religious worship drastically reduced as Christian missionaries had demonized the practice as Juju worship.
Also, with the new wave of Pentecostalism in the Eastern states those carved effigies that had come to represent the various Agbara or Arusi in communities or family deities are usually the first ” victims “of the Pentecostal pastors usually contracted by those communities or families” for called liberation ” prayers or crusades as the case maybe.
But curiously, Reverend Father Paul Obayi popularly called “Okunerere (Burning fire), and Parish Priest of St. Theresa’s Catholic Cathedral in the university town of Nsukka, in Enugu state in Eastern Nigeria has established a museum where these ” rescued ” Deities are now displayed for visitors.
The museum, a three room located inside St. Theresa’s Catholic Cathedral has hundreds of totems, masks, carvings of Igbo Deities.
Reverend Obayi disclosed that he has been on the mission to savings those helpless Igbo ” Deities” from bonfires in last 21 years.
” I started the collection of these cultural artefacts some 21 years ago across the Eastern states and to prevent them been burnt. For me these masks, totems and other carvings of Igbo Deities should be preserved as cultural artefacts and I had to establish a museum here at the parish, the St. Theresa’s Catholic Cathedral here in Nsukka. Those who come to our museum pay just a token to have a look what some of the magnificent artefacts which in the dim past had symbolized Igbo Deities which I have restored to their original state “.
Inquiring from the Cleric if his current activity does not infringe on his Catholic faith?
“I’ve already destroyed the spirits,” he said at his museum. What you have is just an empty shell. There is nothing inside.”
He added, those artefacts you find in our museum have been returned to their original state by the carver before it was religionised and so they are now empty. What I have done and still doing is to ensure that some of these former Deities are preserved as cultural artefacts for posterity just like it is done all over the world. So, people can come to our museum and pay a token to view these totems, masks and carvings that used to represents the various Igbo Deities in the dim past and which are no longer worshipped today. We need to preserve them “.
Photo Credit: Mazi Nwonwu.
