CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Human beings are intellectual creatures who have always asked about the origin, sustenance and existence of the universe. These questions about the mysteries of life led to the emergence of religion, which is why the human person is described as homo religiosus. Unlike Judaism, Christianity and Islam, whose origins are known, African Traditional Religion has no single identifiable founder. Christianity, for instance, is traced to Christ, and the Acts of the Apostles, the second book attributed to Luke, names Antioch as the place where the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). Islam was founded by Muhammad, and Judaism, or Yahwehism, is traditionally associated with Moses. Africans, by contrast, have no recorded founder or initiator of their religion. African religion is as old as the continent itself, and this antiquity helps to explain why its practices differ so widely across the continent. The variations are so great that practices differ from one small, self-contained society to the next, and Igbo society and its sub-regions, such as the Agbaja people of Enugu State, are no exception.

Scholars have long observed that in West African thought the Supreme God is regarded as benevolent but remote from human affairs, so that most devotion is directed to lesser spirits, and that, because the religion was not written down, much of its wisdom was lost with its custodians. Recent work, however, shows a more nuanced picture. Havelka (2024) explains that in Igbo Odinala religion Chukwu is the highest being and the source of the other deities, to whom tasks are assigned, while Ojimba (2022) shows that the Igbo recognize powerful deities with authority in their own spheres without equating them with the Supreme God. Anizoba, Onyeume and Ezeanya (2021) report that in Akpo, an Igbo community in Anambra State, traditional worshippers also approach God directly through a special sacrificial ritual, which qualifies the idea of a wholly remote Supreme Being. In general, the African concept of the divine or transcendent revolves around belief in the Supreme Being, belief in divinities, belief in spirits, belief in ancestors, and the practice of magic and medicine. This pattern helps us to understand the belief systems of other African societies, whatever their languages and cultures, including the Igbo nation and the sub-regions within the Igbo world, such as the Agbaja people.

The Igbo universe is often described as having a region of spirits between the Supreme Being and human beings. One familiar model places the human person at the centre of a triangle. God, the Supreme Being, is at the apex, divinities and spiritual forces occupy the two sides, and the ancestors form the base. Ngangah (2023) offers a complementary reading, describing the Igbo belief system, Odinani, as a worldview built on four core elements, namely Okike (creation), alusi (deities), mmuo (spirits) and Uwa (the visible world). These accounts describe how the human person relates to the spiritual world.

Igbo religion contains a number of symbols and beliefs. These include Chi, the personal spiritual reality, and belief in the Supreme Being (Chukwu or Chineke), together with gods (arusi or agbara) such as Anyanwu, the sun god, Ala, the earth goddess, Agwu, the god of medicine and healing, Ahiajioku, the god of yam, and Ikenga, the god of achievement and success. Belief in ancestors (ndi ichie, or ndebunze) is also part of this system. The Igbo view of the world also has religious implications. The celestial and semi-celestial sphere, comprising the sky (igwe), the stars (kpakpando) and the sun (anyanwu), is regarded as the abode of the Supreme God, Chineke, while the earth is addressed as the mother of fertility and the source of ritual, and land is seen as a free gift from Chineke, the creator of humankind. Spiritual significance is also given to trees such as the ofo and ogbu, to mountains and rivers, to animal spirits, such as the spirit of the fowl (mmuo okuko) and the spirits of wild animals (mmuo anu ofia), and to the spirit of the family or house (mmuo uno). Individual spirits are identified with the ancestors (nna anyi fa). Another classification lists belief in the Supreme God, belief in minor deities, namely the sun, the sky or thunder deity (Igwe or Amadioha) and the earth goddess Ala, belief in ancestral veneration, and belief in evil spirits and forces.

A further classification ranks Igbo spiritual beings by their vital rank. First is the Supreme Being (Chukwu or Chineke), the creator. Second are the deities (mmuo), including Anyanwu, lord of life and light, Ala, the earth goddess, mother of life and queen of morality, Amadioha, God's orderly agent of instant justice, Mmuo-mmiri, the divinely appointed temptress, Ahiajioku, lord of agriculture, and Agwu-nsi, lord of divination and healing. Third are the spirit forces (arusi or alusi), fourth are the ancestors (ndi ichie), and fifth is medicine (ogwu).

Having seen these Igbo belief patterns, this work examines how the traditional Agbaja people, as part of the Igbo, have revered some or all of these spiritual beings in the form of worship, from the past to the present. The research is concerned with the name given to the reverence that the Igbo, and the Agbaja in particular, pay to supernatural beings, a practice that goes back to time immemorial. Traditionalists are often misunderstood as holding beliefs that are barbaric, devilish and heathen and of no value, and are accused of bowing down to man-made images and objects. This background creates a need to address that misunderstanding. It also matters because worship has proved durable. Ani and Ezeonwuka (2018), writing on Ngwo clan in the Agbaja area of the old Udi Division, report that in the early missionary period many adherents of Christianity kept a syncretic mix of Christian and traditional practices, which in effect strengthened African Traditional Religion in the clan.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Worship is a very common term in religious studies and theology, and every religion has its own systems of worship. The foreign religions in Nigeria, Christianity and Islam, have their own forms of worship and their own terminology. In Christianity these include services, mass, fellowship, litany, the stations of the cross and crusades, and Muslims have the rak'ah and other formally organized liturgy.

African Traditional Religion lacks an organized form of worship comparable to that of Christianity or Islam. This work therefore observes that the traditional religion in general, and that of the Agbaja people in particular, shares this problem. Worship in Africa is so varied that the way one people worship may be entirely different from the way another does. In Igboland, some communities worship in a specific place for a defined purpose, while elsewhere the same purpose is served by worship in several places. Discussing worship in the Igbo worldview therefore invites many interpretations, because studies of African religions have produced a variety of viewpoints. Anizoba et al. (2021) make a similar point about Akpo, noting that worship in that community's traditional religion had not been fully explored and that its objects of worship had not been fully discussed. The same is true of the religious system of the Agbaja people, which has not received the attention it deserves. This research therefore seeks to unravel the intricacies of Agbaja worship in comparison with the other religions that coexist with it.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The study aims to bring to the surface the traditional worship system of the Agbaja people, from ancient times to the present. In doing so, it seeks to improve understanding of their beliefs, to touch on some aspects of Igbo and Agbaja traditional religion, and to explain the relevance and importance of the traditional worship system for knowledge of the divine. It also attempts to interpret prayer and worship in the Agbaja context, and the language used for them, in relation to other Igbo dialects. These and related matters form the basis of discussion in this thesis.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The study will benefit traditional worshippers by helping them prepare a sound background for prospective worshippers. It provides a library from which future worshippers can obtain information on the system of worship practised by their ancestors and predecessors. Traditional worshippers who absorb its contents will be able to appreciate their religious faith better, and the study can also guide them in identifying areas of their practice that call for amendment. Nnoruga (2025) shows that sacrifice in Igbo traditional religion serves as a means of worship and as a framework for moral, cultural, social and ecological guidance, which is the kind of value that such documentation can make available.

The study will also benefit Christians, because it is informative and can guide them in devising strategies for evangelizing the traditional settings of Agbaja and the surrounding areas. Okeke, Ibenwa and Okeke (2017) document the long history of conflict between traditional religion and Christianity in Eastern Nigeria, and Anizoba and Aande (2021) find that illness, disease, insecurity and fear are among the principal causes of religious syncretism among Igbo Christians. A clearer understanding of Agbaja worship can help Christian workers approach these realities with greater insight.

Secondly, the study will benefit young people, who can use it to choose which religion to practise. It reveals some of the religious and cultural background of Agbaja and the wider Igbo society, which gives them knowledge they need for academic work in the humanities and in other cultural studies, from secondary to tertiary level, among other uses.

In the course of studying it, most religious crises and misunderstandings in society should be controlled or reduced, because the study will promote mutual understanding and cooperation among religious groups and sects.

The research also puts questions to the conscience of those who work to ensure that traditional religion is trampled upon, especially in Agbaja. Some groups go to great lengths to demolish traditional worship centres, pressure parents, relatives and friends to abandon the worship, and preach against it from door to door. The study is also designed to highlight traditional worship as the basis of Agbaja religion.

The findings of this research will supply future researchers with adequate information for comparing the worship systems of the various religious systems and beliefs of the world. The study will also explore the richness of Agbaja traditional worship, which some people have previously condemned as heathen, barbaric, pagan and foolish.

Agbaja traditional religion is sustained by traditional worship, which gives stability to traditional Agbaja values in the social, political, economic and religious life of the people. The study will therefore add to the existing literature on African Traditional Religion and on the worship systems that serve the religious and ritual life of the Agbaja people.

1.5 Scope of the Study

The researcher concentrates on the Agbaja people of Enugu West in Enugu State, with regard to the major or fundamental features of their traditional worship systems. The Agbaja include the Ezeagu and Udi Local Government Areas of present-day Enugu State. Among other things, they share the Wa Wa identity. Wa Wa is ordinarily an expression meaning "no", but it has become a term of identity. It refers not only to a sub-linguistic group but has also, at times, become associated with inferiority, ignorance, poverty and illiteracy, and the study notes this stigma as part of the context in which Agbaja religion is judged.

1.6 Research Methodology

The research uses a wide range of methods. The researcher consulted textbooks, journals, the Bible and dictionaries, and also drew on his own experience of studying religion over the years. Knowledgeable informants were consulted, and field work was undertaken so that the researcher could observe things for himself. The internet was also useful. Descriptive and comparative analytical approaches were used in the analysis. For example, the work describes the nature and position of some other religions and compares them with African Traditional Religion, and it also describes and compares the views of various cultures and scholars or authorities.

1.7 Definition of Related Terms

The following terms are defined for the purposes of this work.

Religion.* In its simplest sense, religion is belief in the existence of a god or gods. It is also widely observed that religion resists any single definition. Many definitions have been proposed, some of them arbitrary and others subjective, and none has been accepted as the correct one. Some scholars define religion subjectively, as the consciousness of dependence on a transcendent being, which finds expression in worship. Others define it objectively, as a complex of truths, laws and rites by which a person is subordinated to the transcendent being. Another view sees religion as belief in a supernatural ruling power that has given humans a spiritual nature, which continues to exist after the death of the body. Because of its elusive nature, religion has been defined in many ways, and this diversity has generated a large literature within the discipline of religious studies.

African Traditional Religion.* African Traditional Religion is the indigenous religion of Africans. It is handed down from one generation to the next by the forebears of the present generation, and it is not a fossil, a thing of the past, but a religion that Africans today have made their own by living and practising it. It has no written scriptures, yet it is written everywhere for those who care to read it, in myths and folktales, songs and dances, liturgies and shrines, and proverbs and pithy sayings. Its historical founder is neither known nor worshipped, it has no zeal for recruiting members, and yet it continues to fascinate Africans young and old. It is a long-standing religion and is not foreign to the people who practise it. Recent work supports this view of its continuing vitality. Havelka (2024) shows that Odinala continues to shape Igbo identity even among Catholic Christians.

Igbo Traditional Religion.* Igbo Traditional Religion may be defined as the living, institutionalized religious beliefs and practices that are rooted in the past religious culture of the Igbo. It was transmitted to present open and hidden adherents by successive generations of forebears, mainly through oral tradition, namely myths and folktales, songs and dances, liturgies, rituals, proverbs, pithy sayings and names. It was also transmitted through sacred institutions such as sacred specialists and persons, initiation rites, festivals, sacred spaces and objects, and religious works of art. It is slowly but constantly updated by each generation in the light of new religious experiences, through a dialectical process of continuity and discontinuity. It revolves around the beliefs, customs, rites and rituals handed down from the past to the present, which the present is expected to hand on to future generations. In further explanation, it was the primal, native religious experience of the peoples of Nigeria before Christianity and Islam arrived. It has no founder and was the collective heritage of the people from their ancestors. The religious beliefs and practices have existed from time immemorial and are still adhered to by many Africans today.

In all these views, scholars agree on the holistic nature and outlook of African Traditional Religion, and it should be accepted generally as such, within its own context.

Worship. Worship is the aspect of religion that many authorities see as an act of paying reverence to the supernatural or to other beings, living or non-living. It involves supplication, humility, requests and special body positions. A common dictionary definition describes it as the practice of showing respect for God or a god, for example by praying or singing with others at a service, but this fails to include rites, initiations, rituals and private worship adequately. A Christian definition ascribes supreme worth to God alone and, by using the capital letters in "God" and "He", directs worship to the Supreme God only. In African, and specifically Igbo, Traditional Religion, worship is directed both to the Supreme Being and to deities. Worship, in this study, covers every religious activity directed to the Deity or deities in humility, reverence and submission to the supernatural or spiritual will. Recent field research supports a broad reading of this kind. Anizoba et al. (2021) report that traditional worship in Akpo comprises sacrifice and offerings, the pouring of libation and a traditional sermon, all aimed at establishing coexistence between the Supreme Being and human beings, and Nnoruga (2025) describes sacrifice (aja or ichu aja*) as a means of worship in Igbo traditional religion.

Several approaches to worship may be distinguished. One holds that there is a sharply defined spiritual line of demarcation that cannot be crossed without due and adequate precautions, and that there is an irresistible urge in humans to have contact with the supernatural world, because humans depend on it. On this view worship is an imperative urge in humans. It is not inborn, but it is an irresistible urge to contact the supernatural world, and worship was therefore introduced by humans in the dateless past in an attempt to draw that spiritual line of demarcation. A similar position holds that worship among West African peoples is essentially ritualistic and liturgical, that its liturgy and rituals follow set, fixed and traditional patterns, and that these patterns are carefully preserved and followed systematically because they are believed to be efficacious. Such a view means that the forebears instituted worship with precautions and that younger generations follow it.

Other definitions describe worship as the act of showing special or great reverence, honour or respect to God, a god or nature. It is also defined as a person's response to the appearance of the Holy, the sacred transcendent power of being, as a means of renewing contact between people and God or between people and the invisible world, and as the spontaneous expression of a person's experience of the divine, regarded as the ultimate reality. According to these writers, worship entails recognition of a person's dependence on God, god(s) or nature. Some churches, for their part, understand worship as the gathering of the faithful around word and sacrament, and so see it as a sectional and congregational affair.

In the Igbo religious setting, worship in the pure religious sense is a response of respect and honour to spirit beings. The courtesy and respect that the Igbo accord to a fellow human being cannot be called worship in this sense. Three key words translate the term worship in Igbo religious concept, namely ofufe, igo mmuo and nsekpulu. Worship in the Igbo concept does not end with these three terms, because other names for religious activities may also be treated as worship terms. For example, ikpo isi ala also translates the term worship.

References

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Anizoba, E. C., & Aande. (2021). A critical evaluation of religious syncretism among the Igbo Christians of Nigeria. Acta Theologica, 41(2), 10–22. https://doi.org/10.18820/23099089/actat.v41i2.2

Anizoba, E. C., Onyeume, A. O., & Ezeanya, O. C. P. (2021). Critical examination of traditional worship systems among Igbo people of Nigeria: Study of Akpo community. TRAMES, 25(1), 83–99. https://doi.org/10.3176/tr.2021.1.06

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