#chukwu

Kingdom of Nri

The Nri people of Igbo land have a creation myth which is one of the many creation myths that exist in various parts of Igbo land. The Nri and Aguleri people are in the territory of the Umueri clan who trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri.Eri's origins are unclear, though he has been described as a "sky being" sent by Chukwu (God). He has been characterized as having first given societal order to the people of Anambra. The historian Elizabeth Allo Isichei says "Nri and Aguleri and part of the Umueri clan, [are] a cluster of Igbo village groups which traces its origins to a sky being called Eri."

Archaeological evidence suggests that Nri influence in Igboland may go back as far as the 9th century, and royal burials at the Igbo-Ukwu sites have been unearthed dating to at least the 10th century. Eri, the god-like founder of Nri, is believed to have settled the region around 948 with other related Igbo cultures following after in the 13th century. The first Eze Nri (King of Nri) Ìfikuánim followed directly after him. According to Igbo oral tradition, his reign started in 1043. At least one historian puts Ìfikuánim's reign much later, around 1225 AD:

Each king traces his origin back to the founding ancestor, Eri. Each king is a ritual reproduction of Eri. The initiation rite of a new king shows that the ritual process of becoming Eze Nri (Nri priest-king) follows closely the path traced by the hero in establishing the Nri kingdom.

An Igbo man with facial scarifications, known as ichi, early 20th century

The Kingdom of Nri was a religio-polity, a sort of theocratic state, that developed in the central heartland of the Igbo region. The Nri had seven types of taboos which included human (such as the birth of twins), animal (such as killing or eating of pythons), object, temporal, behavioral, speech and place taboos. The rules regarding these taboos were used to educate and govern Nri's subjects. This meant that, while certain Igbo may have lived under different formal administration, all followers of the Igbo religion had to abide by the rules of the faith and obey its representative on earth, the Eze Nri

In Igbo Spirituality And Cosmology, NDI EGEDE are the ancestors of the day or a visiting spirit. These spiritual forces originated from planet Jupiter (Be Ngwu). NDI NNA MU NDI USHI EGEDE. The Ancients Said That Mankind Learnt From The Shining Ones. These Shining Ones That The Ancients Spoke About Were Well Manifested In SIRIUS UGO ART. In The Beginning Of Time, The First People On Earth (NDI MBU) Recognized The Shining Ones As NDI EGEDE (Spirits Ascending To Earth). These Spirits Thought Humans Everything That They Know About Alchemy. These Spirits Were The Ones That Brought Daylight To Earth. The Sumerians Called Them Offsprings Of ANU (ENU), Which Is UMU EZE ENU, UMU NGWU EZE ENU, UMU EGBE IGWE, UMU AMADIOHA ! These Spirits Were The Ones That Brought Technology To Earth. Igbo Ancestors Manifested That The African MAN Originated From Jupiter (BE NGWU). The Biggest Planet In The Galaxy. This Is Why The Igbo Ancestors Also Said That Ọ SỌ CHỤWA NWOKE, Ọ GBAKWULU OSISI NGWU. That Tree Was Planted By NDI EGEDE, It Represents The Divine Masculine Energy Of The African Man, Thus When The African Man Is Troubled, He Runs To The Tree Of NGWU To Align His Energy, Because An African Man Is A Representation Of The Son Of NGWU, Which Is IKENGA. It Is The Principles Of NDI EGEDE That The Oyibo Solar Wizards Stole And Using To Keep The World In Perpetual Bondage, And Brainwashed NDI MBU To Learn From Their Artificial Intelligence That Goes Against Natural Laws. And NDI MBU Will Never Be FREE To Explore The Universe Of Light, Until They Abandon The Corrupted Program From The Oyibo Solar Wizards, And Go Back To All The Original Principles That NDI EGEDE Laid Out In Various African Methodologies. We are not originally from this planet. What made us NDI MBU was because we came here first. And some of us emerged out from the earth (NDI AGBAJA to be specific). We originated from different places in the milky way (BE NNE-ATU / BE NNE-EFI). Some of us came from a universe that was destroy, which came from another universe that was destroyed as well. This current universe that we live is in Orion's Arm (AKA IKENGA). How we ended up here was through ODACHI NNE EKE In Sirius-B (OGBOLODO), which is where She gave birth to UWA through ODACHI KA ODACHI, which is also where this current planet came from. Even though we shattered all over the COSMOS, the journey of us getting here is called EGEDE (Sound Frequency) in IGBO. So when I say EGEDE, I am refering to the smoothness of our journey here. NDI EGEDE brought civilization to the world.. Some of us came from Jupiter (BE NGWU), some of us came from Mars (BE AGALINABO), some of us came from Sirius A (BE OSE OTURE), some of us came from Venus (BE UTO ANI), while some of us came from the moon (BE OMA). However, this current flesh that we have originated from earth, because before we landed here, we were as bright as the stars (KPAKPA NDU), but when we landed here, ANYI MELU IGBO, we took on the texture of the colors of the earth. We took on the color texture of the Earth (AJA ANA), because the texture of the earth is also the texture of KOMOSU that shattered all over the universe as CARBON (OGODO KOMOSU). The first texture we took on was the texture of the grass. We were green in color. This is why many Igbo masquerades are made out of grass.. We were green, before we became black or brown, which is the texture of Carbon or OGODO KOMOSU. So remember this, always: When we landed here, after watching the earth form, ANYI MELU IGBO. We did something called IGBO. And this is why our first texture was green. IGBO Is Green in color. A NA EME IGBO EME. Even though that we created Oyibo people here, If an Oyibo community comes together, MEE IGBO, and start speaking the language of the Cosmos, which is Afa, you can never say that they are not IGBO. So I wrote all these to let the original Igbo people know that NA A N'EME IGBO EME. You can do Igbo anywhere on Earth. Anyone Calling You A Jew Or A Hebrew Is Limiting The Knowledge Of Yourself.

IGBOS RELIGION AND EXPRESSIVE CULTURE

BELIEFS

Although many Igbo people are now Christians, traditional Igbo religious practices still abound. The traditional Igbo religion includes an uncontested general reverence for Ala or Ana, the earth Arushi, and beliefs and rituals related to numerous other male and female deities, spirits, and ancestors, who protect their living descendants.

Revelation of the will of certain deities is sought through oracles and divination. The claim that the Igbo acknowledge a creator God or Supreme Being, Chukwu or Chineka, is, however, contested. Some see it as historical within the context of centralized political formations, borrowings from Islam and Christianity, and the invention of sky (Igwe) Arushi. The primordial earth goddess and other deified spirits have shrines and temples of worship and affect the living in very real and direct ways, but there are none dedicated to Chukwu. Ala encapsulates both politics and religion in Igbo society by fusing together space, custom, and ethics ( omenala); some refer to Ala as the constitutional deity of the Igbo.

The Igbo concept of personhood and the dialectic between individual choice/freedom and destiny or fate is embodied in the notion of chi, variously interpreted as spirit double, guardian angel, personal Arushi, personality soul, or divine nature. Igbo have varied accounts of myths of origin because there are many gods and goddesses. According to one Igbo worldview, Chukwu created the visible universe, uwa. The universe is divided into two levels: the natural level, uwa, or human world, and the spiritual level of spirits, which include Anyanwu, the sun; Igwe, the sky; Andala (or Ana), the earth; women's water spirits/goddesses, and forest spirits. Through taboos, the Igbo forge a mediatory category of relations with nature and certain animals such as pythons, crocodiles, tigers, tortoises, and fish.

177Acculturation and Culture Contact

771General Character of Religion

776Spirits and Gods

787Revelation and Divination

795Religious Denominations

RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS

There are two different kinds of priests: the hereditary lineage priests and priests who are chosen by particular deities for their service. Diviners and priests—those empowered with ofo, the symbol of authority, truth, and justice—interpret the wishes of the spirits, who bless and favor devotees as well as punish social offenders and those who unwittingly infringe their privileges, and placate the spirits with ceremonial sacrifices.

791Magicians and Diviners

793Priesthood

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

The living, the dead, and the unborn form part of a continuum. Enshrined ancestors are those who lived their lives well and died in a socially acceptable manner (i.e., were given the proper burial rites). These ancestors live in one of the worlds of the dead that mirrors the world of the living. The living pay tribute to their ancestors by honoring them through sacrifices.

The story of an Igbo hustler:

Joseph Chukwuka Ulasi, hailed from Nnewi in Anambra state. Born in 1890 and died 1944.

He was nicknamed "O ji ụkwụ eje Aba" because of his unflinching hustling spirit as a young Igbo boy determined to make it in life and of which he eventually did by becoming the most successful transporter from South East.

He regularly traveled on foot from Nnewi to Aba in mid-1920's in search of fortune (O ji ụkwụ eje Aba). At Aba he traded in textiles and produce, slowly and painstakingly building a solid asset base by setting up roadside stalls along the popular Aba Road. He would recruit apprentices from Nnewi at one stage, up to sixty. By 1933, he had built up a fleet of six lorries, which he deployed into a road haulage business which earned him a mail delivery contract for the Eastern Provinces. He made fortune from the Mail delivery contract which helped him to up his fleet of lorries from 6 to 14 as at 1935.

The name of his Transport Company is J.C Ulasi Motors, a household name in the 1930s. He became a Warrant Chief at Aba and died in June 1944. His kinsman Louis Odumegwu-Ojukwu was to succeed him as the King of the road haulage business by the formation of his legendary Ojukwu Transport Company in 1937. Chief. J.C Ulasi tremendous success as a transporter also inspired his cousin, Late. Chief Ejikeme Ilodibe of "Ekene Dili Chukwu" to emerge as a transport magnate. JC Ulasi died a wealthy Igbo transporter, he was the first Nigerian to venture in to Transport business and it played out well for him. Many others toed his path.

Eri is said to be the original legendary cultural head of the Umu-eri groups of the Igbo people. Eri established a community in the middle of Anambra river valley (at Eri-aka) in Aguleri where he married two wives. The first wife, Nneamakụ, bore him five children. The first was Agulu, the founder of Aguleri (The ancestral head of Eri Kingdom clans) (the Ezeora dynasty that has produced 34 kings till date in Enugwu Aguleri), the second was Menri, the founder of Umunri / Kingdom of Nri, followed by Onugu, the founder of Igbariam and Ogbodulu, the founder of Amanuke. The fifth one was a daughter called Iguedo, who is said to have borne the founders of Nteje, and Awkuzu, Ogbunike, Umuleri, Nando and Ogboli in Onitsha. As one of the children of Eri, Menri migrated from Aguleri, which was and still is, the ancestral temple of the entire Umu-Eri (Umu-Eri and Umu-Nri). His second wife Oboli begot Ọnọja, the only son who founded the Igala Kingdom in Kogi State.

Eri is the founder of the Umueri and Umunri clans, both of whom were some of the most influential and powerful dynasties of priests and diviners in Igboland and adjacent areas such as the Bini and Igala/Idoma areas

When Eri was sent by Chukwu from the sky to the earth, he sat on an ant-hill because he saw watery marshy earth. When Eri complained to Chukwu, Chukwu sent an Awka blacksmith with his fiery bellows and charcoal to dry the earth. After the assignment, the Awka blacksmith was given ọfọ as a mark of authority for his smithing profession. While Eri lived, Chukwu fed him and his people with azu-igwe. But this special food ceased after the death of Eri. Nri, one of his sons, complained to Chukwu for food. Chukwu ordered Nri to sacrifice his first son and daughter and bury them in separate graves. Nri complied with it. Later after three Igbo-weeks (12 days) yam grew from the grave of the son and coco yam from that of the daughter. When Nri and his people ate these, they slept for the first time; later still Nri killed a male and a female slave burying them separately. Again, after Izu Ato, an oil palm grew from the grave of the male slave, and a bread fruit tree (ukwa) from that of the female-slave. With this new food supply, Nri and his people ate and prospered. Chukwu asked him to distribute the new food items to all people but Nri refused because he bought them at the cost of sacrificing his own children and slaves. Nri and Chukwu made an agreement. According to M. D. W. Jeffreys (1956:123), a tradition has it that:

"As a reward for distributing food to the other towns, Nri would have the right of cleansing every town of an abomination (nso) or breach, and of tying the Ngulu (ankle cords) when a man takes the title of ozo. Also he and his successor’s would have the privilege of making the Oguji, or yam medicine, each year for ensuring a plentiful supply of yams in all surrounding towns, or in all towns that subjected themselves to the Eze Nri. For this medicine all the surrounding towns would come in and pay tribute and Umunmdri people then could travel unarmed through the world and no one would attack or harm them" 

In May 1803 a shipload of captive West Africans, upon surviving the middle passage, were landed by U.S.-paid captors in Savannah by slave ship, to be auctioned off at one of the local slave markets. The ship's enslaved passengers included a number of Igbo people from what is now Nigeria. The Igbo were known by planters and slavers of the American South for being fiercely independent and resistant to chattel slavery. The group of 75 Igbo slaves were bought by agents of John Couper and Thomas Spalding for forced labor on their plantations in St. Simons Island for $100 each.

The chained slaves were packed under the deck of a small vessel named the The Schooner York to be shipped to the island (other sources say the voyage took place aboard The Morovia). During this voyage the Igbo slaves rose up in rebellion, taking control of the ship and drowning their captors in the process causing the grounding of the Morovia in Dunbar Creek at the site now locally known as Igbo Landing.

The following sequence of events is unclear, as there are several versions concerning the revolt's development, some of which are considered mythological. Apparently, the Africans went ashore and subsequently, under the direction of a high Igbo chief among them, walked in unison into the creek singing in the Igbo language "The Water Spirit brought us, the Water Spirit will take us home". They thereby accepted the protection of their god Chukwu and death over the alternative of slavery.

According to some sources, survivors of the Igbo rebellion were taken to Cannon's Point on St. Simons Island and Sapelo Island