RETURN TO ODINANI/OMENANI AND ITS CONFUSION PART 4NDICHIE

Ndichie in Igbo spirituality and traditions are those noble men who led a good and successful life, died, given a befitting burial and are now in the spiritual realm (abode of Ndi Ichie) where they are providing guidance, protection and interventions on the living. Ndichie is known as ancestors in English and Saint in Christianity.
Ndichie is very effective and efficacious in Igbo tradition as they can bless and curse, heal or kill as well as provide protection for the individual or community. The safeguard the Igbo community and protects the community laws, ordinance and morality. They protect the sacredness of Igbo community.

Qualifications of Ndichie
It is not every man who died in Igbo land that is called Ndichie. For one to be qualified to be called an ancestor in Igbo land the person must be a true born of a community in Igbo land, grew up under the tutelage of a father who guides him in the the dos and don’ts of the land, led an examplary life with a known visible means of living (hardworking), must be a titled man in the community, died at a ripe age and must be given a befitting burial with every rites of passage performed before he can be accepted in the land of the ancestors (obodo ijite). Anybody who died and not properly buried will not find rest in Igbo tradition but the spirit will be wandering disturbing the relations (iwa na afa) until he or she is giving a proper burial.

This is why Igbo people will spend their resources to bring back a corpse back to the land or where the corpse cannot be brought the ritual of ijuta akwu will done to arrest the wandering spirit to bring it home for proper burial. If the person is an evil man, killed by God for wrong doing or killed by Alusi or Ani the person will be thrown into the evil forest or dumped at the shrine of the Alusi that killed him/her. Such persons are not entitled to any burial rite unless their cases is mild such that there could be reparation for their wrong doings and sacrifices done before their corpse could be retrieved and buried. Such persons are not eligible to be called Ndichie rather they are responsible for misfortunes and evils that befalls a community.

In Igbo tradition it is expected that every child born in Igbo land shall not die until a ripe age unless the child is either an Ogbanje or is visited by the wrath of the gods. It is a bad omen for a young man to die and if such happens the entire village will be silent and in mourning, there will be no ceremony because such spirit will be rejected by Ndi Ichie and hence such person will re-incarnate to atone for his wrong doings in the other life. This is why when a child dies the parents give the corpse a mark that will enable them identify such person when he or she re-incarnates.

This is also the reason why when a child is born the father will first of all do consultation to get more information about the child and know if there is sacrifices to be done to ensure that the child is directed to the right part. Such consultations determines the name the child will be given. When the Child is 14 years there will be what is called Igba afa Chi and Agwu. Afa Chi will tell who the guardian angel is and the method of drawing the chi close to the person (ise nete chi). Afa Agwu is the divination to redirect the child to his destiny, talent and creativity.

When a child behaves waywardly or does not coordinate properly it will be taken that he is not in tune with his Agwu therefore the need for ilu Agwu. Agwu is simply the skill set which was assigned to an individual at creation. Everybody is destined to be a particular thing either a Priest (uko), a Prophet ( Dibia afa), a healer (Dibia nkpologwu na nka akwukwo), a craftsman (okwa nka), a Smith (okpu uzu), di olu (a farmer), an advocate (okamalo), di afia (a merchant) etc. If you are not in the correct trade it is expected that you will be restless until the ritual of ilu Agwu is performed. When you have moved to your chosen trade you are expected to seek the direction of your chi to help you to become successful (onye gbanari chie ogbagbuo onwe ya n’oso).

This is why every Igbo person is supposed to have in his ekwu nchu aja Okpesi representing chi and Ikenga representing Agwu.
Title taking (Ichi Ichie/ozo)
When a man has become successful, married and has reached th age of participating in the community governance the person is required to take title.
For one to be eligible to join Ndi Ichie upon demise one is expected to have taken title. Igbo tradition title taking is more spiritual than social in the sense that it purifies and chastises a man to become clean and righteous in his dealings while on earth so that upon demised he will become an ancestor. On this note it is worth saying that it is not everybody that is eligible to be a titled man. For one to be qualified to be a titled man one must be a freeborn, must be responsible and a man of impeccable character. He must show traits of nobility and just in his dealings with people. This is so because after title taking he is expected to sit in the court to administer justice and take decisions that will better or mar the society. The prospective candidate for title is expected to undergo ritual cleansing and purification for days while confined in contemplative confinement praying to his God and ancestors for the grace to complete the process. During this period he is expected to confess all his wrongs in the past to the titled men in his community and after the period he is purified through so many rituals one of which is Isa ile (washing of the tongue), Igbanya atali or udo (rope anklet) in his ankle. Isa ile is done to make the man know that he will never tell lies again or bear false witness or give a bias judgement while atali is a constant reminder that he is restricted from carrying out certain things that is unbecoming of a titled man. Title taking is not a child’s play and it is not for small boys as the rules and restrictions is so enormous that one could incur the wrath of the ancestors. There so many laws depending on the community but the following is applicable generally

1. Cannot indulge in criminality
2. Cannot indulge in immoral life.
3. Cannot eat anyhow or eat food that is prepared by a woman who is unclean or indulges in immorality (this is why titled man does not eat outside his home and if he must eat there must be ikpo ngwu a fowl and two yams will be given to him so that when he gets home he will appease his ancestors). Today many people just collect the yams and fowl without using it for the purpose which it was meant for.
4. A titled man does not sleep outside his home unless when it is inevitable and there is a ritual that must be performed once he is back.
5. A titled man cannot be crossed any how by a woman who is not the wife or by any woman who is in her menstrual period including his wife. This is why he has his obi separate from his wives apartments.

Burial of an Ichie
As stated earlier any man who is not given a proper burial cannot be admitted as Ndi Ichie therefore burial of an Ichie is very important to Igbo man and that is why it looks as if Igbo people celebrate the dead. When a man dies in his old age, the first thing is for the Ukolo (wooden gong) to be beaten in a rythm that will announce the passage of a greatman (an Iroko has fallen). If the cause of the death of the man is mysterious, the Ukolo will not be beaten until divination is done to be sure that the death is pure and not caused by the gods. So when the Ukolo is beaten every titled man or elder will start assembling in the direction of the sound. When the titled men has assembled the last ikpo ngwu ritual will be done to cleanse thean of unknown shortcomings and the atali is stripped off after which the body is prepared for funeral. After the funeral the mourning will be done for one year after which the last sacrifice is performed and his Okpesi/Ikenga will be archived in the family Obu signalling the end of the man.
Today title taking has been abused such that even those clamouring let’s go back to our Omenani will not accept to perform the full rites because they know the implications of it. Many dodge the rites that will make them to be restricted from immorality, foul play and evil practices such as ibi ofo na obu(obi) because that is a committal or covenant with the gods. Today title taking has been simplified and everything monetized such that one can just pay certain amount of money which the titled men will share and it is taken that they have taken the title.
If we must return to Omenani we must return to the ones that the ancestors instituted to sanitize our Communities and not the one we borrowed from other cultures.