Before the advent of western civilisation, the Igbos firmly believed in reincarnation and they still do today. Before religion came with promises of heaven for the righteous and threats of hell for the defaulters, reincarnation was all they had to keep them in line.
They believed and still do that the dead would live again, not in heaven or any parallel universe but on this earth. They believed that your good deeds would help you reincarnate better and that evildoers would not be reincarnated. They believed that denying someone of their burial rites (like throwing Suicides into the forest) or burying someone face down would prevent them from reincarnating.
The Igbos conviction on the actual process by which man reincarnates varies. Some believe that man reincarnates with his former body and all its physical characteristics like height, strength and complexion, while many are convinced that only the spirit of God in the man would reincarnate.
How reincarnation is determined:
1. When a child is born, the relations ask fortune tellers who the child reincarnated as. This is regarded as the most accurate method and is still done till date. It must not necessarily be done by the parents. As a matter of fact, when I was born, an overzealous relation went to enquire about which of our deceased extended relations I was. She was told but my father wouldn't have any of that so that never stuck.
2. Birthmarks or scars called mburuputuwa are looked for on the child's body. If a deceased relative has those same marks, it is believed that he or she has come back to life in the child's body. Also physical resemblance to the person is noted.
3. As the child grows, mannerisms are noted. His speech, gaiety, temperament, etc. If they are the same as a deceased relative, he is said to be an incarnate of the relative. My sister is said to be the incarnate of my paternal grandmother because they are exactly alike character-wise. Our villagers call her my grandmother's name. I doubt if they know her real name up till now. They call her Oroafo-nta.
4. A mother can promise one of her children that she would come back as his daughter. When the child eventually marries and has a daughter, everyone venerates the daughter as the mother come back to life. The whole extended family respects this and the daughter gets spoiled and treated with utmost importance.
The belief in reincarnation is a very serious part of the Igbo culture. Names like Nnenna, Nnanna, Nnenne, Nneji, Nnaji, Nwanne, Nwanna, all go to reemphasize that belief. Nnenna means her father's mother. A name given to a girl believed to be the incarnate of her paternal grandmother.
Nnanna means his father's father. A name given to a boy believed to be the incarnate of his paternal grandfather.
Nnenne means her mother's mother. A name given to a girl believed to be the incarnate of her maternal grandmother.
Nneji means my brother/sister... Nnaji means my step brother/sister.
Statements like 'in my next life I will..." show how deep this belief is rooted in the mind of an average Igbo despite the fact that Christianity does not support reincarnation. My mother jocularly tells us that the reason my father dotes on us is because he had no children in his former life so he's overcompensating in this life.
The belief in reincarnation was reenforced by the Ogbanje phenomenon. They are believed to be evil children who died early and kept on coming back to haunt the family. Ogbanje solidified people's belief in reincarnation. This is because before some Ogbanjes were buried, they were mutilated to keep them from coming back. When the mother had another child, they bore marks of the mutilations meted out on the deceased Ogbanje.
Even though a study on 100 children classified as malevolent Ogbanje showed that 70 of the 100 children had sickle cell disease (SCD), it did nothing to quell the belief in reincarnation or Ogbanje. If anything, it proved that the remaining 30 children who did not have sickle cell disease were actually the real Ogbanjes since science had no explanations for their continuous death and rebirth.
Also the tests could not explain away the similar mutilations rather they were written off as coincidence. So despite the heaven/hell/paradise beliefs, deep down, an average Igbo still nurses a tiny faith in the reality of reincarnation.
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