Dike Anaa – Gone so soon !. Introduction to A Guide to the DON'TS OF IGBO TRADITION AND CULTURE

  

                            Dike Anaa – Gone so soon.

SAY NO TO THE UNTIMELY DEATHS IN IGBO LAND

  A guide to The DON’TS of Igbo tradition and culture

I welcome you to igbotradition.blogspot.com   A Blog that discusses the issues that lead to untimely deaths in Igbo Land. You are free to make your comments and contribute as it touches you and your area. The aim of this blog is to kick-start discussions on our rich traditional beliefs and how to stop the raging trend of Dike Anaa – Gone so soon in Ala Igbo. I welcome you with these kola nuts

                 

             AND WISH THAT YOU DISCUSS OUR IGBO MATTERS WITH OPEN MINDS.

The matters discussed in “Dike Anaa – Gone so soon”, are traditional - no- go areas in Igbo culture and tradition which can lead to the untimely, imminent or gradual death of both young and old. These issues distinguish Ndi Igbo from the rest of the world. Igbo land of Ndi Igbo is a spiritual land, whether people believe it or not. Ndi Igbo have a spiritual home place in Nigeria. Sometimes, the trend,” Dike Anaa- Gone so soon”, is a direct result of ignorance of the traditional customs of Ndi Igbo in our holy land. I mention this because there are many ‘doubting Thomases’ that neglect the tradition and immediately or gradually  pay with their dear lives, yet life goes on after their demise. Ndi Igbo have cultural, traditional and ethical conducts that every Igbo man should not neglect. Igbo land is Holy and whoever desecrates it will have him or her self to blame.

Every Igbo person should know that Ndi Igbo worship “Chukwu”, meaning “the Great God”. Chukwu is the God of Igbo land, who’s others names are “Chineke”, meaning “God that creates”.  The interpretation of this is like the Greek word “poyeo”, meaning expressly that the Igbo man’s God fixed, made, fabricated, and manufactured all things seen and unseen in the entire universe. Another name which many people use today but do not know the full meaning is “Chukwu abiama”. The meaning of “Chukwu Abiama” is the God of travelers. “Abia” is a derivation of “obia”, meaning stranger. In this sense, “Abia”, means,” a man who travels and makes every where his home.” Ma” is a derivation from “Ama”, which means, “Outside, abroad, and diaspora”. On the lips of normal Ndi Igbo , you hear,” obi n’ulo na O bi n’ama”, meaning,”those who live at home and abroad”. The prayers of Ndi Igbo cover those who live at home and abroad. No wonder Ndi Igbo who live in every part of the world make themselves comfortable. They even speak the language of their hosts better than the owners of the language.”Obiama” in Igbo language means a place where the head of the family instructs his children and receives visitors. Hence, “Chukwu Abiama” is the God of those at home and abroad. There are many attributes of God, which will not be mentioned here, but will be given on request.

From the above definition of the names of God, one notes that God is in Igbo land. Just like he gave traditional values in other parts of the world, likewise he gave traditional values to Ndi Igbo. Some peoples of other nations carefully observe their traditions and their lands are quiet, but Ndi Igbo in Igbo land and abroad are either ignorant, paying lip service or are playing with the traditional values, because of the influence of modernism, hence every week day, funeral services are either conducted by the church or by traditional method. Whether people are deceived or not, the traditional values are still there. Chukwu, the Highest Spirit of the universe, the owner and controller of Igbo land and Ndi Igbo has not gone on holidays. Whether the new breed anti tradition preachers are all over the place with their false make belief doctrines and pseudo faith, the tradition is still there.

 There are places in the world that people still make 100 years and above. This is because they keep tenaciously to their culture and tradition. In fact, in Igbo land there are people who are one hundred years plus. If you ask them, they reveal that their secret is observance of traditional values.  Can we compare these century- plus men and women with tender aged men and women who die in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s?.

Yes, God is in Igbo land, merciful though, but he judges rightly. Don’t Ndi Igbo know that God has his traditional yardstick, measure and rule in Igbo land? Why should Ndi Igbo be deceived that there is no God and ‘Ndi awakala’, meaning,”spirits of the dead”, whose jurisdiction cannot be limited by any distance? If the reader wants to know more about the spirits of the dead in Igbo land, he or she should make a special request for clearances of this, even within the recent times. Why Ndi Igbo should be deceived that the wicked can go scot free from evil, when every sensible Igbo man knows that “ Chukwu Abiama” , rewards all actions, makes me to wonder!

There is this Igbo adage that says,” O bughi ozugbo egbujiri osisi ka O n’atunwu”, it is not immediately a tree is felled that it dries up”, meaning, “it is not immediately a sin is committed that the repercussion comes”, but surely the repercussion must visit the culprit as time goes on. Another Igbo proverb says” A naghi eti nkita ihe mgbe o kwafuru mmanu, kama mgbe o kwafuru ogiri akwu”, meaning that “It is not when a dog mistakenly wastes palm oil that it is beaten, but when it pushes down the after- oil- waste, that a dog is beaten severely”. This is because the after-oil-waste is dog’s food. This adage further explains that there might be mistakes, but men should be careful not to dabble into mistakes that defy solutions.

Evil repercussions may take days, months and years, before the fruits of evil are harvested by the wicked and evil person. The fruits may be in form of sudden death of the culprit and his descendants or terrible terminal diseases visits them as reprisal. At this point the law of retribution takes over and reigns. In Igbo tradition, a man’s “agburu”- meaning,” lineage”, is often protected and guarded jealously, by restraining oneself from acts capable of wiping one and his entire lineage.

“Dike Anaa”, means that the, “warrior”, “powerful”, “great one” and “mighty” has departed.  Who is “Dike”?. Dike is that man or woman who started suffering from an early age to carve a niche in different fields of endeavour. Such persons distinguish themselves, making names, occupying responsible and respectable positions. It is on record that Ndi Igbo like to carve out niches for themselves in all fields of endeavour. It is also on record that Ndi Igbo are found all over the world. Some engage in endeavours like commerce, education, technology, security, sports etc. At least it is on the record of Igbo World Assembly (IWA), that there are at least thirty two registered countries, where Ndi Igbo are living and contributing their God-given talents to development of those countries. There are Ndi Igbo in other countries that are itching to register as countries under Igbo World Assembly. In short, Ndi Igbo are blessed and the slogan is, “anywhere you go and there is no Igbo person, leave that place, it is a misanthropist kingdom”. The trend from the 1990s till date is that most of these captains and warriors of industry, Dike Ndi Igbo, either die young, or their children die young, as a result of family or communal curses orchestrated by ignorance or willful neglect to culture and traditional values of Ndi Igbo