Understanding Igbo versus African Religion series
Understanding Igbo versus African Religion series Part 1 The Ancestors (Ndichie) These are African traditional saints who are not really deified; they are rather honored owing to the position they occupy among the African families. They are not worshipped or adored but venerated. They are still regarded as part of the family to which they belonged when alive. Now that they are stripped of the body through death, they become freer and more active in helping the members of the family and the towns of their origin. They approach the different kinds of spirits and divinities interested in the affairs of men and enter into communion with them in view of the good of their living kith and kin. If a correct and befitting burial is not accorded a dead person he may become a wandering ghost, unable to live peacefully after death and therefore a danger to those who remain alive. For one to become an ancestor, the following cha...