By Dr. Tonye Timi
The world has moved through many ages and epochs: stone age, agrarian age, industrial age etc. We are presently in the information age and with it comes the information super highway also known as the internet and other embedded means of communication.
The world has never been confronted with such deluge of knowledge and information. A click on the buttons of personal computers and telephones can give anyone quantum of information on any subject of interest.
It is therefore a disservice to oneself to wallow in self-imposed ignorance on any subject, be it politics, sports, religion etc, when all that is required to acquire knowledge is a click on the buttons of any communication gadget of choice.
There has been so much bellyaching and misinformation about the Igbe religion lately in Delta state, badmouthing and presenting the practitioners as pagans and worshipers of the not so wholesome. Igbe religion is a peaceful religion indigenous to Delta state with nearly five million adherents across the world and founded among the Urhobo.
We are so narrow minded that we do not respect the faith and belief of others. We judge other religions by the values of our assumed Christianity, the tenets of which we do not practice or obey.
The two major defining practices of the Igbe religion are song and dance. It is through song and dance that they commune with God. Their belief in one true God predated the coming of Christianity to southern Nigeria.
The physical symbols of IGBE are the white chalk and the white dress with linings or spots of red. The Igbe faithful in worship are adorned in white and red coveralls. They perform their worship rites with mounds of white chalk. The white chalk for many African societies represent goodwill, peace and answered prayers. The offer of white chalk is a proposition for sacred communion and a welcoming invitation for peace.
Igbe spread white chalk on their faces and body for sanctification, use it for prayers and to make requests of favours from God. They also mix it into their gruel to drink for inner cleansing and fortification. In Igbe religion, the White Chalk is held as peace offering to God and takes on deeper levels of meaning in their rites of sacred worship.
For Igbe, the white chalk and water are the most potent medicine, healing both physical and spiritual ailments. The Igbe do not go for healing in hospitals, believing in the power of their white chalk and water. White chalk is the substance of communion with God, carrying the offerings of human goodwill and peace to the almighty.
It also provides the pathway to God as Igbe belief is founded on a monotheist deity, one God who knows all, sees all and gives to man what he needs from His inexhaustible well of knowledge and sufficiency. The same God gives to man his just recompense for good works as well as punish him in same measure for his evil.
Igbe is a religion of songs and accompanying dance. The word Igbe means dance in Urhobo from where it was founded. Igbe festivals are thus dominated by mirth, singing and dancing which forms a major part of it’s rites of worship.
Although believed to have been formed in Kokori Inland by a man named Ubiecha Etarakpo, the Igbe religion had spread across most of Southwestern Nigeria before the coming of Christianity. Christianity itself triggered the cratering and division among the practitioners of Igbe.
Igbe has been a peaceful religion among us before the coming of Christianity. It’s adherents are widespread, many practicing Igbe along with Christianity, mostly because the two religions are not fundamentally opposed in beliefs and practices. In fact Christianity’s impact on Igbe has created versions of Igbe that is closer to Judeo-Christian beliefs and ethos.
The public notion that any religion that has African origin is obnoxious and opposed to Christian value systems is misleading and wrong. Igbe is monotheist, with beliefs founded on human goodwill and inclusiveness, just as Christianity. Indeed, this is why so many lawyers, doctors, engineers, bishops, church leaders etc are also included among Igbe faithfuls.
Dr. Tonye Timi.