Creation story of the Igbo People.

However, each was individualistic, and therefore very independent. This was the cause of a big problem, jealousy and greed came into the picture.

It seems that each God/Goddess began to want all of the powers of the other Gods/Goddesses. The question was, who had more authority. The Gods became greedy. Things got worse and worse.

Finally, it got so bad, the affairs of the universe began to suffer and became a threat to CHINEKE’s existence.

CHINEKE began thinking of how to solve the problem, and came up with a Master Plan.

Heaven was divided into equal parts, and each God and Goddess had a domain of their own, which the Igbo call a Holy Homestead.

Now the God IGWE and the Goddess ALA, whose domain consisted of the earth and sky, created mankind.

ALA and IGWE created 8 people, 4 males and 4 females.

In the process of creating mankind, IGWE and ALA used 4 kinds of material; sticks from the Ofo tree as bones and clay and chalk for flesh. After they were formed and dried in the sun, ALA wrapped them in Umune leaves from the Umune tree for nurturing the five senses and sexuality.

And, as the creators, they had the responsibility of educating them as well, especially the 7 cycles-of-life;

Sex-act and birth: (nine months)

Babyhood: (Birth to about three years to the age)

Childhood: (Three years to the age of twelve)

Adulthood: (developed between the ages of thirteen and twenty)

Parenthood: (twenty to forty year age group)

Grandparenthood: (Forty to sixty years)

Great grandparenthood and Ancestor- hood: (Sixty years to forever after death).

ALA and IGWE went out in their garden-of-life to get the things necessary for the ceremony.

The 4 women went with ALA to her garden and gathered food. Meanwhile, IGWE, and the 4 men went to his garden to gather more food.

ALA, being the Great Mother of nurturing, retired to her domain to prepare the food, including 8 yams and goat meat given to her by IGWE.

Then the 8 people were brought together where they were taught that the contribution of the energy of life, in the creation of mankind, comes from IGWE.

On the other hand, ALA makes the rules of moral conduct; especially as related to the earth, called the laws of the land. Thus is the authority of Umune. And IGWE enforces these laws, he is also the judge, police and priest, as well as a warrior-protector, thus is the Authority of Ofo.

But just as important, as far as the men and women are concerned, each of them asked questions about what concerns them as individuals, and received individual answers.

When the food was prepared, ALA and IGWE invited the God AMADIOHA (the thunder and lightning God), ANYANWU (the sun God), EKWENSU (the Trickster God), and the Goddess of the Moon.

This was followed by the ceremony called the celebration of life where there was a big festival of music, dancing, singing, talking, trading, and everybody having a good time.

After observing how the Gods and Goddesses related to each other as equals and traded with each other, and all made a profit, the people learned the laws of social and economic relationships based on social equality and personal freedom.

The 8 people Chose a Destiny to become a Wealthy Nation based on Family Values and Trade; and to that effect IGWE drew up the Contract as 7 Articles of Faith;

• The Great Creator, CHINEKE, Created the Universe and all therein using Parts of HIM-HER-SELF; and is known as the God of Wealth.
• The major members of the Holy Family, Those that concern people, consist of ALA, IGWE, ANYANWU, AMADIOHA, EKWENSU, and the Goddess of Mysteries (the Moon Goddess); Who CHINEKE bonded together with Laws of Social Equality and Personal Freedom.
• CHINEKE, The Great Creator, created the Human Spirit who is given a personal Chosen Destiny; this Spirit-Destiny is called a Person's CHI (which means the same as the Yoruba's ORI).
• The Earth Goddess and Rain God, ALA and IGWE, are Husband and Wife and people are their Created children.
• Ancestor Worship is the guide in building a nation.
• Divine Manners of Kinship and Trade are the guide in life.
• Negotiation, based on this Contract, is the Path-way to Spiritual and Economic Success; Wealth.

When the people, and the Gods and Goddesses put their seal of approval on this destiny, it became a Holy Contract between the spiritual world and a human being.

After the approval of this contract, the 8 people left the celebration and went out into the world and multiplied into the Igbo nation.

When the people reached the outside of heaven, they took the names of the values of IGWE and ALA.

The 4 women took the names Determination, Fortitude, Peace, and Unity, the men took the names Justice, Truth, Trust, and Righteousness. They got married, and formed the original 4 Igbo couples and families.

When IGWE and ALA created the original 8 people, they were pure in body and spirit. (Here, pure means, copying the Holy Family).

People lived in perfect harmony, trade was perfect, and they were living in the paradise of the wealth of a perfect society.

Then, as the Yoruba say, jealousy and greed turned the perfect and pure society upside down, and destroyed the perfect family relationships.

When old jealousy and greed hit town, it was like a hurricane, every thing of value in society was being destroyed at a very rapid rate of speed. The town was falling apart.

The original 8 people were not effected, they were too pure.

Because the original 8 people were the oldest Elders in society, all of the people held a meeting presided over by them. This is how the Igbo’s first government came into reality, and here, the original eight people came up with a master plan.

Their plan called for each of the original 8 people to create a ritual to restore people to the purity of the 8 values of society. Since the original 8 people were taught by IGWE and ALA in the Holy Homestead, they knew something about the ritual process.

Each created a ritual to restore to society the value that they represented.

After which, the original 8 people returned to live with IGWE and ALA in the Holy Homestead. And from there they became Messengers between the people of the world and the spiritual world. So, Ancestor worship is the ritual relationship to one of these 8 values.

The end

Creation Story of the Igbo People

Chineke = benevolent creator of the universe.

For a long time things worked very well in heaven, all of the Gods and Goddesses lived in one place.