a ol 5 z 3 8 a 8 S 3 3 g 6 fe 6 B 5 = > * é tf om ” a d d * r 5 & 2 z 3 § 3 2 Borrower: TX! Lending String: "COD DLM,ORU, RCE, TXAWAU,SEA,SBM.UPM Patron: Journal Title: Nigeria magazine. Volume: Issue: 150 MonthiYear: 19840101Pages: 37- Article Author: EZIKEOJIAKU, |. P. A [Article Title: Igbo Divination Poetry (Abu Afa). An Introduction Imprint: Lagos : Govt. of Nigeria, 1960- ILL Number: 214597679 *214597679* Call #: DT515 N47 no.148-151 1984 Location: PASCAL Offsite AVAILABLE — P108092512008 0029-0033 ODYSSEY ENABLED Charge Maxcost: 50.001FM Shipping Address: Texas State University Alkek Library Jinterlibrary Loan/Texas State University-San Marcos 601 University Drive ‘San Marcos, Texas 78666-4684 United States Fax: 612-245-3002 Ariel: Email: libraryloan@vstate.edu Odyssey Address: 147.26.99.170IGBO DIVINATION POETRY (ABU AFA) AN INTRODUCTION BY ICHIE P. A. EZIKEOJIAKU Introduction oO" of the features of Igbo culture is literatu- re which, from time immemorial both its basically oral prose, drama and poetry have produced extensive variety of spoken art characte- tistic of Ndi Igbo. The need to collect, document classify and analyse texts, particularly of Igbo oral poetry has not been realised by Igbo scholars. . An aspect of oral poetry which has been neglected is ritual poetry. It is because of the long neglect of this form of oral poetry which is hidden in the cultish life of the Igbo people that I have decided to make an intensive research into ritual poetry. The Divination Chant: Agwu billie! Ubochi billie! Obodo dibia Gil efo! Ututu, ehi efo Ututu ake mbom Onu nwoke, onu nwaanyi Onu nze, onu okoro ‘This paper is just an introductory discussion based on two texts tape-recorded divination chant and song from a renowned traditional diviner, Ichie Umeosigwe Ezike; of Ihitenansi, Orlu Local Government, Imo State. ‘The first is a divination chant through which the artist prys into the spirit world pleading to the gods and deities to transcend so. that he can ascer- tain the cause of uncertainty in the life of his inquirer. And the second’ contains a divinaion song through which the diviner, dibia afa informs the spirit forces of the message of his inquiry. So the texts are presented first before a short discu- ssion is given onit. Agwu force arise! The day force arise! The land of diviners It is dawn! Morning force, Morning which isknown for divination The voice force of males and females. The voice force of the initiated and the ‘uninitiated. is dawn! Arusi bu Ogwugwu ‘Ogwugwu force! Arusi bu Urasi Urasi force! Ohu mmuo Twenty spirit forces! Naw mmuo Ofo din’ osish Ofo din’ okom Ofo e bu n’akpa Bilienu! Chineke nna juo Ala Juo mkpara akwukwo Juo Chineke Kere nwo okpuru fjuo Alaobi onye uru Agwu ose obara 37 Four hundred spirits forces Ofo which is part of tree, Ofo whichis hung Ofo which isin the bag, Arise all of you God the Fa ther ask Mother Earth force, Ask medicinal leaves. Ask yod the Father Who created the helpless ‘You ask the habitable Earth who spoils Agwu the white ash.At this stage in his performance, the diviner changed from a ritual chant to a ritual song. Note the artist sounded his divination horn immediately after line two to honour the four native days. — Eke, Orie, Afoand Newo. Ritual Song: Part of the text which follows is the ritual song 0-0! Ala biko—o—! Ala m biara ije biko—o Binau duwe anyi-o—0 Arusi zuru obodo Ngwanu duwe anyi-o-0 Ee! mmadu biara be ary Ee! mmadu biara n'ulo-o Ne-aju m—m—m! as Ihe 0 biarani—/-I, ndu ezigbo — 0 O biara na-aju m ndu yo © biara na-aju m ndu ya the o ne-a junu, ndu hinne O were na-aju m nduuu O were na-gju m nduu-u Na-aju m ndwu-u, ndu hinne—e Aussi m ji eje obodo Ogwugwu m ji ee ije Agwu m jf eje obodo Ofe mba enwe iro Ngwanu mesi ike—e Bianu gbazienwu-u Bianu duwe anyi—o—O Engwanu du m ije-e Mmadu biara be anyto es biara na-aju mnduwu O hu nge na-ame nwa—a O bu nge na-eme ihe a? © bunge na-eme ihe a? Obunge na-emeni ya-a? se Notice that the performer (seer) is busy manipu- lating his mkpuru afq or okwe, divination objects from the time he started the ritual chant to the ritual song. All this period, the artist is almost in the spirit world pleading and trying to ascertain the cause of uncertainty in the life of his enquirer. At the end of the ritual song, he starts to Prescribe the objects of sacrifice as well as the modus ope rand; by-which a successful sacrifice is to be realised. Oh! Please Mother Earth! The Land of my sojourn! Come and lead us. % Famous Arusi of all lands, Haste and lead us. The helpless has come to us. The helpless is here with us Asking me What he has come for is good health, He has come to ask me about his life. Herhas come to ask me about his life. What he is asking for is abundant life. He was asking me about life. He was asking about life. Was asking about life, life in abudance. Arusi force which accompanies me places. Ogwugwu force which I use in my trips. Agwu force which accompanies me to places. A traveller who has no adversaries ‘Come on, make haste! Come and direct! Come and lead us! Eh! come and lead me into the spirit world ‘Someone is in our house. He has come to ask me about life. What is it that tortures this person?? What is it that is the cause? What is it that is the cause? ‘What is it that torments him? Summary In the Igbo belief system, Chukwu (The Great God) realises that He is incharge of so much and His work is too great for a ‘person’, therefore He appoints smaller gods (deities) to help Him. These di ities minister to the Supreme God. And through them and through special priests known as dibia afa diviners or seers one ‘goes’ to the High God by prayers and supplications. When he or she engages in this mission, the diviner chants or sings his or her inquiries or pleadings to the gods who communicate them to Chukwu or Chineke or 38| opasi. For, as Awolalu and Dopamu rightly obser- yed, ‘Among the Igbo of Nigeria, we have three | ‘ames of God. . . Chukwa Chineke and Obasi..* We discover that the diviner in his trade or art communicates with the gods in a special artistic and emotional thought and language known as divination poetry -abu afa-depending of course on the diviner’s mood and speciality. Divination poetry is a type of ritual poetry Abu Ofufe, which is a sub-genre of Oral Poetry, Abu Odinala. Therefore, divination poetry, in this short paper, refers to a special type of ritual poetry | usually performed by a diviner. Usually this type of poetry is performed in no | other situation than in divination context and performance is just by the seer who uses ) several divination objects — mkpuru af ogene, * ofi na ose neu ete. His audience is the enquirer who is at times lost on the occasion because of the { diviner’s special register ‘The first text contains eleven short stanzas of twenty two lines altogether, some contain only two words while others contain three or four * words only. The stanzas are simply derived by { means of the breath pause produced by the ritual artist during the performance. The second text which is, indeed, linked with the first contains twelve stanzas of irregular twenty nine lines Some stanzas are made up of two lines while some contain. three lines. Both the chant and the song texts focus on a particular theme—ascertainment of the causes of uncertainty in the life of an inquirer . Other themes could, of couse, be engaged on depending ‘on the nature of inquiry. This type of ritual poetry is usually characteri- zed by a soloist performance in which the verbal artist elicits some messages from the spirit forces ‘as to the causes and nature of the phenomenon ‘and communicates such messages to the inquirer who performs the prescribed sacrifice(s) in order to get the required satisfaction and freedom. For the performance of the prescribed sacrifice(s), the inquirer ought to engage the services of dibia aja the ritual priest, who specialises in conducting ritual sacrifices The ritual priest also has his special poetry known as abu aja. In such ritual poetry and performances, the link between the spirit world and the human world is usually exploited in order to make way for peace and harmony between the two NOTES AND REFERENCES L Ichie Umeosigwe’s art recorded live by me_in his shrine in Thitenansa on September 12, 1982. Thitenansa is a border town located twelve kilometres from Orly Urban headquarters It has common boundary with Ezinihite in Nnewi LG.A- of Anambra State. The and performance was urn Village of SS ee transcription and translation of the texts are mine 2. J, Omosade Awolalu and P. Adelumo Dopemu, West African Traditional Onibon- of, Press and Book Indus (Nig) Lid. Suns, 1979 p40. 39