Sustaining Human Spirituality through Culture: Example of Olili Onwa Isaa in Eziagulu-Aguleri

Abstract

This paper emanated from a research conducted by the author on the significance of Olili Onwa Isaa of Eziagulu-Aguleri, a traditional community in Anambra State, Nigeria. The festival, which is one of the annual events in the town by which human spirituality is sustained through culture, is centred around ritualizing the Ikenga (“place of strength”), a two-horned male deity kept by the traditional Igbo man as a personal god, an embodiment of his ancestors, and the symbol of his power to acquire wealth and achieve great things. This is why there is an annual Ikenga festival in most Igbo communities. This paper is an academic study of the Olili Onwa Isaa festival of Eziagulu-Aguleri as witnessed by this researcher who was a participant-observer at the event.