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Igbo Tradition

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Customs and traditions of any society, tribe or clan keep them vibrant about the cultural patterns. The people follow the customs and traditions to regulate the social order. But the customs and traditions have two facets .If the people of the society, tribe or clan do not change their customs as per the changing cultural patterns, the issues of culture persist to disintegrate the people from the ethnicity and the issues of identity in different spheres take place as the matter of ‘pride’ or ‘title’ in fostering the right cultural patterns. Arrow of God (1964) reflects the different customs and traditions of the Igbo clan. The Igbo people believe in the religious practices before the colonial administration in the early 20th century. They had …show more content…

The customs of the Igbo vary from village to village about the auspicious days. The Okperi people do not have any business on the Eke day which is known as the market day. When Akukalia from Umuaro goes to Okperi as an emissary he was told by the town-crier Otikpo; “Different people have different customs,” said Otikpo after his laugh. “In Okperi it is not our custom to welcome strangers to our market with the ikolo” (AOG: 23).It denotes the quarrelsome situation when Otikpo told Akukalia regarding the common custom of the Okperi villagers. Actually he wanted to tell him that the message carried by him from Umuaro is less important and insulted him to provoke his anger.
The royal python is the most revered animal for the Igbo people. It is the custom of them to pay a great respect to the pythons. Mr. Goodcountry appeals to the Igbo converts to go against their custom by killing the royal python. He says;
“If we are Christians, we must be ready to die for the faith," he said. "You must be ready to kill the python as the people of the rivers killed the iguana. You address the python as Father. It is nothing but a snake, the snake that deceived our first mother, Eve. If you are afraid to kill it do not count yourself a Christian” (AOG: 47).
It reminds that the missionaries provoke the Igbo people to go against their customs if they want change in their religious and cultural …show more content…

The bridegroom and his family members stick money on her forehead as a part of the custom that she should contribute in the prosperity of the house. The feast follows the dancing event till the sunset with the yam foo foo, bitter leaf soup and egusi soup along with the legs of a goat. It is kept before the women who used to be the song-leaders to thank them for the performance. It is also the custom of Igbo to give a burial feast after someone’s death. The burial feast of Ogbuefi Amalu was at the risk of their customs as there was the delay in declaration of the Pumpkin Leaves Festival due to the imprisonment of Ezeulu by the missionaries. It creates the confusion among the people about to perform the burial feast. It is one of the responsible factors for them to not believe in the God, Ulu which doesn’t give them the right directions, subsequently the Igbo people decide to go against the customs of the clan at the

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Once again, Nwoye found peace away from his father when the Christian missionaries came to Mbanta, the motherland where Okonkwo and his family were exiled to. Nwoye converted to Christianity and escaped the force of his father in their household. Okonkwo, of course, didn’t support his son’s decision and was completely against Nwoye leaving behind the tradition the Okonkwo followed so deeply. A paragraph in chapter seventeen reflects on Okonkwo’s thoughts. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about

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Because the missionaries do not respect the Igbo religion, tension in villagers like Okonkwo increases. Once the white missionaries arrive in the village of Igbo they immediately start criticizing the natives religion. One missionary even told the people that “they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone.” completely

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Fear is the core cause of the dramatic shift of lifestyle for both Okonkwo and Nwoye. Through the management of reputation and the avoidance of their father’s likeness, Okonkwo and Nwoye built new lives for themselves. Okonkwo sought power and authority to prove his masculinity and make up for Unoka’s reputation as a weak man. He did this to the point where manliness became his character. Fearlessness and violence were masculine qualities that in Igbo culture signifies strength and influence.

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