HISTORICAL DYNAMICS OF INTERACTION OF CHRISTIANITY WITH OZO INSTITUTION AND WIDOWHOOD PRACTICES IN OGIDI, 1985-2015
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Background to the Study
When asked to define history, what comes to mind is a systematic and expository record of past events, their causes, their effects, their peaks and their declines. History deals with people, institutions and relationships as a study in humanities. So the historical interaction and encounter define and distinguish people and their societies from others. History as an aspect of culture is all embracing and encompassing. Suffice it to say that every group, every institution and in fact, everything has its own history. It is a historical reality that no group of people with a particular culture encounters other people’s culture and remains the same. There must always be a give- and take or accommodation in order to co-exist peacefully. The reverse is the case when there is intolerance, indoctrination, ambivalence and fanaticism. It could be observed from the above that history is dynamic in extolling the African cultural values of truth, honesty, hard work and love which have a unifying dynamic force on Ogidi people. That is to say that the same culture has its own merits on the people. No wonder Achebe (1958) opined that “the white men have put a knife on the thing that held us together and things have fallen apart and the centre cannot hold” (p. 62). Ogidi people’s contact with the Christian Missionaries initially called for accommodation which seemed to have led to an improved understanding of Ozo institution and widowhood practices. Ozo institution and widowhood among others are dealt with here. The Catholic Church was in the forefront of this accommodation. Ozo 2 Institution is one of the highest political class, in Ogidi before the coming of missionaries. Ozo institution brings one to lime light in the society age notwithstanding. Without being an Ozo title holder, one cannot be eligible to become a member of Igwe’s cabinet. They settle cases, make peace on the other hand, while in recent times, some use Ozo to intimidate others. In many places in Igboland functions attached to Ozo Institution are immense despite its conflicts with organizations like the Christian religion and Partisan politics.The Ozo title man in Ogidi is seen as the highest social paradigm to which people aspire. Ozo title is one of the greatest social achievements one can make, for this reason, some parts of Igbo land like Awka, Nnobi, Nkpor, Oba, Obosi, Nri, Ihiala, Abatete, Alor and others, Ozo titled men are usually regarded as one who worked hard throughout their life before coming to the present position. The holder of Ozo title is protected against indignities from anybody. This is as a result of his new status in the society. He plays an important role in the maintenance of law and order in the society. He has the authority to inflict prescribed punishment on any person who commits a serious crime, like murder, rape, stealing etc. Normally, only the male gender who are freeborn of the villages are allowed to take the title, in other words, Ozo title taking is limited only to the male of the community. An “Osu” cannot be an Ozo person in Igboland generally. On the other hand, widowhood is focused on the practices that are oppressive and humiliating to women as a result of the death of their husband. Women in Ogidi are meant to suffer stressful situation when their husbands die. They suffer a lot of emotional, physical, mental and spiritually problems Widows were also neglected. Widowhood practices in Ogidi, originally were a major fora to control women who lost their husbands by death. The vision was bastardized by corrupt traditional leaders 3 who used obnoxious treatment like shaving of hair, denial of their husbands rights in the family, and others on the women just to, subjugate them in the family. With the coming of the Christian churches especially the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic, the Pentecostal churches such as the Living faith church and the Assemblies of God, things began to change in a positive direction. The level of religious tolerance became a problem. The Christian missionaries in Ogidi kicked against some rituals in Ogidi tradition, especially Ozo rituals, political bureaucracy, poor leadership, ritual killing and inhuman treatment of widows. Christian historians have did everything possible to reduce these obnoxious religious practices as they relate to Ogidi in Anambra State. The preaching of the early Christian missionaries coupled with the colonial system of justice shook the very foundation of the Ozo Institution and Widowhood practices in Ogidi. This situation called for an improved and balanced understanding of the Igbo world view which anchored on Ozo Institution and Widowhood practices and the purported obnoxious religious practices in Ogidi. The foregoing indicates a conflict of culture because the Christian ideas were opposed to Ozo Institution and Widowhood practices and other religious practices. Some aspects of the two religions really had a serious conflict. This conflict was unhealthy and was compounded by the approach the early Christian missionaries adopted which did not reflect a proper approach to reconciliation of the divergent views. It was observed that the Christian missionaries clung to Western thoughts which were claimed to be superior and better than Igbo traditional world-view. The missionaries were using derogatory names like heathen, idol worshipers and others. Anxious to propagate the message of salvation to the people, according to Nnamdi (1999) the missionaries, therefore, not only condemned the local culture but also tried to destroy it. Nwodo (2014) says “By so doing, the Christian missionaries presented a 4 one side view of Christianity to the people” (p.3). There is no need to cry over spilt milk. What the Christian missionaries had, they gave to Ogidi people. It is now the responsibility of Ogidi sons and daughters together with historians to look into the historical dynamics of the interaction of Christianity with Ozo Institution and Widowhood practices in Ogidi. History has it that the ambivalent life of Ogidi people could be traced to the evangelization approach of the early Christian missionaries especially the Anglican Church Missionaries. The new converts were taught to despise their own traditions and culture in order to embrace the new religion. The interaction made by the early missionaries to study and understand the cultural moral values of Ogidi Ozo Institution and Widowhood practices was not encouraging and there was no corresponding effort to incorporate some of the values into the Christian moral values. Consequently serious conflict of identity arose not only between the converts and their kits and kin, but it became obvious to recognize Christian and Ozo Institution and Widowhood practices in order to satisfy both adherents of religions.
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