Editing Odinala (section)

==Practices==

===Dibia===
[[File:Igbo medicine man.jpg|thumb|alt=A black and white photo of an Igbo traditional spiritual practitioner known as dibia wearing a cloth alung round the should and sitting cross legged on an outside sand floor, tools of his practice are in front of him including what appear to be animal skins, a small carved image of Ikenga, and a bell. He has a white line of chalk over his eyes and is slightly bowing. In the background is a carved door with intricate lines carved into it, appearing to stick out the ground behind the man.|A dibia from the early 20th century with tools of his practice including bells and a miniature Ikenga figure]]
Dibia are the mystic mediators between the human world and the spirit world and act as healers, scribes, teachers, diviners and advisors of people in the community. They are usually consulted at the shrine of a communities major deity. ''Dibia'' is a compound of the words ''di'' ('professional, master, husband') + ''ọ́bị̀à'' ('doctoring, sciences').<ref name="eltis"/> The dibia are believed to be destined for spiritual work. The dibia sees the spiritual world at any time and interprets what messages being sent and sees the spiritual problems of living people. They are given the power by the spirit world to identify any alusi by name and the possible ways of placating and negotiating with the deity. Dibia are thought to be revealed to possess the power over one of three elements namely water (and large bodies of water), fire and vegetation. Dibia whose elements are vegetation can go on to become herbalists by their supposed instinctual knowledge of the health benefits of certain plants they are instinctually drawn to, fire element dibia can handle fire unscathed during their initiation, and water element dibia do not drown. Dibia can partially enter the spirit world and communicate this by rubbing chalk on one half of their face.<ref name="udoye"/> Dibia and obia practices were transported to the [[West Indies]] as a result of the [[Atlantic slave trade]] and became known as ''[[obeah]]''.<ref name="rucker"/><ref name="eltis"/>

====Afa divination====
The name of divination in Igbo derives from ''ígbá áfà'' or ''áhà'' meaning 'to name' coming from the diviner's skill in rooting out problems hence naming them.<ref name="achebe2011">{{cite book |first=Nwando |last=Achebe |title=The Female King of Colonial Nigeria: Ahebi Ugbabe |publisher=Indiana University Press |pages=54–55 |year=2011 |isbn=978-0253222480}}</ref> The dibia or ''ogba afa'', 'interpreter of afa', is considered a master of esoteric knowledge and wisdom and igba afa is a way in which people can find out the cause of such things as misfortunes. The diviner interprets codes from ''àlà mmuọ'' the unseen by throwing divination seeds, cowries, and beads,<ref name="achebe2011"/><ref name="Iroegbu2010">{{cite book |first=Patrick E. |last=Iroegbu |title=Healing Insanity: A Study of Igbo Medicine in Contemporary Nigeria |publisher=Xlibris Corporation |pages=344–346 |year=2010 |isbn=978-1450096294}}{{self-published source|date=December 2017}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}} or observing a divination board sometimes called ''osho'' which can be used in pronouncing curses on the evil.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jude C. U. |last=Aguwa |title=The Agwu deity in Igbo religion: a study of the patron spirit divination and medicine in an African society |publisher=Fourth Dimension Publishing |page=108 |year=1995 |isbn=9789781563997}}</ref> In this way the diviner is endowed with special sight.<ref>{{cite book |first=Philip M. |last=Peek |title=African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing |publisher=Georgetown University Press |page=200 |year=1991 |isbn= 0253343097}}</ref> it is related the sciences of homeopathic medicine known as ''ọ́gwụ̀'', a practitioner consciously picks to either of these abilities.<ref name="agbadiere"/> 
Animals that are special in divination and sacrifice include a white he-goat, a white ram, a tortoise and male wall gecko. These animals are prized for their rarity, price and therefore the journey taken to obtain. Chameleons and rats are used for more stronger medicines and deadly poisons, and antidotes can include lambs, small chickens, eggs, and oils.<ref name="agbadiere"/> Nzu is used in rites from birth to death and is used to mark sacred buildings and spaces.<ref name="agbadiere"/> Agwu Nsi is the Igbo patron deity of health and divination and is related to insanity, confusion, and unusual human behaviour which is linked to possession of Agwu by the diviner.<ref name="nwaorgu2001"/><ref name="Iroegbu2010"/><ref>{{cite book |first1=Patrick |last1=Iroegbu |first2=Christine E. |last2=Gottschalk-Batschkus |editor-first=Joy C. |editor-last=Green |title=Handbook of ethnotherapies |chapter=Igbo Medicine Practitioners and Ways of Healing Insanity in Southeastern Nigeria |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |page=157 |year=2002 |isbn=3831141843 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hyR_dqdZ5SQC&pg=PA157 |access-date=2015-04-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Damian Ugwutikiri |last=Opata |title=Ajija: an Igbo agent of death and destruction |publisher=Great AP Express |page=28 |year=2009 |isbn=978-9788087748}}</ref> Agwu can be manifested by other alusi so that there could be images of a divination Ikenga or ''Ikenga Agwu'' for instance.<ref name="Iroegbu2010"/>

===Ancestral veneration===
[[File:Igbo male figure.jpg|thumb|alt=An image of a brown wooden standing male figure partially painted with large black, yellow and white pigment, figure is in an exhibition case on a green background|A male ancestral figure]]
Ndebunze, or {{Transliteration|ig|ndichie}}, are the deceased ancestors who are considered to be in the spirit world, {{Transliteration|ig|àlà mmúọ́}}.<ref>{{cite book |first=Okwuchukwu Stan |last=Chukwube |title=Renewing the Community and Fashioning the Individual: A Study of Traditional Communal Reconciliation Among the Igbo |page=30 |year=2008 |isbn=978-0549638605 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ofywX9zydwEC&pg=PA30 |access-date=2015-04-04}}</ref> In Odinani, it is believed that the dead ancestors are invisible members of the community; their role in the community, in conjunction with Ala, is to protect the community from epidemics and strife such as famine and smallpox.<ref name="Ilogu"/> Ancestors helped chi look after men.<ref name="Talbot1916"/> Shrines for the ancestors in Igbo society were made in the central house, or ''òbí'' or ''òbú'', of the patriarch of a housing compound. The patriarchal head of the household is in charge of venerating the patriarchal ancestors through libations and offerings, through this the living maintain contact with the dead. Only a patriarch whose father is dead, and therefore in the spirit world where they await reincarnation into the community, were able to venerate ancestors.<ref>{{cite book |first=Michael Angelo |last=Gomez |title=Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1998 |page=[https://archive.org/details/exchangingourcou0000gome/page/129 129] |isbn=0807846945 |url=https://archive.org/details/exchangingourcou0000gome/page/129 }}</ref> Female ancestors were called upon by matriarchs. At the funeral of a man's father there is a hierarchy in Igbo culture of animals that will be killed and eaten in his honor. Usually this depended on the rarity and price of the animal, so a goat or a sheep were common and relatively cheaper, and therefore carried less prestige, while a cow is considered a great honor, and a horse the most exceptional. Horses cannot be given for women.<ref>{{citation |first=Simon |last=Ottenberg |title=Igbo Religion, Social Life, and Other Essays |publisher=Africa World Press |page=348 |editor=Toyin Falola |year=2006 |isbn=1592214436}}</ref> Horses were more common among the northeastern Igbo due to [[tsetse fly]] zone that Igboland is situated in and renders it an unsuitable climate for horses.<ref>{{cite book |first=Clive |last=Spinage |title=African Ecology: Benchmarks and Historical Perspectives |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |page=932 |year=2012 |isbn= 978-3642228711}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Williams |title=Riding in Africa |year=2005 |publisher=Ian Williams |page=30 |isbn= 0595373011}}</ref> Horse heads are traditionally decorated and kept in a reliquary and at shrines.

A number of major masking institutions exist around Igboland that honour ancestors and reflect the spirit world in the land of the living. Young women, for example, are incarnated in the society through the [[agbogho mmuo|àgbọ́ghọ̀ mmúọ́]] masking tradition in which mean represent ideal and benevolent spirits of maidens of the spirit world in the form of feminine masks. These masks are performed at festivals at agricultural cycles and at funerals of prominent individuals in the society.<ref>{{cite book |first=Hope B. |last=Werness |title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Native Art: Worldview, Symbolism, and Culture in Africa, Oceania, and North America |publisher=A&C Black |year=2003 |page=145 |isbn=0826414656}}</ref>

===Kola nut===
[[File:Kolanut bowl (ọkwa ọjị), Nigeria, Igbo people, early 20th century, wood - Chazen Museum of Art - DSC01783.jpg|thumb|alt=An image of a kola nut bowl in a museum showcase, it is wooden, round and brown and a small compartment is at the centre with a lid featuring animal faces carved on.|An ókwá ọ́jị̀ bowl in the Chazen Museum of Art, [[Wisconsin]]]]
[[Kola nut]] ({{Transliteration|ig|ọ́jị̀}}, or {{Transliteration|ig|ọ́jị̀ Ìgbò}}) offerings and prayers ({{Transliteration|ig|ị́gọ́ ọ́jị̀}}, 'kola nut blessing', {{Transliteration|ig|ị́wá ọ́jị̀}}, 'kola nut breaking') can be performed personally between one and his spirit or in a group in a form of a prayer or chant. The saluter addresses their personal god or chi as well as alusi and their ancestors.<ref name="agbadiere"/> These kola nuts are held in a special round bowl called {{Transliteration|ig|ọ́kwá}} with a compartment at the centre of the bowl for condiments for the kola nut such as [[alligator pepper]] (or ''capsicum cayenne'', {{Transliteration|ig|ósẹ̀ ọ́jị́}})<ref name="agbadiere"/> and ground peanuts. The bowl and kola nut rite is used to welcome visitors into a household.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anthony Chike |last=Idigo |title=Oji: cola acuminata-Oji Igbo: the cornerstone of Igbo traditional ceremonies |publisher=Snaap Press |page=26 |year=2002 |isbn=9780491732}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=George Uzoma |last=Ukagba |title=The Kpim of Feminism: Issues and Women in a Changing World |publisher=Trafford Publishing |page=194 |year=2010 |isbn=978-1426924071 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vaJIMRO9-cgC&pg=PA194 |access-date=2015-04-04}}</ref><ref name="eboh2004">{{cite book |first=Simeon Onyewueke |last=Eboh |title=African Communalism: The Way to Social Harmony and Peaceful Co-existence |publisher=Transaction Publishers |page=143 |year=2004 |isbn=3889397158}}</ref> After the prayer, the ceremony ends with the saluter sharing pieces of the kola with the group, known as {{Transliteration|ig|ị́ké ọ́jị̀}}. The kola is supposed to cut by hand, but more recently knives have become acceptable. When the cola has three cotyledons, or parts, it is considered an {{Transliteration|ig|ọ́jị̀ ìkéǹgà}} in some northern communities (going by other names in communities Ikenga does not operate) and is considered a sign of great luck, bravery and nobility. {{Transliteration|ig|O wetalu oji wetalu ndu}} — 'one who brings kola brings life' is a popular saying that points to the auspiciousness of the kola rite.<ref name="eboh2004"/><ref name="udoye2">{{cite book |first=Edwin Anaegboka |last=Udoye |title=Resolving the Prevailing Conflicts Between Christianity and African (Igbo) Traditional Religion Through Inculturation |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |page=142 |year=2011 |isbn=978-3643901163}}</ref>