Editing Odinala (section)

===Chi===
[[File:Chi shrine.jpg|thumb|alt=An interior photograph of a chi shrine with plates inset into the polished mud walls|Interior of a chi shrine at Nkarahia, southern Igboland, 1900s]]
In Odinani, the Igbo people believe that each person has their own personal spiritual guardian called Chi (or ''ḿmúọ́''), appointed to them before and at the time of their birth. The Chi remains with them for the rest of their lives on Earth. A person's Chi is the personification of that individual's fate, which is credited for an individual's life's successes, misfortunes and failures. The Igbo believe that their success in life is determined by their Chi, and that no man can rise past the greatness of his or her own Chi.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Achebe |first=Chinua |title=Chi in Igbo Cosmology from Morning Yet on Creation Day |publisher=Heinemann Educational |year=1975 |isbn=9780435180263 |location=London |pages=93–103}}</ref> In this respect, the concept of chi is analogous to the concept of a [[guardian angel]] in Christianity, the [[Daemon (classical mythology)|daemon]] in [[ancient Greek religion]], and the [[Genius (mythology)|genius]] in [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]].<ref name="agbadiere"/><ref name="udeani2007"/><ref name="ndukaihe2006"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Opata|first=Damian Ugwutikiri|title=Essays on Igbo World View|publisher=AP Express Publishers|year=1998|isbn=9782001155|page=62}}</ref> Culturally, people are seen as the creators or makers of their own destiny.<ref name="wiredu">{{cite book |first=Kwesi |last=Wiredu |title=A Companion to African Philosophy |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |page=420 |year=2008 |isbn= 978-0470997376}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Molefi K. |last1=Asante |first2=Emeka |last2=Nwadiora |title=Spear Masters: An Introduction to African Religion |publisher=University Press of America |page=108 |year=2007 |isbn=978-0761835745 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QS3Y93DBe4QC&pg=PA108 |access-date=2015-04-04}}</ref><ref name="okoh2012">{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Okoh |title=Fostering Christian Faith in Schools and Christian Communities Through Igbo Traditional Values: Towards a Holistic Approach to Christian Religious Education and Catechesis in Igboland (Nigeria) |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |pages=37, 58 |year=2012 |isbn=978-3643901682 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04VwpwD7R_AC&pg=PA37 |access-date=2015-04-04}}</ref> The breath of life is in the heart, ''óbì''.<ref name="okoh2012" /><ref name="udeani2007">{{cite book |first=Chibueze C. |last=Udeani |title=Inculturation as Dialogue: Igbo Culture and the Message of Christ |publisher=Rodopi |page=35 |year=2007 |isbn=978-9042022294 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VGjKp-7FyGIC&pg=PA35 |access-date=2015-04-04}}</ref><ref name="ndukaihe2006">{{cite book |first=Vernantius Emeka |last=Ndukaihe |title=Achievement as Value in the Igbo/African Identity: The Ethics |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |pages=185–187 |year=2006 |isbn=3825899292 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ERM77W_wgZYC&pg=PA187 |access-date=2015-04-04}}</ref><ref name="uzukwu2012">{{cite book |first=Elochukwu Eugene |last=Uzukwu |title=God, Spirit, and Human Wholeness: Appropriating Faith and Culture in West African Style |publisher=Wipf and Stock |pages=63, 123 |year=2012 |isbn=978-1610971904 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPdMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 |access-date=2015-04-04}}</ref> Chi can be masculine and feminine. A ''Dibia'' can identify a person's chi through divination (''ájà'') and advise adherents of ways to placate it.<ref name="cole1982">{{cite book|last=Cole|first=Herbert M.|title=Mbari: Art and the Life Among the Owerri Igbo|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1982|isbn=0253303974}}</ref><ref name="Talbot1916">{{cite journal|last=Talbot|first=P. Amaury|date=July 1916|title=Some Beliefs of To-day and Yesterday (Niger-Delta Tribes.)|journal=Journal of the Royal African Society|publisher=The Royal African Society|volume=15|issue=60|pages=307–308}}</ref> ''Éké'' is one's ancestral guardian spirit but exists at the periphery of human life and remains a mystery to the people.<ref name="cole1982"/> Households usually contain a shrine for veneration of the Chi, which could be focused on a tree. In marriage a woman takes her chi shrine along with all her belongings to her matrimonial home.<ref name="agbadiere"/> A shrine to ones chi is set up at daybreak to summon the spirit from the sun. The shrine of an individual's chi is destroyed when they die.<ref name=":0" /> Around Nkarahia, in southern Igboland, there are the most elaborate chi shrines which are decorated with colourful china plates inset into the clay walls of the chi shrine building; the altars hold sacred emblems, while the polished mud benches hold offerings of china, glass, [[manillas]], and food.<ref name="Talbot1916"/> As a marker of personal fortune or misfortune, good acts or ill, chi can be described as a focal point for 'personal religion'.<ref name="agbadiere"/>