A new church, known as Ogbanje Church of All Nations has reportedly commenced services in Anambra State.
The Church, which is new in the state, was said to be located in Nnewi, Nnewi North Local Government Area of the State, where the members reportedly had their first meeting recently.
This was corroborated by a video which is currently trending on the social media, showing the members of the church as they rejoiced and danced to the tunes of songs compiled in praise of Ogbanje spirit and goddesses of some popular rivers in the Nnewi area and its environs.
Earlier ,addressing the congregation at the yet-to-be-completed church building, the clergyman presiding over the church service advised the people to worship what they know, rather than what they don’t know.
The clergyman who spoke in Igbo language mocked the names Bethsaida, Jericho and some other biblical locations that have been used to compose songs, and queried the people on why they usually sing and dance to songs composed with such names and places while they do not actually know who, what, or where they are.
He, however, advised them to always sing songs composed with names of rivers that are known to them and the goddesses of those rivers, rather than singing and dancing to the names of what they don’t know.
Together with the congregation, he mentioned some names of rivers and some river goddesses in the area to include Ụbụ̀ River, Mmiri Ele, Ụrasị̀ River, Mmiri Edo, Ọfala River, Ọta, Ezu River, among others.
While proudly identifying himself as an Ọgbanje, the clergyman also claimed that he and other people who are also Ọgbanje usually shine, prosper and live fine from year to year because they worship the rivers and the goddesses of the rivers they know, rather than those unknown to them.
Supported with echoes of joy and commendation from the congregation, the clergyman who did not mention his name, thereafter, began singing a praise song in reverence to the Ọgbanje, while the members cheerfully dance around in joy.
An ọgbanje is a term in Odinani (Igbo: ọ̀dị̀nànị̀) for what was thought to be an evil spirit that would deliberately plague a family with misfortune. Belief in ọgbanje in Igboland is not as strong as it once was, although there are still some believers.
Its literal meaning in the Igbo language is “children who come and go”. Sometimes the word ọgbanje has been used as a synonym for a rude or stubborn child. The word ọgbanje is often translated as changeling, due to the similarities they share with the fairy changelings of Celtic and broader European mythology. Some theorists have hypothesized that these conceptions serve as mythological ways of understanding what were once unknown diseases that often claimed the lives of children (such as SIDS and sickle cell disease),as the inheritance of these diseases within families may have led people to conclude that the children involved were all incarnations of the same malevolent spirit.
It was believed that within a certain amount of time from birth (usually not past puberty), the ọgbanje would deliberately die and then be reborn into the next child of the family and repeat the cycle, causing much grief. It is also believed that ọgbanje are born into the same immediate family all the time; it can even be born into an extended family. Ogbanje can be born into family from a spirit between gestation and birth. Another way is by being introduced to an ọgbanje group.
The evil spirits are said to have stones called iyi-uwa, which they bury somewhere secret. The iyi-uwa serves to permit the ọgbanje to return to the human world and to find its targeted family. Finding the evil spirits’ iyi-uwa ensures the ọgbanje would never again plague the family with misfortune.
Additional reports from Wikipedia
