WEEK 3 ~~~

Religions and superstitions

Karl Marx once commented that 'religion is the opium of the people'. Do you agree with him? In the case of Umuofia, do you think their native religion stunts their development? Is the 'new' religion seen as a way of bringing development to Umuofia?

Apart from religion, superstitions play an important part in the Ibo culture. Do you have your own sets of superstitions which you find difficult to discard?

The following points can help you as you write your reflective post on the role of religion and superstition in the novel and in your life:

• Analyse how superstitions and religions play in the life described in the novel. 
• Do superstitious beliefs and religion affect the development of a country? How?
• How does one's beliefs affect the nation in terms of politics and culture?

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RELIGIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS: HOW ARE THEY RELATED?

BY CATHERINE JANET TIWI

“Religion is the opium of the people.” I am quite disagree with the statement. It is true that religion leads people to the correct path of life. In fact, all the teaching in every religion states that the followers should be inspired by the founder and follow the good examples showed by him.

But I find that aside from the religion perspective, what I think influence the society more is the society itself. In other words, the way the individuals in the society act, behave, speak and even respond impacts the other individuals too. For example, in the novel “Things Fall Apart”, the elders are still standing firm and continue the strange superstitious beliefs that they had been exposed to - the killing of the twin. The younger generations follow the habit without questioning it - afraid to be said as defying the tradition. This superstition does stunt the development of the tribe. It is said that the killing of the twin is accepted in their religion as it is a bad omen. The truth is the twins are innocent. They should not be killed. They have the right to live.

Somebody needs to question the action and tries to explain that in the modern world nowadays, to kill others is wrong and the doer should be punished by the law. This is related to the introduction of the new faith-Christianity. Christianity is against the act of killing others and thus the practice teaches the new follower in Umuofia to realize that for all this while they are following their traditional belief blindly and not rationally. At least, they are open to the new dimension of the world and they will never do the cruel act anymore.

As for me, I find that my family members do practice one superstitious belief until today. It is inherited from the elders in the olden day. If there is any death in the family, we should put a small amount of various dishes in a small plate at leave it at a hidden corner in the kitchen. It is done once a day. The next day, the food will be changed.  It is believed that the soul of the dead will come over and have his meal as what he usually did during his life time. Before, if the corpse is still not being buried, the plate will be put next to the body. But since my grandparents convert into Christianity, they just put the plate in the kitchen. It is just a superstitious belief but we find it hard to stop doing it as it is a normal tradition that has been done for quite a long time.

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THINGS FALL APART : BELIEF VERSUS RELIGION

1.    Analyze how superstitions and religions play in the life described in the novel.

Igbo people hold strongly on their belief which the European viewed/ considered as superstitious and barbaric. The western viewed the worshipping of more than one god is wrong.  But the Igbo people viewed their own set of belief as sacred and have to be obeyed to appease the gods as the sign of respect. Egwugwu is the best example that shows the Igbo people are respecting their gods as they knew that the villagers know that the egwugwu are not real. For example, “Okonkwo’s wives and perhaps other women as well, might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springy walk of Okonkwo. And they might have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat . . . But if they thought these things they kept them within themselves.”  (Spark note). For them the belief is done for good reasons that are to bring peace and harmony to the land. For example the mutilation of the baby is done to prevent the obanje to reenter the mother womb and cause grief to the mother. But the beliefs are controlling their life especially the women and children. Both women and children are deeply suppressed/ affected by the beliefs as they did not any right to voice their opinions. Nneka is one example on oppressed by the practices of the beliefs of the Igbo people as 4 pairs of her twin are being left to die in the evil forest. Nwoye is not given a chance to do things that he likes. These actions clearly showed that the society did not into account of how the women and children feel. To escape the feeling of oppression, most of them chose to convert into Christianity as they believe in everyone is equal. The Christianity has attracted many people to join the new religion. Just as the European viewed the Igbo belief as superstitious so do the Igbo people think the same about Christianity. The Igbo people do not understand how the Holy Trinity can be accepted as one God. They also cannot see how God can have a son and not a wife. Many of them laugh and leave after the interpreter asserts that Umuofia’s gods are incapable of doing any harm. Most of the converts have been efulefu, men who hold no status and who are generally ignored by the clan. For people that try to resist the changes that occurred, they found it rather easy to blame the new religion for what happened to the clan.

2.    Do superstitious beliefs and religion affect the development of a country? How? How does one’s belief affect the nation in terms of politics and culture?

Yes. Because how the country is rule is depend on the leaders’ ideologies and belief. Take for example Umuofia is ruled by the elders of the clan whose ideologies is to obey the gods that they are worshipping and the practices of the belief that they inherited from their ancestors. The leaders did not give the chances to their followers to voice their opinion. The villagers are merely just following what their elders decided without questioning any doubt or curiosity. Even if they are questioning the practices that they believed in, they will not voiced out their dissatisfaction due to the society norm. Examples are Obrieka and Nwoye who questioned about the tradition that they are practiced. With the arrival of Christianity, it gives the chances for them to voice out their opinions. The idea of equality of everyone has attracted the marginalized people to convert into Christianity. People like Enoch, Nneka and Nwoye are example of people who are ignored by the society. Umuofia also practiced the patriarchal leadership where women are considered as low and not respected. Men only respect women if they are priestess because their position that closes to gods. Due of the belief that they hold, the practice of the killing of the twins, babies mutilation and sacrificial are acceptable to the society.  

GLORIA JARAU

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Religions and superstitions

by Trecy Barbara Johnius

I am quite agree with Karl Marx because all the things that we do in our daily lives are based on the religion obligation which a person should follow to live his life. Without a proper religion we will live in a chaos society. While for the native religion I think their development has been affected by their religion. For example, they believe that a twin babies will bring bad omen and should be thrown away thus all of the society believe it and apply it in their daily lives. Yes, the new religion has brought them out from the old religion and developed their lives. For example, after they receive the new religion they do not throw their twin babies and only believe in one God.

Yes, I have my own superstitious believe which I find hard to discard which is if I want to avoid something bad from happening to me I will knock the wood, table or other things. I got this influence from my cousin where she told me that if I knock the table or wood the bad things will transfer to the wood and not to me.

The superstitious and religion have played its important roles in the developing of the country in the novel. For example, most of them believe in the superstitious teaching and follow the belief. They believe that a twin babies will bring bad omen to them thus, they throw the baby away to the evil forest. Other than that, they also believe that the all the evil spirits live in the evil forest and that’s why they throw the babies in the forest. This is the reason why their tribe does not develop. For example, when they wanted to do something but it is opposing the belief of the tribe then they will not do it even if it for the tribe’s development. They thought that the new religion is bad and will bring their tribe down thus they do not accept the new religion. But, at the same time there is still a person who finds that the new religion is good than their belief thus they embrace the new religion.