Anẹ, the Earth Deity
Igala · deity · Igala traditional religion; continuing · deity
Anẹ is the personified and venerated earth, ranked in Igala religion immediately below the supreme being Ọjọ. As the power of the land she governs agricultural fertility and enforces the moral order: offences against the earth are her concern, and her name is invoked in oaths. Her altars are found in nearly every traditional Igala compound, and at the kingdom's capital, Idah, the sacred earth-cult is in the keeping of the Igala Mela, the college of nine priest-chiefs who are custodians of the land. The earth is sometimes named Ọjọ-anẹ, binding the cult of the soil to the supreme god, and Anẹ forms with the sky-god Ọjọ the earth–sky pairing that frames the Igala cosmos.
Domains
- earth and land
- fertility and agriculture
Powers
- to guard the land and uphold the moral order
Epithets
- Ọjọ-anẹ
Relations
- consort of: Ọjọ (Ọjọchamachala)