Ọjọ (Ọjọchamachala)
Igala · deity · Igala traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Ọjọ is the supreme being of the Igala of the Niger–Benue confluence, conceived as the almighty, omniscient creator who dwells in the highest of the three Igala worlds, above the world of the living (efi'le) and the world of the dead. His full praise-name Ọjọchamachala marks him as the God who never fails. Though transcendent and seldom approached with sacrifice directly, he is held to work through ẹbọ — divine spirit — manifesting himself in the earth deity Anẹ, the ancestral Ibegwu and the various nature spirits, to whom he delegates authority over the spheres of human life. The name Ọjọ derives from the Igala word for 'day', the deified day being a Yoruboid inheritance shared with the Yoruba Ọlọ́jọ́.
Domains
- creation and the supreme being
- sky and the deified day
Powers
- to create and sustain the world
- to grant power and authority to the lesser deities and spirits
Epithets
- ỌjọchamachalaIsaiah Aduojo Negedu, 'The Igala Traditional Religious Belief System: Between Monotheism and Polytheism', OGIRISI: A New Journal of African Studies 10 (2014): 116–129. (secondary)
- Ọjọ ỌkanapataMartin Ahiaba, 'Retrieving Ẹbọ as Spirit: The Foundation of Authentic Christian Pneumatology Among the Igala, Nigeria', Cross-Cultural Communication 11, no. 3 (2015). (secondary)
Relations
- consort of: Anẹ, the Earth DeityIn Igala cosmology the sky-creator Ọjọ is paired conceptually with the earth deity Anẹ, the two together framing the upper and lower halves of the world; the complementary sky–earth pairing is reflected even in the compound name Ọjọ-anẹ recorded for the earth cult.J. S. Boston, The Igala Kingdom (Ibadan: Oxford University Press for the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1968). (secondary)
Sources
- Ọjọ (Ọjọchamachala) is the transcendent supreme creator-god of the Igala people, source of all lesser deities, ancestors and tutelary spirits.: J. S. Boston, The Igala Kingdom (Ibadan: Oxford University Press for the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1968). (secondary); Isaiah Aduojo Negedu, 'The Igala Traditional Religious Belief System: Between Monotheism and Polytheism', OGIRISI: A New Journal of African Studies 10 (2014): 116–129. (secondary)