Stories, Legends & Oral Traditions

God’s Descent to Agbaja

Legend has it that, long after the creation of the new world, there was civil strife in heaven, and God needed to settle on earth for a time. He landed in Agbaja land in the disguise of an old black woman in search of a peaceful place to live. In Her thirst She demanded water from an Owa woman, who refused; She went to Obeleagu, Umumba, Okpudo and Nachi, and none gave Her water. She finally came to Obinofia, where She was given water to Her fill.

In Her annoyance and appreciation, She commanded all the waters of those towns to flow down to Obinofia and settle, so that those people would have dry land and thirst — and to go further down, so that the unhospitable neighbours would trek a very long way and sweat profusely before fetching from them. “And it was so.” This, the tradition explains, accounts for the streams, rivers, springs, hills, caves and lakes seen in Obinofia today.

This account is community legend and traditional belief — not presented as scientific fact.

The Cave as God’s Kingdom

Following God’s command that the waters be gathered at Obinofia, the legend says He found the place safe and comfortable to live in. He commanded the surrounding hills to gather together and form a long chain, and then to open a long wide hollow passage in it — and so the cave was formed. “Thy Kingdom came.”

God is said to have lived there for many years, overseeing the whole universe; people came to consult Him face to face and He solved their problems instantly. It was there, the legend holds, that He created the first set of twelve giants and twelve dwarfs (twelve males, twelve females) to vary human sizes, which used to be of average size only, and He invited the various peoples of the world and gave them different languages.

When human problems became too much for God, He ascended into the sun through the wide window-like opening on the cave’s roof through which light penetrated some sections of the cave. From the sun, He oversees all the activities of the world. It was after this that some indigenes migrated out of Obinofia, saying “the glory has departed from Obinofia”.

Presented as the community’s legend and belief, including the claim to scientific proof of the sun’s air-conditioned coolness, which the book itself relates as legend.

Heneke Lake Origin

The story records that a man lived with his family in an isolated thatched mud-walled hut in Ihuezi, so over-reserved that he talked only once a day. People tried to dissuade him from building in that location, but he insisted. After living there some years, on a fateful day he stumbled on a stone at his doorstep; the stone shifted forcefully from its position and water immediately came out and flooded the place, forming the lake. His hut collapsed under the weight of the water and was submerged. He then built another hut nearer his kinsmen, having learnt to socialize with others.

Oral tradition — the wonders of the lake (its changing tides and colours) are described on the Heneke Lake page.

Nwa Agulu, the Blacksmith

Nwa Agulu, a blacksmith from Agulu in the present Anambra State, set off to visit his kinsmen who had earlier settled at Obeleagu Umana. They were not happy with him, and in the morning asked him to find his way. He set off to an unknown place and eventually found himself in Obinofia Ndiuno.

As he introduced himself as Uzu (blacksmith), he was welcomed and settled at the place thereafter called Owuzu square. He built his shade there and sited his furnace. People came from other villages to see “Nwa Agulu” and his wonderful works, making the place busy like a tourist centre. At night the furnace light brightened the place like the moon — whence the name Onwa Uzu (“the blacksmith’s moon”).

When he wanted to marry, he married one of the daughters of Onaga on the condition that the children be raised in her father’s house, for Onaga had no son. When Nwa Agulu died, he was buried at Owuzu square. His children retained the name of his home town, Agulu — whence Umuagulu (“the children of Agulu”) — and the hamlet’s people recognize and pay more homage to maternity than paternity.

Oral tradition as recorded in the book.

Ndi na-achi — “The Laughers” (& the name Nachi)

In Agbaja mythology, legend has it that a young dwarfish man and woman settled in a vast, thick and lonely forest between Obinofia and Umuaga, known for wild banana farming and hence called Owere une (“wild banana forest”). The couple looked wild, aggressive, unfriendly and cannibalistic, and spoke a strange language — neither Igbo nor any local dialect. When the people of Obinofia and Umuaga discovered them and tried to question them, the couple only moped and laughed uncontrollably.

In their curiosity, people rushed to see the strange couple and made fun of their unnecessary laughing habits. On return, they told more people to visit the forest and see “those laughing” — Ndi na-achi — whence the name Nachi. Before long the couple started raising children and socializing freely, settling in the vast forest up till today. Through recent exogamous marriages with neighbouring communities, the people raised children of average heights against the aboriginal dwarfs and deformed.

Mythology and legend as recorded in the book, presented as tradition — not as historical fact.

Rain Making & Ihuezi Charms

The art of rain making is described as one of the wonders of the ancient and modern world, a credit to the African variant of scientific and technological revolution. In the archive’s account, rain making in Obinofia Ndiuno started from Umuemeshi Onu Obodoiyi, Umuonaga village; every male or female born of this clan is said to be a potential rain maker by birth.

A long drought once challenged the Umuemeshi — an Umuemeshi man forced down the rain so powerfully it rained for days beyond his control; the charm broke, worsened the rain, and the man died. The rain only stopped after some days. The elders and people of Umuemeshi then swore never to have anything else to do with rain making, for they so loved the dead man. An undisclosed Umuezeagu man from Ogbagu took over the powers through maternal relationship with Umuemeshi, and so the power shifted to Umuezeagu.

The people of Umuezeagu and Okposhi villages are said to be endowed with the powers of making and dispersing rain, with sacred forests called Ede mii where the powers are hidden. Families known for it include the Anichee, Ezeji, Ekwe and Chikakwe families and the Umuaghaa kindred of Umuezeagu, and the Chiakwa Oke family of Okposhi. Snail is considered unclean and a “don’t eat” among true Umuezeagu and Okposhi origins, believed to be the secret behind their art.

Ihuezi rain/charms story

The archive also records that there was a time when the people of Ihuezi, prepared in their usual way with charms and accompanied by their dangerous masquerades, were caught by sudden rain on the way to an occasion; the charms were beaten by the rain, causing the poisons to penetrate their bodies, an outbreak of leprosy, and toxic pollution of the soil. The painful event is remembered as the origin of Ihuezi’s smallness and the people’s perpetually guarded way of life.

Traditional belief and oral tradition as recorded in the book.

The Umuawo Jungle-Herbalist Soul-Travel

A more popular belief among the people is that Agueze gave birth to five sons; another belief has it that Agueze was a younger brother to Awo. Tied to the Umuawo lineage, history records that there was a famous herbalist from Umuawo (descendants of Awo) who engaged in soul travels, to the envy of his kinsmen. When they discovered that he had travelled, they broke the door, carried his soulless body and buried it. When he returned he could not find his body, and so died forever — then subjected his people to a spiritual warfare that resulted in strange deaths and near-extinction. The people retreated and resettled close to their closest kinsmen.

This account is presented in the book as history; the event it describes cannot be verified. It is classified here as an unverified claim recorded as oral tradition.

Thunder Justice

Thunder is used in settling disputes among the people. A story was told about two brothers, Okafor Ozoezi and Umeali Nwankwo of Imeama Enugwuagu Umuonaga, who were contesting the ownership of a kola nut tree in their family land. The “legal” services of the thunder were sought. Miraculously, there was a thunder blast at the peak of the dry season which split the disputed kola nut tree into two equal, undamaged parts — not even a leaf was shed — and the two families took the parts facing them. By this, justice was achieved and the dispute ended abruptly, giving no room for appeal.

Recounted as traditional belief recorded in the book; classified as belief, not historical fact.

The Migration of Umu-obia (Aguobia / Aguoba)

The history of Umu-obia (Aguoba), according to the late elder James Ezenagu of Enugwuagu Umuonaga village, dates back to the 18th century (the archive marks no firmer date). A handful of people, precisely from Okpudo Obeleagu Umana, migrated to Enugwuagu in search of fertile land, since their homeland was sandy and not fertile enough (Ana nza gbara egwu). It was observed that almost all had their maternal homes in Obinofia; being thus received as blood relations, they were given a large expanse of thickly forested area called Ofia obia (forest for strangers), and allowed to build farm houses on the land.

As their population grew, the people of Enugwuagu began to envy their fertile land. When a war came between Obinofia and Ishigwu — a one-day war in which the Obinofia militia ambushed the enemies’ warriors from four sides, compelling their surrender — the Umu-obias were relocated to the valley with the Ofia stream flowing there (Aguobia “Aguoba” Ogwugwu), under the pretext of security, enabling Enugwuagu to reclaim its land. The relocation changed the identity from Umuobia to Aguobia (“distant farm land for strangers”); the name change to Aguoba recently is to allay the fear of a possible xenophobic attack.