ABASTRACT

The study investigated the “Influence of First Church on the Worship and Adoration of Njaba Deity in Awo Omamma”.

The community of Awo-Omamma, in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State was once believed to be snake worshippers. Njaba River is that stretch of water body which runs through the belly of Awo-Omamma town. Njaba is also a deity, represented by Eke Njaba (the sacred python). Eke Njaba is a welcome visitor and tradition forbids anyone, indigene and visitor alike, to raise a hand against it or to kill it. Anyone who violates the tradition, willingly or accidentally, must accord the snake a befitting burial surpassing that of a titled man to cleanse the land he has polluted. To the outsiders, Awo-Omamma was very fetish, and it was frightening to have anything to do with the people from the community, even marrying them. It can be noted that the reverence and worship of the snake in Awo Omamma is greatly disappearing from the community, as the people are fast embracing the Christian faith. The advent Christianity could be traced back to the time the missionaries came into the town and built the first church. The presence of the first church situated in Ubachima village in Awo Omamma did a marvellous work in the life of the people in the community, especially in the area of making them to be free from the bondage of the Njaba Deity. The first converts fought real hard to see that the worship of the snake, Eke Njaba was abolished, hence this gave rise to the popular song that was often sang, "Eke gbalaga, ndi choochi abiala igbugi" (Eke flee for your life, the Christians are coming to kill you) and as if responding to the call to alert by the people, Eke Njaba has retreated far into the forests such that today, it is very rarely seen at all, let alone within the vicinity of human habitation. This victory could be attributed to the first church in Awo Omamma.

Early in the mornings teachers from neighboring communities assembled at Ubachima ( Ama Amanfo). These teachers were warned to refrain from idol sentiments and interference with pagans. This continued to take place until about 1928. Awo-Omamma central school was established in 1934. These early Christians were meeting regularly, trekking for miles to Ihiala and Ubachima for meetings. Under the mission, the central school could only take up standard 1 to 4. The pupil stagnated after standard four (4) because government did not approve the school to standard five (5). Some of the pupils had to leave the school to various destinations to continue. In 1941 the school was approved to Standard Six. Those who passed the Standard Six in 1940 were recalled to approved schools in order to get the government certificate. It is strongly believed that the disappearance of the Eke Njaba, actually began with the advent of Christianity in Awo-Omamma, after some of the indigenes converted to Christianity and began to kill the snake, damming the consequences and the implications this could bring to them and their families. The Catholic Church took up evangelization in Awo-Omamma with the seat at Ubachima (Ama Amanfo). Then the strategy used by the missionaries to get converts was to establish schools and health centers, this they did in Awo-Omamma. They got their converts and educated them as well.

Hypothesis is used more in quantitative research than in qualitative research projects such as this because the hypothesis help to guess how related the variables are. This study did not involve any statistical formula so the stating of research hypothesis was overlooked. But in relation to the general hypothesis, there is a significant relationship between the Christianity and the fall of Idol Worship. As people become enlightened in the things of the spirit, they will begin to ask certain questions. Although some educated people and even some clergy believe in the existence of idols and that violation of the idols rules could affect a person’s life, yet these set of people cannot subject themselves to the worship of idols. Some could be as a result of pride or that they have gained enough understanding of the person of God and modern day science and they know that there is no power in idols. The so called intellectuals are able to reason and check out the truthfulness of both idol worship and Christianity, and then they will find out that Christianity has more truth than idol worship.

After their conversion, the people now saw that the dread of Eke Njaba was only in their head; they witnessed that as the early converts killed the snakes, and nothing happened to them, hence the fear of the Eke Njaba slowly wiped off from the people’s mind. Although it cannot be ascertained to what extent the early church and indeed Christianity has caused the fall of the worship of the Njaba Deity, but it is a known fact that the present Awo-Omamma is highly religious in whatever form you want it, but predominantly Catholic. Other Christian denominations also exist. Hence, the pythons have retracted to the forest, even there they are not commonly seen, and the Njaba River which was believed to defile all efforts by the government to build a bridge over it has now dried up and a bridge has been constructed over it, also the gully erosion in the area which was believed to be caused by the Njaba River goddess has been controlled. Science found out that the erosion was caused by loose soil in the area due to the massive cutting down of the trees in the area in the 1970s. With all these visible facts glaring before the Christians in Awo Omamma, they have come to realize that the Njaba Deity was only a fallacy.

It will be alarming to know that with the level of civilization going on today, even in Awo Omamma, that some people still put their faith in a snake. Some people are adherent to the fetish custom of Njaba Deity. The fact is that those people practicing such fetish religions are very few and they no longer practice it in the open as before.

From this study, I have come to the conclusion that since the advent of Christianity, which was signified by the building of the first church in Awo-Omamma influenced the fall of Njaba Deity. It is true of the song that was usually sung in those days: “Eke gbalaga, ndichoochi abiala igbugi”, which translates as “Eke flee for your life, the Christians are coming to kill you”, that the Eke should flee for its life that the Christians are coming to kill it, of a truth, since Christianity came into Awo-Omamma, the worship of the Njaba Deity began to fall and it is still falling.