Things Fall Apart
Religion plays a big role in the daily life of the people of Okonkwo・s tribe. They have daily religious rituals they perform, such as sacrificing animals or praying to certain objects, on order to pay homage to their ancestors and personal god, or Chi. Religion in Okonkwo・s tribe was not organized like the religion of the white missionaries described in Things Fall Apart; it was more a number of practices and superstitious customs. Instead of sitting in a church one day a week they practice these rituals every day and on special occasions in honor of their personal gods, their ancestors, and to the different gods they thought controlled the different aspects of their lives. The religious practices of Okonkwo・s tribe provided meaning to the world around them and play a huge role in both the daily life and in ceremonious events of the tribe. Okonkwo・s tribe believed heavily in the power of the spirits of their ancestors and so on certain occasions they would perform ceremonies in order to call upon these spirits. One such occasion was the event of the egwugwu trial where people who had quarrels with one another would seek the wisdom of the egwugwu in order to settle the dispute. The egwugwu where believed to be the spirits of the founders of the nine villages of Umuofia. They were in fact men from each village who put on religious masks and preformed chants and dances. The men performing this ceremony ceased to be men entirely and in fact become the spirits of one of the nine village ancestors, and during this ceremony it was believed that ：the ancestral spirits of the clan were abroad； (88).