If you have any sources on Osu agbara apart from those I mentioned please show them to us.
If you have any evidence that my assertion about osu being seen as having their humanity negatively compromised in relation to other human beings is not supported by the majority of evidence, both scholarly and general on osu, please show it to us.
Paradoxes of the kind as unlikely are central to much of spirituality, which is often perceived in non-linear terms:
'Your lack of deep research on this issue manifests in such positions like;'the servants of gods (Osu agbaras), who must carry sacrifices to the inner sanctums of shrines (holy of holies), for instance, can be described as "contaminated/compromised (cursed) humanity", when even those who offer these sacrifices must first sanctify themselves before presenting these offerings. For one to even invoke the names of these gods in "iju ogu" for instance, one must attain a high level of sanctity.'
The description of osu as sanctified in relation to the deity they are dedicated to but contaminated in themselves and poisonous to other humans might not be as anomalous as it seems in an analysis of the relationship between ideas in the Igbo context as well as in terms of comparative understanding of spirituality.
The theology of osu suggests that classical Igbo spirituality understood two major ways of dedication to deity, the path of the priest walked by the diala, those belonging, according to Victor Chikezie Uchendu in "Ezi Na Ulo:The Extended Family in Igbo Civilization", his 1995 Ahiajoku lecture, perhaps the premier intellectual convenor in Igboland, as among those belonging in the sphere of free men and women , or the path of osu, among those whom he describes as belonging in the sphere of bondage.
The character of relationship with deity of the osu and diala are understood as very different. This difference emerges from various factors, which include the mode of entry into being osu, modes of entry often understood as being ignominious- Francis Onwubuariri provides a list of some of these modes of entry. This ignominy implies that the new social role the osu assumes is not one that enhances their humanity but subtracts from it as the price they pay for their mode of entering into that social order, modes that are not consonant with ideals of the honorable life in Igbo society.
This understanding is reinforced by the genetic interpretation of being osu as an inheritance carried in the genetic line and seems to be described as capable of shaping the fortunes of all who enter into that line. This fear of an invisible, genetic strain is central to the fear of marrying into osu families. This genetic strain may be described as the mark of the deity to which the osu ancestor was dedicated and seems to be perceived as capable of dealing dangerously with non-osu who come within its radius.
Look at ideas of vampirism, for example, particularly as developed in the iconic Blade films. The vampire gains heightened powers, but pays a high price for being resurrected from death through becoming a vampire. Sharing the vampire's blood, through blood transfusion, for example, could gain one one some of the positive and not so desirable qualities of being a vampire since it is transmitted through a virus/genetic strain(?) as shown in the film.
Another view is simply that those who like to feel superior to someone else insist that the system should live on and keep it alive. If not, is there evidence that marrying osu really harms anyone? The worst those people could do is brand the osu marrying person an osu as well but since human beings value social acceptance so much, this branding might not be something they would wish on themselves or their descendants so they give in to the redmail.
My major interest here though, is your conviction that this contradiction is unsustainable:
'Your lack of deep research on this issue manifests in such positions like;the servants of gods (Osu agbaras), who must carry sacrifices to the inner sanctums of shrines (holy of holies), for instance, can be described as "contaminated/compromised (cursed) humanity", when even those who offer these sacrifices must first sanctify themselves before presenting these offerings. For one to even invoke the names of these gods in "iju ogu" for instance, one must attain a high level of sanctity.'
The mainstream Igbo conception could be described as assimilating this contradiction in terms of seeing osu as positive towards the deity they are dedicated to but negative towards other humans. That implies that their relationship with the deity is one of purity and sanctity but that very purity is of a kind that is a contamination from a human point of view.
If we want to speculate, one could say that the issue here is the rationale for the dedication to the deity. That rationale may be described as shaping the fundamental effect of the dedication.
In other spiritualities, related but not identical paradoxes exist.
In contemporary Goetia, for example, a controversial Western spiritual system, debates on various listserves serving enthusiasts of such practices seem to be in consensus that when dealing with the Goetia, the terms of the relationship must be spelt out as precisely as possible and the scope of assistance to be given by the spirit carefully circumscribed, even as the traditional form of the rituals must be painstakingly observed, unless one wants to court danger.
Circumscribing the character of assistance, its range and kind of action, prevents the fate of the magician who invoked the Goetia to give him, lets say $1,000 and subsequently had a electric pole fall on his family home, wipe out his family and leave him with $1,000 in insurance payment in compensation for the calamity. A Google search for Goetia might bring up some of this information.
The collection of Tibetan meditation practices, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines [ free on Scribd] edited by Evans-Wentz, states on p. 268, Note. 3, that the continuous practice of the Yoga of Consciousness Transference tends to shorten life by ripening the physical body for death and recommends an antidote to lengthen life.
Yet, these two purportedly dangerous forms of spiritual practice, the Goetic and the Tibetan Buddhist Consciousness Transference require a high level of discipline and sanctity in their performance.
Other examples can be given describing how one has to be careful in one's method of dedication to or alliance with spirits since the stated terms of the alliance, spelt out in words and/or ritual, make a lot of difference to the eventual outcome in that relationship.
Having summed up these issues, how does a person who sees any value in such ideas address the osu issue?
I suggest one ignore all these theories. They deal with issues that are best verified by experiment. I doubt if the experience of marriage between people is one one would describe as the best character of an experiment.
The discrimination against osu has shrank in Igboland over the vears without any harm but with only positive results to Ndigbo. All the other discriminations should fall as evidence of freedom from subservience to ideas that have been elevated as being above the interests of the communities they are supposed to serve.
thanks
toyin
On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 7:11 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:
Toyin,
I will advise again that you research the Osu agbara phenomenon deeply
before taking position. Your lack of deep research on this issue
manifests in such positions like; the servants of gods (Osu agbaras),
who must carry sacrifices to the inner sanctums of shrines (holy of
holies), for instance, can be described as "contaminated/compromised
(cursed) humanity", when even those who offer these sacrifices must
first sanctify themselves before presenting these offerings. For one
to even invoke the names of these gods in "iju ogu" for instance, one
must attain a high level of sanctity.
You exhibited further lack of deep understanding of the Osu agbara
phenomenon when for instance, you maintained that an Osu agbara cannot
opt out of his/her status.
You should also re-examine your research method in this matter.
I am done with this thread.
CAO.
On 3 Apr, 15:06, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tva...@gmail.com> wrote:
> *Apologies. Reposting with addition*
>
> * Response to Chidi *
>
> *Paradox of Spiritual Dedication and Service as Social Stigma in the
> Osu System *
>
> 1. *Spiritual Dedicand and Social Stigmatite [neologisms] *
>> System in Igboland<http://www.frasouzu.com/Issues%20and%20Papers/Onwubuariri%20Francis.htm>
> '(1) Can servants of gods in Igboland be regarded as contaminated/
>
> compromised humanity?
> (2) Can Chukwu's(God's) representatives on earth; amadioha and others
> condone being served by contaminated/compromised humanity?'
> Chidi
>
> The answer of collective Igbo cultural memory to this question is YES.
>
> The logic being that they are understood as contaminated in a way that is
> dangerous to other humans but is a consequence of their dedication to the
> deity.
>
> Francis Onwubuariri addresses this paradox in 'Appraising the Osu Caste
> '> 2. *Brutal and Once Pervasive Discrimination *
>
> '...they can be given the sacred place of priest, they are still seen as
> priests without power and prestige by the freeborn because they do not and
> cannot command the respect or attract the admiration of the freeborns due
> to their Osu stigma in the sight of the freeborns due to the fact that they
> see themselves as inferior beings.'
> ......
> According to M. M. Green talking about making an Osu priest in his Book
> Igbo Village Affairs, he made the point that "The Osu people looked up as
> horrible and holy by the society do not necessarily make them into people
> of authority, because of their anomalous position in some society, but it
> does not mean that they are or may be a part of the mechanism whereby law
> and order are preserved (1978, 20).
> ....
>
>> 1. *Marriage* between osu and diala or freeborn, a taboo. Sexual relations
> '(3)What are the manifestations of this Contamination(curse) in the Igbo
> belief system?'
>
> It has been held that relating with Osu is harmful.
>
> People refuse to marry Osu so that cures do not enter into their family and
> so they too dont become Osu.
>
> It has been stated that Osu gives off a bad smell on account of the effect
> of the 'juju' that owns them.
>
> Francis Onwubuariri lists various forms of anti-osu discrimination-
>
> taboo. Any infringement makes the offending freeborn osu.> 2.* Birth and Death *
>
> The Facebook groups against the Osu sysyenm describe this as still very
> active among Igbos in Nigeria.
>
> 3. *Chieftaincy titles*>
> From birth to death, the Diala do not ever dare to rejoice over or
> celebrate the arrival of a new born baby delivered by an Osu as they do not
> sympathize with or lament over mishaps on them" (64).
>
> Besides, it is said accordingly that in the Igbo days of Yore, that at the
> death of an Osu, the Diala do not participate in the digging of ground as
> well as taking part in any other burial rites likewise the Osus. The Osus
> are not allowed to be buried around the places where the freeborn were
> buried.
> One of the reasons for this hostility towards the Osus by the freeborns
> even at death was according to Magbobukwa because the freeborns do not
> believe that the Osus do have any soul to be saved, hence, there is nothing
> like the resurrection of the soul for them. Just as the case was with
> Whites and the Blacks in American and South Africa where the White sees the
> blacks as people with no history, no hope of life after death a blissful
> resurrection probably on the last day.
> .....
>
> As an ancillary to the above view, Onwubiko said in his book Facing the Osu
> issue in the African Synod that "it was the traditional Igbo religious
> belief that a person on whom the right of segregation was performed as was
> the case of the Osu was bound to be last in the life after death and
> thereafter would not attain the blissful state in the spirit world. This
> belief was very latent in the minds of the adult Igbos" (1993).
> ....
>
> Furthermore, Mabobukwa enunciated same of the rights enjoyed by the
> freeborns at death. According to him, when a man is pronounced dead, the
> relatives gather together and he will be lowered to the grave. Three days
> later, the buried rites begin, the following animals are provided:
> Ikenga Ewu (A female goat that has given birth)
> Agbogho Ewu (A female goat that has not given birth)
> Okemkpi (A he goat)
> Okokpa (A cock) (50)
>
> It is believed that when ever a person is buried with the enunciated items
> and several other ones, based on the culture and tradition, the person will
> be welcomed in the land of the dead. But since the Osus do not enjoy these
> rights during burial rites, thus, their spirits did not go well in the land
> of the dead. Thus, they will not take part in any thing that has to do with
> life after death.
> .......
>
>> 4. *Hospitality- GIVING A COLA NUT TO AN OSU*
> One of the enormous social segregation between an Osu and the freeborns is
> prevalent in the case of making an Osu a chief or king over the freeborn.
> It is a sheer abomination in Igbo land till date to coronate an Osu or to
> crown any untouchable or slaves a king that will rule over the freeborns
> even if the person is the most eligible person for the seat in the
> community or land. The people would rather choose a mediocre or an
> unqualified person to rule them instead of seeing themselves being ruled by
> a known slave of the gods.
>
> Kenneth Ezeaguba in an interview made the following assertions "I witness a
> situation where a well educated man was acceded to the traditional
> chieftaincy title of grown town, this man is overtly overflowing with
> benevolence, integrity, dynamism, thus, he was very popular. But some
> people protested, claiming that he was said to be an osu and as such should
> not rule over the freeborn. They therefore chose a less qualified and
> unqualified illiterate as the rightful candidate"(interviewed at Owerri).
>
>> 5. *Summation of Discrimination*
> From the issue of making an osu a chief, also comes the issue of showing or
> giving cola nut to the osu. Due to the high esteem which the Igbo's held
> cola nut, it becomes a misdeed for a person to show cola nut to an osu in
> the presence of visitors or to give a cola nut to an osu who visited a
> freeborn
>
> According to Jude Mgbabukwa, "the reason for this discrimination is
> because there is never a time an Osu is welcomed in the house of a Diala.
> In many social gatherings, by the time cola nuts are broken and eaten, an
> Osu is made to be aware that he is a stranger being manly tolerated" (48).
>
> Osu as at this time are regarded as inferior beings and as such should not
> be given a cola nut by the freeborns nor is it pertinent for an Osu to give
> cola nut to the freeborns.
>
>> *Extant Anti-Osu Discrimination *
> Children of the free born were forbidden to see the corpse of an Osu. An
> Osu could not be chief or a feasten of any village. If the corpse of an Osu
> was to be carried through the village of a Diala, palm frond was placed
> every where to warn the people that evil was in the air and a bad event was
> to happen. lf an Osu had a sexual intercourse with a Diala woman, the
> offending woman was to be dragged to the Osu to marry for free. Under no
> circumstances would a Diala run into the compound of an Osu even if it was
> raining or he was being chased with gun ormachete, if one did so, he or she
> automatically becomes Osu."
>
>> community in 1999<https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#%21msg/soc.culture.niger...>.
> Those of those discriminatory practices still active are that on marriage
> and that on headship of communities.
>
> People on the Facebook groups against the osu system testify to that on
> marriage and the case of the Omoude community I linked in an earlier post
> confirms the headship discrimination as active up till 1999. The village
> was seen as an osu community and so the rotational headship of the group of
> villages to which it belongs to was denied it and its people brutalized
> into the bargain, so the story went: the tragic story of the Omuode
>
> *Further Questions from Chidi*
>> On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 2:55 PM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tva...@gmail.com> wrote:
> (4) How are these manifestations handled?
> (5) Are these manifestations part of the hallmarks of the Osu agbaras?
>
> I would like clarification on these questions.
>
> Also, I am yet to observe a distinction known as 'osu agbara' in any
> source, apart from your summation, Chidi. Can you give any info that will
> confirm your summation?
>
> thanks
>
> toyin
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > * Response to Chidi *
>
> > *Paradox of Spiritual Dedication and Service as Social Stigma in
> > the Osu System *
>
> > 1. *Spiritual Dedicand and Social Stigmatite [neologisms] *
>> > System in Igboland<http://www.frasouzu.com/Issues%20and%20Papers/Onwubuariri%20Francis.htm>
> > '(1) Can servants of gods in Igboland be regarded as contaminated/
>
> > compromised humanity?
> > (2) Can Chukwu's(God's) representatives on earth; amadioha and others
> > condone being served by contaminated/compromised humanity?'
> > Chidi
>
> > The answer of collective Igbo cultural memory to this question is YES.
>
> > The logic being that they are understood as contaminated in a way that is
> > dangerous to other humans but is a consequence of their dedication to the
> > deity.
>
> > Francis Onwubuariri addresses this paradox in 'Appraising the Osu Caste
> > '
>
> > '...they can be given the sacred place of priest, they are still seen as
> > priests without power and prestige by the freeborn because they do not and
> > cannot command the respect or attract the admiration of the freeborns due
> > to their Osu stigma in the sight of the freeborns due to the fact that they
> > see themselves as inferior beings.'
> > ......
> > According to M. M. Green talking about making an Osu priest in his Book
> > Igbo Village Affairs, he made the point that "The Osu people looked up as
> > horrible and holy by the society do not necessarily make them into people
> > of authority, because of their anomalous
>
> ...
>
> read more »
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