Claribel
@clarybel
Ogbanje An ọgbanje for what was thought to be an evil spirit that would deliberately plague a family with misfortune. Belief in ọgbanje in Igboland is not as strong as it once was, although there are still some believers. Its literal meaning in the Igbo language is "children who come and go". Sometimes the word ọgbanje has been used as a synonym for a rude or stubborn child. The word ogbanje once served as a mythological ways of understanding what were once unknown diseases that often claimed the lives of children (such as SIDS and sickle cell disease),as the inheritance of these diseases within families may have led people to conclude that the children involved were all incarnations of the same malevolent spirit.
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Claribel
@clarybel
It was believed that within a certain amount of time from birth (usually not past puberty), the ọgbanje would deliberately die and then be reborn into the next child of the family and repeat the cycle, causing much grief. It is also believed that ọgbanje are born into the same immediate family all the time; it can even be born into an extended family. Ogbanje can be born into family from a spirit between gestation and birth. Another way is by being introduced to an ọgbanje group.
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Claribel
@clarybel
The evil spirits are said to have stones called iyi-uwa, which they bury somewhere secret. The iyi-uwa serves to permit the ọgbanje to return to the human world and to find its targeted family. Finding the evil spirits' iyi-uwa ensures the ọgbanje would never again plague the family with misfortune.The iyi-uwa is dug out by a priest and destroyed. The child is confirmed to no longer be an ọgbanje after the destruction of the stone, or after the mother successfully gives birth to another baby. Female ọgbanje die during pregnancies along with the baby, while male ọgbanje die before the birth or death of a wife's baby.
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