OHAZURUME - Unizik Journal of Culture and Civilization

Proverbs feature prominently in human verbal communication across all societies of the world and are the building blocks of a people’s wisdom accumulated and developed over time, and naturally handed over to successive generations, and also serving as the identity of the community’s philosophy and world-view. The wisdom in proverbs is applied to daily practicalities of human living which affects both the cultural and religious spheres of people across different societies and religious persuasions. In the context of the African Traditional Religion among the Igbo ethnic group of Nigeria, proverbs form a part of the religious education of the young ones, with theo-centric proverbs containing the acts of the deities and human responsibility to them incorporated therein. Using mainly the secondary sources of data gathering and analysis from works already written on the value of proverbs, the researchers further highlight the pertinent role of proverbs in religion, and the usage of proverbs to promote the utility value of belief in deities, and to drive home the imperative of man’s fulfillment of his existential duties to these divine beings who are believed to sustain both human life and the created order. This postulation is clearly manifested in the manner traditional religious beliefs and practices among the Igbo are held, among a people whose cultural and religious world-view are inseparably intertwined. Proverbial wisdom thus, is believed to come not only from the ancestors, but chiefly from the divinities, the original owners of wisdom, who are known to give deep knowledge and insight to their devotees for them to succeed and prosper in life’s endeavours. In appraising twenty theo centric Igbo proverbs, this research highlights the deep-running inter-connectivity of religion and Igbo proverbs, presenting them as a veritable means of encouraging, promoting and re-enforcing the beliefs, morals and practices which give the Igbo traditional community its religious and cultural identity, a role which proverbs play in a similar manner elsewhere in other cultures, religions and societies of the world.

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