Igbo Mythology: chi, Chi and Chineke

A Comment on the piece on Igbo song: “Chi is different from Chineke.”

My Response: For all of us, our Chi will guide us to victory. For me, I am convinced that I will have victory, and my chi is aware of that. When used in plural, in Igbo mythology, I can use “Chi” to mean Chineke, Chukwu Abiama, Osebuluwa , Chukwuokike, Obasi di n’elu, the Supreme God.

Example: “anyi na ekele Chi anyi “; here the “Chi” is Chineke, and not the personal chi. So, you can use Chi to mean Chineke if “Chi” is used in plural sense. In Igbo language 1978 convention chaired my Emenanjo and which later crystallized moving from A B GB to A B CH, in edemede Igbo (Igbo writing), the contextualization of plurality in Igbo writing was well established.

Emenanjo who is regarded as the father of modern Igbo writing took pains to explain many things. For example, “Nkem is a fox” does not mean that Nkem is “nkita ohia” which is Igbo animal equivalent of a “fox”. But he noted that Nkem is mbe (tortoise) because culturally, fox is to the English culture what tortoise is in Igbo culture [a cunning animal]. So, when you translate, it is not the animal but what the cultural equivalent is in Igbo culture that matters.

That is where WAEC translation part of Igbo exam becomes interesting as context matters, from idiom to axiom, on the Igbo worldview. When you say “uwa bu ahia”, you have a literal meaning of the “world is a marketplace”. But the idiomatic real meaning is that the world is a stage, where players come and go, just in the same way people go to open markets, do business, and return to their homes.

Looking at all, Chi when used in the plural sense does mean Chineke, the supreme God, within the context of my piece.

The Indefatigable Spirit of Igbo Nation, Captured in “onye kwe chi ya ekwe”

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