The two Offor trees

The truth was buried in a terrible land called Igodo. Igodo was a village famously located at the Eastern part of Nigeria. The unique and perilous village has invincible heroes and warriors. They believed in inactivity and inaccuracy of any other God's except the goddess which they venerated and worshipped as a heritage. This goddess existed and was symbolized through the two Offor trees facing each other in a certain hazardous forest full of dry grasses all year round and throughout the seasons.

The village was known to be a land of warriors, because the tall trees that damasked it seemed to be their refuge and protector.

In any occurrence of war, an innocent blood must be sacrificed to sustain the covenant they had with their mother goddess. While attacking their enemies, the villagers would round up their children, food and animals and go with praise to these their sacrosanct trees, with quiet traditional lyrics, the dry grasses would immediately vanish from the forest, and then,they would enter through the passage of the two Offor trees and experience the spiritual Shelter from their mother goddess. As long as their enemies arrived there, only strange voices could be heard. They would stand confused.

They would imagine whether they have another set of ear, gazing as if they were listening to a radio program. Igodo soldiers would sneak their lives away. The respect they gave to this inanimate goddess can only be compared to a fear of a child or in the infant given cooked hot beans after he might have received an uncontrollable purge.

They always cared to avoid any profane behavior, which could bring about the killing of that person while his or her family was banned from the land.

Moreover, the most interesting thing about the village is the rituals associated with them called "Nnyechi". This has to do with a great ceremony of ordination. Mostly,when the first male child is born to a particular family, they invited friends and relatives and took the new born child to their goddess for presentation. They must go with tubers of yam,palm wine,kolanut and either goat or ram based on the financial capacity of the family.

Igodo land was ruled under a "protector",who was the eldest and the oldest among the elders in the land. His name is Chief Ude. Chief Ude as a custodian was well respected in the entire village as a man of great acumen.

Apart from this,his chirpiness,honest and integrity promoted and enabled him to hear from their mother goddess through proper consultation. He inherited his longevity, which ran in their blood. His late father who left some legacies for him was about one hundred and twenty three years old before he passed on.

Ude married another wife after the death of his first one who died childless. Alumma became his second wife and a mother of two. Akunna, who was his first child and only daughter while Udoka's was her last and only male child whom she loved above all, including their mother goddess. Udoka's outcome was surprising and miraculous to the extent of inspiring the whole village with joy and hope. The reason is just because, apart from being acknowledge as their future leader, their linage was also recorded and believed to be lively in ad much as they lived up to a century. But that consequently resulted in the lack of male child in their generation. It is said that their family always found it difficult to beget a male child.

So Alumma being lucky to have a male child was highly praised by the villagers. Udoka's "Nnyechi"celebration seemed to be incomparable.