The guardian spirit of the earth is Ani/Ala, the earth mother. There is also a spirit associated with each day of the Igbo four-day week: Eke, Orie, Afor, and Nkwo. Patron spirits serve as guardians of hunters, farmers, fishermen, medicine men, and other professional guilds; the matron spirit is called Nne Miri or Mami Wata. Marine spirits inhabit rivers and streams. Human spirits, called
chi, determine each individual's destiny. Spirit forces energize medicine that individuals can conjure and deploy for strength, protection, or to harm enemies. Ancestral spirits are the living dead who inhabit the spirit world but are involved in the lives of progenies in the human world. During festivals, they visit the human world as guests in form of masquerades. Evil spirits live in both human and spirit worlds. Only those who lived honest lives, did not die from inexplicable diseases, and had full burial rites can be ancestors or reincarnate. The spirits of evil people wander as
akalogolu who appear on lonely farm roads to frighten people. Among the most dreaded evil spirits are
ogbanje—spirits who manifest as children, covenanted to return to the marine world after a brief sojourn among human families.
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