Response By: Aniakor Ikenna
CHUKWU can be broken into two elements: CHI, meaning 'source being or spirit;' while UKWU means 'great or immense'.
In Igbo cosmology, there are three different names for the Creator.
@CHUKWU - Great source of being or spirit.
@CHINEKE - the Spirit that creates.
@OSEBURUWA/OLISA - Lord carrier of the world.
Each of the names stems from a different area. CHUKWU is the Creator and organizer of the universe.
He created 'nature gods' - Anyanwu (sun), Igwe (sky), Amadioha(Thunder), etc.
CHUKWU gave the world new crops. He made night and day and arranged them into the four Igbo market days- Nkwo, Eke, Orie and Afor.
Further, the most important attributes of the world such as space, motion, time and order were introduced and controlled by CHUKWU. His personal name, Oseburuwa, suggests that God continues to carry and sustain the universe after creation.
CHINEKE, creates the spirits of each individual person the moment his body is being formed in his mother's womb.
Igbo believes CHUKWU creates with the assistance of two Spirits - Chi and Okike, which is still the manifestations of himself - Trinity.
The moment CHUKWU creates a human spirit, he gives the such human spirit his own Chi. Chi determines and dispenses a person's destiny and protects and guards him much like a guardian angel.
OKIKE gives a person his own personal form, character and qualities.
The moment of conception, the spirit to be born goes before CHUKWU to receive his Chi (spirit deity) and his Eke (reincarnating ancestor), and then Okike (creative emanation of CHUKWU) allows the person out into the world.
Posted By Anthony Aroh of The OLAUDAH EQUIANO HERITAGE FOUNDATION, NIGERIA.
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