OGONO-ARA: OUR MOTHER IN HEAVEN, SO THE IJAWS ALSO CALLS GOD.

Just like every religion is a part of a people's cultural system, so do the people of Ijaws in Nigeria have their own traditional faith. On this discourse, the focal point as already highlighted above is the use of the word "OGONO-ARA".

The word above "OGONO-ARA" is a language of the Ijaw people used till date, on my visit to Kolokuma/Opokuma, one of the known great ancient Ijaw Kingdoms whom still hold tenaciously to the ancient beliefs and practices of the Ijaw Ethnic nationality.

The Ijaw language being spoken by the Kolokuma/Opokuma people has been placed by most Ijaw elders, as the unadulterated and original Ijaw language of the ethnic group, they believe that the Kolokuma/Opokuma Ijaw language is untouched, it is pure and raw, passed down from generations to generations without any form of alteration.

Surprisingly, on my visit, I overheard an Ijaw aged woman of about 87 years thereabouts offering prayers to "OGONO-ARA" while in a Christian wake keeping gathering as prayer sessions were on, I was shocked hearing the word for the first time, the word to me was "feminine" used to represent the maker of the heavens and earth, I then inquired to know why she must have used that exact word.

On my discovery, I realised that, it was not just peculiar to her alone, almost all the aged, males, females and even the young, all referred to the maker as "OGONO-ARA" translating in English language as "Our mother in heaven".

I also observed during Preaching, as the Pastor took the pulpit to preach to the people, while he (pastor) read from the Bible, there was an Ijaw translator, while he translated the teachings of the pastor, he continously used the word " Woyingi (our mother)" and " OGONO-ARA (mother in heaven) " in place of the English word "God" as he translated to the understanding of the Ijaw audience who could not understand the white man's language.

Further findings around the environ showed that the name the IJAWS in this region refers to God are all feminine, none among them were masculine, for examples are:

" Woyingi" - meaning "Our Mother"

"OGONO-ARA" - meaning "Mother in heaven"

"Teme-Ara" - meaning "Supreme Spirit of a woman that is the creatress"

And many others all meaning qualities of God as a Woman.

With this, it is now crystal clear that the Ijaws at no point in time during their genealogical history referred to God as a masculine concept, God has always been feminine in Ijaw, and is being worshipped as a Feminine being inline with the ancient belief system, though, many uninformed persons have mistaked this worship and belief system to be the worship of what they refer to as "Mami water", very funny i must say.

On my next brief and concise article, I shall talk about the meaning of "Mami water" and how such derogatory terms was used by the colonial masters to continue to underdevelop the people while they exploit them in their ignorance.

But some questions are yet to be answered like, how did our old mothers and father's came about the word? What experiences must have led our forefathers to use the word? Why do they still hold firm to these belief till date? Why is it that despite the advent of Christianity over these long period of time, the word is still in use? These are questions begging for answers.

(Photo below is a continue practice of this Ijaw belief system, these are worshippers in these modern times still practicing the aged beliefs as passed down to them)

Written by:
Bodmas Kemepadei