Onu na-asu Igbo, ndeewonni. Inyi bianni soro m an taa oji.

I'll try to keep this short and brief.

The earth goddess fertility cult 'Ali' is a near-ubiquitous cultural artifact that has survived in communities across Igboland to various degrees. It's common knowledge that farming was an ancient occupation that led to the emergence of customs, traditions, and perspectives meant to regulate human and natural fertility. The need for agrarian communities to formalize their bonds in ritual "charters" – to clearly define themselves as a network of trusted individuals who all agreed to operate by the same ethical and moral codes – led to the emergence of the Ali cult. Folks in different farming settlements eventually began seeing themselves as one unit. Terms like 'Ala Umudim' and 'Ala Nekede' eventually arose in various regions to distinguish different earth goddesses who protect and seek the interests of their respective communities.

Over time, as some communities evolved, specialized in various economic activities, and grew less and less dependent on farming for sustenance, the role and influence of the Ali cult in their daily lives and politics waned and (for some) eventually disappeared. We have relics of this old relationship existing today in colloquial expressions: 'aruru ali' (lit. "sins against Ali [the earth goddess]" ), 'nso ali' ("taboos of Ali" ). Even more interesting is the survival of ancient names like 'Aliezi' (lit. "earth goddess of the household" ) which point to the existence of the multiplicity of the earth goddess' manifestations.

My research has led me to discover terms like 'Alaezi' ("earth goddess of the household" ), 'Ala obodo' ("earth goddess of the community" ), and 'Ala ubi' ("earth goddess of the farmlands" ), which I've come to learn represent distinct earth goddesses who preside over different domains. I haven't been able to find much information on the earth goddess existing in this multifaceted nature. I'd appreciate any pointers to any resources you all may have or insights on your particular communities traditional relationship with [the] earth goddess(es)!

My tradition my pride my identity

Nye ngwetra oji ngwetra ndhnu. A ntata ma ndhnu ma ahu nsinu ikhne.

There's not much literature on this, and I don't know why. In any case, you are very correct. It's true each Ala is distinct. I can use Ngwa as a case-in-point.

One of the first things we learn in Ngwa is that each ezi la ulo has its own Ala Ezi. The Ala Ezi of one ezi la ulo has no dominion over the Ala Ezi of another. Also, generally, one needs to possess a lineage ofo in connection with their Ala Ezi. It is the only way to acknowledge a right to represent the ezi la ulo in any Ala Ezi custom or ritual. In Ngwa, a hierarchical network of lineage ofo goes in tandem with the hierarchical domains of Ala. Prior to colonization, the highest level of authority or autonomy was generally the Obodo. Even for communities like Ngwa that developed much larger-spanning ethnic consciousness, the Obodo still remained the highest level of authority and autonomy for most of the day to day. So the Ala Obodo is the highest level of deification for Ala.

So with that, we see that in the traditional worldview, Ala is not a single being. Ala is not even the same being. However, in the modern worldview Ala has been receiving treatment as though it is a single entity that everyone worships in their own way. This treatment is thanks to two things:

1. Contact with Europeans has led to (what I interpret as) Igbo people's desire to personify our deities. Ala has received such personifications and is treated as just one being, Ala, and the Ala of various communities are effectively ignored.

2. The recent development of an Igbo ethnic identity has forced the regression of various clan, village and family-specific aspects of culture in order to highlight pan-Igbo aspects. Because Ala is explained as an "Igbo deity", the precolonial idea that there is more than one Ala has effectively been lost in favor of the pan-Igbo idea of Ala as a single "Earth Goddess” which we all collectively venerated.

If we really wanted to understand Ala in the traditional worldview, we should first acknowledge two things.

1. Ala cannot be personified.
2. Ala is not one.

Once we acknowledge these two things, we need to accept what Ala truly represented—law and order in the natural world—cosmic order for short (particularly centered around how it guards, protects, regulates and ensures fertility of the land, and consequently the fertility of the people).

To really explain this, I’ll touch on something we discussed years ago here on NL. There are two classes of deities in the region—oracular and non-oracular. Ala belongs in the class of non-oracular, along with others like Ekwesu, Eke, Chi, etc. These deities cannot be well-understood if we personify them. Instead, they need to be understood in the context of the individual relative to the community (i.e. “the world” in precolonial times). A series of mores, code of ethics, conduct, etc regulates an individual’s behavior with respect to their community (not another community, hence, not the same Ala). In the traditional worldview, the various Ala are responsible for establishing those various community mores or codes of ethics and conduct. The other non-oracular deities then have the role of enforcing or reinforcing the expected conduct. So if we personify Ala, we must personify every Ala that exists, because they are not the same.

In fact, if we want to make all of this simple, we can think of each community as it’s own cosmic domain. The rules of your cosmic domain in Aro do not apply to my cosmic domain in Ngwa. We are effectively living in different parts of a multiverse.

Unfortunately, this aspect of cosmology (ritual authority, really) is barely touched on, even in passing. Only a few authors I have seen have remarked on it in passing. Austin Echema is one, Professor Oriji (who is Ngwa, so I would expect him to be aware of this) and U.D Anyanwu and Jude Aguwa (The Igbo and the Tradition of Politics). Judging by the name alone, I suspect that Jude Aguwa is Ngwa (or from a nearby community). Anyanwu probably is from southern Igbo areas as well. So I’m not surprised that their book on political authority m would touch on this dynamic of Ala in some way.

Aside from these aforementioned authors, I am not aware of any other extensive literary work that has acknowledged this feature of Ala like they have.

Also, I just thought of a good (though extreme) example that helps place this discussion of Ala in context. In almost every Igbo-speaking community I know of, suicide is a transgression against Ala. It requires a ritual cleansing process to bring the community back in good standing. However, it is such a grave transgression that traditionally, people of the community are afraid to even touch the body—almost as though the desecration is contagious, putting the fertility of the land at greater risk. The community has no way to cleanse this abominable act while the body remains unburied, and the community cannot bury it.

However, (in the communities that I know of) a stranger has the capacity to touch and bury that body. They can carry the transgression just long enough for the community to perform its due diligence and cleanse the land so that things can once again return to normal. The stranger can only do this, because the Ala of the desecrated community is not their (the stranger’s) Ala. As such, the stranger is not subject to the rules and customs surrounding taboos against the land.

Ala has no real dominion over non-indigenes. Ala buu nnaa (Ala is not one). So we need other deities such as Ekwesu to assume such roles. Ekwesu is very much like Ala, except it can apply to indigenes and non-indigenes alike.