Ikenga is a horned personal deity of Igbo spiritual practice in southeastern Nigeria, embodying an individual's own endeavor, achievement, success and victory. The name translates roughly as strength of majesty, and tradition holds that an Ikenga combines a person's chi, or personal god, their ancestors, their own right hand, and their personal power, activated through prayer and ritual sacrifice. Maintained chiefly by men, and occasionally by women of high standing, an Ikenga functions as a personal shrine and a symbol of one's own capability, reflecting the belief that the power to accomplish things resides above all in the right hand.
Facts
Iconography
SymbolSourced to the subject's own accountIkenga is a horned personal shrine figure of Igbo spiritual practice, embodying an individual's own endeavor, achievement and personal power, traditionally carved with a pair of horns rising from the head. 3 Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 1 Attestation
Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 2 HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1 Function
Domain / Function Sources
1. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
2. Encyclopedia of African Religion
Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, editors, SAGE Publications
3. Ikenga (Wikipedia)
Lead sectionQuote, Lead section
Ikenga is a horned god found among the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria.
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