Ijo (Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life)

Ijo, an entry in the Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life by P. E. Leis, published by Gale Research, now part of Cengage, names Wonyingi, also spelled Woyengi, meaning our mother, as the Ijo high deity credited with creating and controlling the destiny of everything on earth, and it notes that converts to Christianity have come to regard traditional Ijo spirit beliefs as superstition, implying the beliefs' continued persistence among those who have not converted. As a standard academic reference encyclopedia entry, it is adequate for these foundational cultural facts. A claim needing deeper ethnographic detail on Ijo religious practice specifically benefits from a dedicated ethnographic study rather than this survey-encyclopedia entry.