THE CONCEPT OF PRIESTHOOD IN IGBO TRADITIONAL WORLD-VIEW: THE CASE STUDY OF ADAZI-ENU, ANAOCHA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ANAMBRA STATE

1 Introduction The term "priesthood" is one of the oldest institutions of mankind all over the world. The reason is certainly associated with the religious propensities of men. Man, on the other hand, is religious by nature, HomoMan's preoccupation with the sacred, which Rudolf Otto described as "a mystery inexpressible and above creatures," "Mysterium tremendium," a mystery that both attracts and repels, must have accelerated the growth of the priesthood in human society. In the religious sphere, communication with the sacred is often through sacred rites, and the maintenance of the sacred order within the various spheres of human activities becomes an essential aspect of any society. Emil Durkheim certainly exaggerated in equating religion with divinized-society. However, based on its function in any society, he scored a pass mark. Since religion is endemic to any human society, ancient and modern, at such one of these tools is the institution of the priesthood. Therefore, in African traditional Igbo cosmology, priesthood and sacrifice are relatively interwoven. Sacrifice is an act of public worship offered in the name of community. In Igbo traditional setup or cosmology, religion is almost synonymous with culture, Ugwu and Ugwueye (2004:28) says that The Igbo who belong to the West Africa sub-region are truly religious people, of whom it can be said as it has been said about the Hindus was that they eat religiously, dress religiously, sin religiously and die religiously therefore, religion of this Native is their existence and existence is their religion. However from time immemorial, the Igbo has longly desired a need for a special mediator between himself and the supreme being. This brought about the concept of priesthood in Igbo. In the modern time, there is a misinterpretation about the concept of priesthood in Igbo land, Adazi-Enu community precisely. The causal observed in Adazi-Enu today see the traditional priest as uneducated, crooked and tattered. This is because, the mode of their dressing accompanied by the objects of worship, understand that the traditional way of life. This long essay tries to clear the prejudiced views on traditional priesthood especially, that of Adazi-Enu, so as to present before the people the true position, work and importance of the traditional priests in Adazi-Enu, Igboland and African society in general.