Igbo cultural practices: Changing, dying or dead?

Abstract

The Igbos are known to be very adventurous, but as advantageous as this may seem, such movements have affected some Igbo cultural practices. Culture is not only a person’s social behaviour or heritage but also their identity. A big problem arises when the cultural traditions of a people are hardly known or used by a generation. Since culture says so much about a group of people, this paper studies some aspects of the Igbo culture, particularly greeting, marriage rites, and naming to ascertain if they are changing, dying, or dead. The objectives of this study are to determine the extent to which these practices are still in use, the benefits of these practices to the Igbo people and the society at large, and how mobility and other factors impact these practices. The study adopts the descriptive survey method in eliciting data. The paper discovers that certain aspects of the cultural practices under investigation are largely, essentially not in use today, primarily because of the influence of urbanization and contact with diverse forms of religion, education, and diverse cultures. This paper reconsiders the practices of greeting, marriage rites, and naming, and questions their role in portraying the Igbo identity and instilling morals and values.