Controversy, as pastor was asked to give snake ‘befitting burial’

Umuoji is a community where killing of snakes, particularly pythons, is forbidden. When a Christian cleric killed a python in the community recently, he was asked to give it a befitting burial like a human being or face the wrath of the gods. JUDE OSSAI reports on the incident, the community and the age-long belief in pythons as a people’s guardian spirits.

LIKE other ancient communities in the country, Umuoji’s history and origin are not documented; however, its oral history and happenings confirm it as a place where tradition is held supreme.

Located in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, it is bounded on the northwest by Ogidi, on the southwest by Ojoto, southeast by Uke, on the northeast by Abatete and on the west by Nkpor villages respectively.


Known for bravery and uplift of their culture, Umuoji people, according to an oral history, successfully defended a part of their town against raids conducted by some of their neighbouring towns many years ago, which made them to name one of their villages, Anogu, meaning a battle ground.

Right now, things are changing. Many people in the community seem to have abandoned their tradition, just as about 98 per cent of the population are said to have converted to Christianity.

Despite the popularity of Christianity among the people, certain traditions and beliefs are considered sacrosanct, while breaking or violating such traditions or beliefs are heavily penalised.

One of such traditional beliefs is the protection of pythons. Snakes, especially pythons, are guarded jealously. They are worshipped and killing of any is believed to be an attack on the sanctity of the community, since pythons are totems of sanctity and the guarding spirits of Umuoji as well as other towns and villages in Idemili North and South local government areas of Anambra State.
There was, however, a crisis between some Christians and traditional worshippers in the town when a snake, called, Eke Idemili, was killed by a resident of the community, but was asked to accord the snake a befitting burial like that of a human being.

The General Overseer of the Mercy Throne Assembly, Reverend Jude Chubueze, had killed the snake apparently for safety, but the community rose up against him accusing him of desecrating the land and committing a grievous offence.

When Sunday Tribune visited Umuoji, the church of Reverend Chubueze was found under lock and key.
Although tension appeared to have been doused by the timely intervention of the Anambra State Police Command, the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Enweze, who was not willing to speak on the matter probably to avoid stoking up the crisis, said the issue had was already forgotten, adding that there were better issues to comment on in the community rather than the killing of a python.

“I am not ready to comment on the python issue. Whether you are here to promote our culture or not, this is not the best of time to talk about it. It will stoke up a matter that has since been settled and forgotten. There was no crisis between the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and my community, except that the press want to create something out of it. You need to talk about other issues.
Look at the roads, they are bad. Write about them,” he explained.
To the people of Idemili, the killer of the snake has committed a sacrilege and to avert the wrath of the gods, all necessary rites associated with the burial of human beings in the area should be performed for the dead snake.
An indigene of the community, Chukwudi Obinna, told Sunday Tribune that to placate the gods and prevent them from attacking the community, the snake must be wrapped in a cloth, carefully put in a coffin and buried in the ground. He said the killers of the snake and his friends must mourn the dead snake the way relatives and sympathisers mourn dead persons.

Another indigene, who simply gave his name as Okeke, said the history of how the people of Idemili began to worship pythons was linked with the river in the area called, Idemili river, which runs through towns like Obosi, Ogidi and Ojoto.

According to him, the name Idemili was derived from the river and the snake called, Eke Idemili, lives in the river. The people of Idemili regard the snake as a representative of their deity and therefore a custodian of their culture and tradition.

Another story has it that the founder of Idemili was a worshipper of pythons. He was said to have told his descendants to always worship and accord pythons respect in the community. It is also believed that when a person dies in the community, he is transformed into a python.

“Snakes are harmless here. It is true that we worship them, because they are our guardian spirits. When a child is born at Idemili, a short python crawls to the place where the baby is kept and culls around the child harmlessly to the admiration of the parents of the little child. Snakes are harmless to us; they do us nothing. Why anybody should kill what is harmless is what I don’t understand,” he added.
Sunday Tribune also gathered that the visit of the snake to people’s homes could mean different thing as the snake is said to have the power to bring good or bad tidings. If for instance, a prominent person in the community wants to pass away, a python could visit a relation of the person by dying in the house of the person.
The respect accorded pythons in the community is so amazing that people in Idemili are said to always have reptiles on their beds while sleeping or play with it as if they are snake charmers.
Investigations conducted by Sunday Tribune revealed that Idemili is not the only area where people worship pythons as the people of Orlu do not eat or kill pythons too.

It was learnt that the kind of pythons worshiped by the people of Umuoji and others are quite different from the dangerous long pythons found elsewhere.
The specie of snake found in this area is small in size unlike the long pythons usually found in the forest and zoos.

Sunday Tribune sought the opinions of people in the community on whether there are cases of snake bites there, most of the people who spoke on the issue said snake never bit in Umuoji.
A source in Umuoji, who craved anonymity said, “in fact, when you are fed up with the visit of the snake to your home, what you should do is to carry it with a bamboo stick outside your compound. The mystery in it is that when you throw away the snake, you have to throw away the stick as well; if not, the snake will crawl back to your house where you keep the stick,” the source added.



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