Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development

Ikpu Aru is an annual cleansing ritual or sacrifice performed in Igbo society. An innocent victim usually a goat or a sheep and in some communities, a cow is sought for and used. Upon the sacrificial victim, the elders and chief priests, renounce the crimes and taboos of the community, known and unknown as they tie the freshest part of palm leaves called “Omu” in Igbo language, around the victim. At the end, the victim is let loose and it becomes an escape goat, a blameless goat or cow that has taken away the crimes/sins of the community. However, the bastardization of (Igbo) African culture, which did not spare even the supernatural and other vital tenets of African tradition religion, could not allow a comparative study of this ritual and its interpretation in the context of the Christian theology of Christ incarnation-the innocent victim and his sacrifice on the Cross as a remission of the sins of the world. This paper with an analytical exposition and critical comparative study discovers that there is a possible interpenetration of the two doctrines. It also makes an audacious assertion that since the Igbo is older than Christianity, that it is possible that they had influence on the Christian doctrine of the remission of sin by Jesus Christ.

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