Ochendo: An African Journal of Innovative Studies

The more mmonwu sacred institution makes outings that are not scheduled in the ritual calendar of Igbo Traditional Religion (ITR), the more it risks losing its ritual significance as the embodiment of the ancestors. Though the idea may be to transmit the substance of ITR, it gives the impression that it is the only means available. We shall establish that though Mmonwu is one of the means of transmission, it is not the only channel. We shall employ the framework of Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman to establish various models of transmission viz: vertical - parents to their biological offspring; horizontal - peers of the same generation; and oblique - members of an older to younger generation. To complement their work, we shall use Mbiti's theory of African religion to show the religious-philosophical understanding of African life which produces the substance of ITR that is transmitted. The double frameworks answer the important questions of the how and the what of transmission. Hence, the survival of ITR will depend more on the preservation of its substantive elements and the adaptation of modern ways of its transmission.

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