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Superstition:
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One of the Major themes in Things Fall Apart.
Superstition, in most societies, functions as an explanation for that which we cannot explain with science or logic. It also functions, sometimes, as a form of entertainment and as a way of promoting cultural unity. For example, the ritual involving "ancestral spirits" coming out to scare the women serves to promote togetherness in the community, to entertain, and to maintain religious and spiritual worship.
As many other people all over the world, the Ibo people believe in many strong superstitions which provides explanations to some unexplained phenomena. For instance they are afraid of night time (except on moonlight nights) because they think that is when the evil spirits come out. Even the bravest people are held in terror of the dark. They even warn the children not to whistle at night because they are afraid that the evil spirits will come out, they believe also that all the dangerous animals became even more sinister when it is dark. This is taken so seriously that people won't even call a snake by its name at night because they think it would hear, so it is called a string during the night time. (Chapter 2)
They believe also that women who have the misfortune of many children repeatedly dying as infants, they give birth to Obanje which are wicked children who usually die at an early age, and who then re-enter their mothers’ wombs to be born again. They believe that is it the evil spirit of the same child that just comes in the form of many different infants. Then, there is iyi-uwa which is a special kind of stone which forms the link between an ogbanje and the spirit world. If the child's iyi-uwa were found and destroyed, then the child won’t die. They believe that the ogbanjes will bury their iyi-uwa in order to die and then return to...