IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND CULTURAL STUDIES (RJHCS )

E-ISSN 2579-0528
P-ISSN 2695-2467
VOL. 10 NO. 1 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56201/rjhcs.v10.no1.january2024.pg61.66

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The Religious Significance of the Okuku Totem of Akenpia- Epie, Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State

Gabriel Independence (Ph.D)

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Abstract

This study examines the religious significance of the Okuku totem of Akenpai-Epie to the culture of the people. It is a critical study on the subject Totemism and it also views how the Okuku totem has helped to check-mate and control the social and spiritual lives of the individuals in the community. The study used phenomenological approach to examine the Okuku totem and its role in the Akenpai-Epie culture. This approach best suits the study because it abhors bias and discourages scholars from being judgmental. The researcher also used oral interview methodology to collect data for the study. Against this background, the study reveals that, Okuku as an Owl bird, and at the same the totem of the Akenpai-Epie people has helped tremendously as a tool of social control in the collective and individual lives of the indigenes of the community, for it is believed that it protects them from attacks from their enemies in the good old days when there was intra and inter community wars. It does that through warnings. It has also acted as a source through which togetherness, peace and tranquility reigned in the community. Because of its congregational worship by the people of the community, it had created bonding spirits among the indigenes of the community. The Okuku totem has helped to strengthen the norms and values of the Akenpai-Epie people because it punishes deviants among them, hence making the people to adhere strictly to their traditional ethics and moral codes. Against this backdrop, the researcher recommends that the worship of the totem be encouraged and also that the younger generation of the community be encouraged to acquaint themselves with the paraphernalia surrounding the Okuku totem, so that this part of the culture of the Akenpai-Epie people would not go into oblivion. We should avoid been judged by posterity.

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