Nze na Ozo

The Nze na Ozo society (pronounced Nzeh nah Awzaw), is the highest and most important magico-religious and social grouping in the Igbo society of Southeast Nigeria. To become Ozo implies that the title holder is now an ‘Nze’ implying living spirit and an ancestor. One then becomes the moral conscience of the community and is seen to be a fair adjudicator in cases of disputes within the community. In times of crisis, most Igbo communities will rely on Ozo members for leadership. Generally, in most Igbo communities, only holders of Ichi title may become candidates for Ozo title., however although anthropologist such as Jeffreys reports cases of women with Ichi scarification, only men can belong to Ozo with membership according the individual extreme prestige, power and influence in the community.

Taking Ozo title is extremely expensive with the lower grades costing in excess of US$25,000 in initiation cost and up to another US$2000 in annual subscriptions. Although there is hegemony across Igboland on the notion of Ozo, categorisation and grades of Ozo titles are different across Igbo communities. For example, with the exception of the Onitsha and Delta Igbo, certain titles of the Ozo such as ‘Ezeana’ may not be taken until the candidate was seen to have been ‘a man’. Being that Igbo’s are gerontologic in outlook, the basic pre-condition for such an assessment was to ascertain whether the father of a candidate was still alive. If a candidate’s father was still alive, the title could not be taken. This rule however does not apply to Onitsha Igbo’s who can take Ozo title while a candidates father is alive. In other Igbo communities, especially those in the Awka-Nri axis, some exceptions are made where the candidate completes the initiation rites into Ozo, but is referred to as ‘Nze-agbala’ until the father dies. Such a person may however not be allowed to dance to Ufie music which is a sacred music danced by Ozo holders on special Igbo religious festivals such as the New Yam Festival. Another major difference in taking of Ozo title in Igboland relates to the pre-requisite for the candidate to have earlier taken Ichi title (gbue Ichi). While taking Ozo title in most Igbo communities in the Awka-Nri axis requires the candidate to have taken Ichi title, in Onitsha, Ichi is not a recognised institution and is therefore not undertaken by the Onitsha Igbo and some of the Delta Igbo. The Nze na Ozo society does not exist in most southern Igbo communities such as the Aro. Instead, these communities have masquerade societies such as Okonko and Ekpe.

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Wikipedia