IJELE MMỌNWỤ ỌHAOBODO: NZIPỤTA MMEKỌRịTA Dị N’ETITI IJELE NA MMADỤ

Abstract

The study looks into the relationship between Ijele masquerade and human beings, as a performance that involves practically all the people in the community. The objective of this study is to mark the difference between Ijele masquerade and other masquerades. As well as to show the high esteem Ijele masquerade is held in the life of Igbo people in the time past, which makes it possible for many people to court its relationship. The study is provoked in order to establish that Ijele masquerade is owned and performed by the community, from the relationship it has with different people in the community at different places, stages and times. The area of the research is on the Oral Literature, in particular the relationship between human beings and Ijele masquerade as a communal performance. The literary theory adopted for analysis of the study is “Structuralist Theory”, which looks into the levels and classes of people and their relationship in the community. Mixed method research was adopted for the study which is a combination of observational, focus group discussion, oral interview, library, and internet which also serves as the source of the data used in the study. The findings from the analysis revealed that there is relationship between human beings and Ijele masquerade, which is rooted in the cultural belief in the spirit in the life of Igbo people. The study will be of great value to the public, and people who are interested in the study of Ijele masquerade and its relationship with the human beings in the community. Hence the need of this study to bridge the knowledge gap in the corpus of studies of this nature