An á»Âgbanje is a term in Odinani (Igbo: á»ÂÃÂdá»ÂÃÂnàná»ÂÃÂ) for what was thought to be an evil spirit that would deliberately plague a family with misfortune. Belief in á»Âgbanje in Igboland is not as strong as it once was, although there are still some believers.
Its literal meaning in the Igbo language is "children who come and go". Sometimes the word á»Âgbanje has been used as a synonym for a rude or stubborn child. The word á»Âgbanje is often translated as changeling, due to the similarities they share with the fairy changelings of Celtic and broader European mythology. Some theorists have hypothesized that these conceptions serve as mythological ways of understanding what were once unknown diseases that often claimed the lives of children (such as SIDS and sickle cell disease), as the inheritance of these diseases within families may have led people to conclude that the children involved were all incarnations of the same malevolent spirit.
It was believed that within a certain amount of time from birth (usually not past puberty), the á»Âgbanje would deliberately die and then be reborn into the next child of the family and repeat the cycle, causing much grief. It is also believed that á»Âgbanje are not always born into the same immediate family, but can even be born into an extended family. Ogbanje can be born into family from a spirit between gestation and birth. Another way is by being introduced to an á»Âgbanje group.
The evil spirits are said to have stones called iyi-uwa, which they bury somewhere secret. The iyi-uwa serves to permit the á»Âgbanje to return to the human world and to find its targeted family. Finding the evil spirits' iyi-uwa ensures the á»Âgbanje would never again plague the family with misfortune. The iyi-uwa is dug out by a priest and destroyed. The child is confirmed to no longer be an á»Âgbanje after the destruction of the stone, or after the mother successfully gives birth to another baby. Female á»Âgbanje die during pregnancies along with the baby, while male á»Âgbanje die before the birth or death of a wife's baby.
To prevent the á»Âgbanje from returning after the child's death, they would be cut or mutilated. Some á»Âgbanje, however, were said to return bearing the physical scars of the mutilation. Female circumcision was sometimes thought to get rid of the evil spirit. Trying to identify an á»Âgbanje that lacks mutilation scars can sometimes be difficult. Other things that have helped families identify them are birthmarks the child had, the first words they said, and behavior similarities from the child that has been reincarnated. Families paid a lot of attention to these types of characteristics, and most of the time would go to an oracle to confirm that the child was an á»Âgbanje. Another sign of an á»Âgbanje is a child who frequently becomes very ill, or is often in trouble.