The Ibo villagers have a strong faith and beliefs towards Ibo gods. They sacrifice things to Ani, the owner of all land; to Ifejioku, the god of yams before they crops on the land. The villagers do not allow any kind of careless with their customs. For example, when Okonkwo beats his wife during the Month of Peace, the clan believes that Okonkwo has insulted the earth goddess and that may lead to perish of the whole clan. Okonkwo is reprimanded for that. But there is an exception, during the wrestling contest, people lose their inhibitions and actually enjoy themselves.
In Ibo society, people set up status and ranks by hardworking rather than inherit the wealth from their fathers. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, who Okonkwo viewed as a failure, was an improvident loafer. He did not left any barns of yam for his children. But Okonkwo did not become a failure; he achieved success by his hard work and got an ozo title. In order to prove his ability, he had overthrown the greatest wrestler in nine villages. This indicates that in Ibo society, a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father.
The “Ibo Oracles”--- Agbala is sacred. People go to consult it when they have problems or confusions. Both Agbala and Chielo, the priestess of Agbala are women. Their power and status in Umuofia suggest that women’s role in Ibo culture are important. Unlike many other countries where women have nearly no powers, status and rights, women in Ibo culture are treated equally as men.
Moon has an important influence to the Ibos. It is not only a measure of time, but also the only source of light at nights. The night is quiet except on moonlight nights. People fear of evil spirits and dangerous animals. They never call the name of snakes, but call them strings. But on moonlight nights, the atmosphere is totally different; it is filled with happy voices. This shows that moon is acting like a light; it brings people the bright ways.
The main crop in Umuofia is yams and kola nuts. These are acting as money in Umuofia. Yams represent the wealth of a man. Okonkwo started his farming by sharecropping, although it is a very slow way of building up a barn, because after all the hard work, one only get a third of the harvests. But if one wants to get rich, the best way to achieve the aim is to grow crops initially by sharecropping.
Ibo society has a polygamous culture, men may take more than one wife and each household is enclosed into a compound. Each wife lives with her children in a hut whilst the husband has his own hut. The husband will visit each wife in turn. A man with many wives is also considered as a successful man, because he has the ability to feed a large family.
People are superstitious about lots of unexplained things. In 19th century, there was hardly any development in the country. As a result, child mortality rates were high due to poor hygiene. Many children dye in the early childhood. If a series of such deaths took place in an Ibo family, people believed that the same wicked spirit was being born and dying for many times, grieving their parents.
