As Dignitaries from across the world gather in Ogidi Nigeria, Anambra’s state to witness the renown author Chinua Achebe being laid to rest on Thursday 23rd May 2013,we gather that even after all people gathered have paid their respect and left, an important aspect in the late author’s burial will still be pending.I am sure by now all of you are wondering what this could be. According to the Igbo tradition, they believe that death is not the end of life but a transition into a new world. After one dies, a special ritual called Ikwa Onzu, is normally performed to the dead in order to allow them to move to the next world of their ancestors. This is considered as a rite of passage in the community.Failure to do this one is forbidden to join this new world no matter how accomplished you were in the life you left behind.Ikwa Onzu differs from community to community but they have one commonality, which is, they occur after the elderly deceased have been burried.They can last days or even weeks .Mr. Achebe’s Ikwa Onzu is scheduled to take place on 24th and 25th May and his thanksgiving service on Sunday 26th May at the St. Philips Anglican Church Ogidi. Igbo funerals are known to be very lavish.

Vast amounts are expended on livestock and alcohol entitlements for the various age grades within the deceased’s community, for the entertainment of guests and, usually, for the long-distance transportation of the corpse.The deceased is normally laid to rest in his ancestral village for a man and a woman in her husband’s village. Most families are known to wait for a few months after the burial, in order to organise  the Ikwa Onzu thus it has been referred to as the second burial.

They can be able to combine with friends for a second fanfare and a memorial service depending on the titles the deceased had when he was alive. May the great author, Chinua Achebe Rest In Peace.