Arrow of God Lesson Plan

Discuss the small ceremony that takes place in Umuachala. What is it for? Why is it narratively and culturally significant?

There is a minor feast in Umuachala where the widows offer memorials to their departed husbands. This particular feast was special because Obika's age group was presenting a new ancestral Mask to the village. Obika and Edogo both have special involvement in the rites—Obika because he was chosen to sacrifice one of the rams, and Edogo because he was the one who had carved the Mask.

This feast is also significant because this is where Obika challenges a famous wicked medicine-man. Obika shouts at the man to go home, and, before he can respond, Obika...