Editing Odinala (section)

===Ala===
{{Main|Ala (odinala)}}
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| image1 = [http://africa.uima.uiowa.edu/topic-essays/show/14 ''Mabri: Art as Process in Igboland'' by Herbert M. Cole, a description of mbari]
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[[Ala (odinala)|Ala]] (meaning '[[earth]]' and 'land' in Igbo, also ''Ájá-ànà'')<ref name="isichei1977">{{cite book |first=Elizabeth Allo |last=Isichei |title=Igbo worlds: an anthology of oral histories and historical descriptions |publisher=Macmillan |pages=27, 334 |year=1977 |isbn=0333198379}}</ref><ref name="oriji2011">{{cite book |first=John |last=Oriji |title=Political Organization in Nigeria Since the Late Stone Age: A History of the Igbo People |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=44–48 |year=2011 |isbn=978-0230116689}}</ref> is the feminine earth spirit who is responsible for morality, fertility and the [[Ancestor veneration|dead ancestors]] who are stored in the underworld in her womb. Ala is at the head of the Igbo pantheon, maintaining order and carrying out justice against wrongdoers. Ala is the most prominent and worshipped Arusi,<ref name="udoye"/> almost every Igbo village has a shrine dedicated to her called ''íhú Ala'' where large decisions are taken.<ref name="agbadiere"/> Ala is believed to be involved in all aspects of human affairs including festivals and at offerings. Ala stands for fertility and things that generate life including water, stone and vegetation, colour (''àgwà''), beauty (''mmá'') which is connected to goodness in Igbo society, and uniqueness (''ájà'').<ref name="agbadiere"/> She is a symbol of morality who sanctioned ''omenala'' Igbo customs from which these moral and ethical behaviours are upheld in Igbo society.<ref name="ogbaa">{{cite book |first=Kalu |last=Ogbaa |title=Igbo |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |pages=[https://archive.org/details/igbo00ogba/page/14 14–15] |year=1995 |isbn=0823919773 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/igbo00ogba/page/14 }}</ref> Ala is the ground itself, and for this reason taboos and crimes are known as ''ńsọ́ Ala'' ('desecration of Ala'), all land is holy as the embodiment of Ala making her the principal legal sanctioning authority.<ref name="agbadiere"/><ref name="ogbaa"/>  Prohibitions include murder, suicide, theft, incest, and abnormalities of birth such as in many places the birth of twins and the killing and eating of pregnant animals, if a slaughtered animal is found to be pregnant sacrifices are made to Ala and the foetus is buried.<ref name="agbadiere"/> People who commit suicides are not buried in the ground or given burial rites but cast away in order not to further offend and pollute the land, their ability to become ancestors is therefore nullified.<ref name="okoh2012"/> When an individual dies a 'bad death' in the society, such as from the effects of divine retributive justice or breaking a taboo, they are not buried in the earth, but are discarded in a forest so as not to offend Ala. As in cases of most Arusi, Ala has the ability to be malevolent if perceived to be offended and can cause harm against those who offend her.<ref name="agbadiere"/><ref name="ogbaa"/>

[[File:Python-regius-kopf-königspython.jpg|left|thumb|alt=An up-close photograph of a royal python which is a messenger of Ala|The royal python is revered as an agent of Ala.]]
Within the earth's spherical limit, in a cosmological sense, is a designation of the 'earth's bosom' within, {{Transliteration|ig|ímé àlà}}, a hemispherical base to the earth with an opening or 'mouth' at its highest point, ''ónụ́ àlà''. This is composed of mainly deep dark sea water ({{Transliteration|ig|ohimiri}}).<ref name="ogbaa"/> Ime ala is considered as the underworld.<ref name="agbadiere"/> Ala in addition to embodying nature, is the cosmic base on which the vault of heaven, {{Transliteration|ig|ígwé}}, rests.<ref name="agbadiere"/> As the foundation of all existence, children's umbilical cords are saved and symbolically buried under a tree to mark the child's first sharing of family owned lands; this tree could either be an oil palm, bread-fruit tree, raffia palm, or plantain tree depending on the cultural region.<ref name="agbadiere"/> In some places, such as [[Kingdom of Nri|Nri]], the [[Python regius|royal python]], ''éké'', is considered a sacred and tame agent of Ala and a harbinger of good fortune when found in a home. The python is referred to as ''nne'' 'mother' in areas where the python is revered, it is a symbol of female beauty and gentleness. Killing of the python is expressly forbidden in these places and sanctions are taken against the killer including the funding of expensive human sized burials that are given to slain pythons.<ref name="agbadiere"/><ref name="udoye"/><ref name="hodder">{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Hodder |title=The Archaeology of Contextual Meanings |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=73 |year=1987 |isbn=0521329248}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Edmund |last=Ilogu |title=Christianity and Ibo Culture |publisher=Brill Archive |pages=23–24 |year=1974 |isbn=9004040218}}</ref>