Ala and the Sacred Earth (Igbo)
Ala is the great earth goddess of the Igbo people, the most revered deity in Odinani. She is the goddess of fertility, morality, death, and the ancestral realm. The Igbo believe that the earth is Ala's living body, and that all who die return to her womb. Killing, incest, theft, and the birth of twins were considered 'nsọ Ala' (desecration of the earth) and required elaborate purification rituals. The royal python is considered Ala's messenger; killing one requires a full human burial. In Igbo cosmology, Ala maintains order in the universe and punishes wrongdoers through her power over the lan