An Iyi-uwa is an object from Igbo mythology that binds the spirit of a dead child (known as ogbanje

Ogbanje

An Ogbanje is a term in Odinani for what was believed to be an evil spirit that would deliberately plague a family with misfortune. Its literal translation in the Igbo language is "children who come and go"...

) to the world, causing it to return and be born again to the same mother.

Many objects can serve the purpose of iyi-uwa, including stones, dolls, hair or pieces of the dead child's clothes, omen

Omen

An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change...

s, or offering

Offering

Offering may refer to:* Offering, a collection of donations during religious worship, see alms, tithe or charity* Offering, a religious sacrifice of plant, animal or human life* Offering , a part of devotional practice*Phan...

s. The iyi-uwa must be found and destroyed in order for the ogbanje to rest and stop haunting the mother. To find the object, shamans known as 'dibia' question the spirit and perform rituals to force it to reveal where the iyi-uwa is located.

The novel Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apartis a 1958 English language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first African...

by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe

Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...

contains a detailed subplot involving an ogbanje child and her iyi-uwa.