Things Fall Apart, Chapters Nine and Ten

Much of what the Ibo practice in their culture is based on superstition and reverence for their gods. They take twins and people who die to the Evil Forest because they are seen as abominations in the eyes of the earth goddess. They believe that there are wicked children who haunt their parents by dying and being reborn in a vicious cycle broken only by destroying their iyi-uwa. Their judge and jury are made up of men in the village possessed by the spirits of their nine original ancestors.