First arrivals on earth

- The first Igbo man: Ife-Nta ("Small Light"), who came from Be Mmuo (Spirit Land) to Be Mmadu (human world) in a vessel (ugbo) called Ufo — which Umeh links, tongue only half in cheek, to the modern "UFO."

- Alternative modes: Ekili (astral travel — traveler and luggage transformed into a flying rod of white light) or dropping like a burning kpakpankpa ndu (shortened to kpakpando, star).

- Nri tradition: founding ancestor Eri descended straight from the sky. Nnewi/Nnobi tradition: the divine king Eze Obi and his brother Ewim flew down in the Ufo vessel, accompanied by Idemmili (daughter of God) and Edo (daughter of Idemmili), armed with Ofo (staff of authority/justice) and the Akpa Agwu (curative bag) which Chukwu directed be given for healing humanity.

- The proverb Isi Eke di na Nnobi, odu ya di na Nnewi — "the head of the Royal Python is at Nnobi, its tail at Nnewi" — encodes the Idemmili–Edo relationship between the towns. The Royal Python (Eke) is the great totem; a hollowed palm-stem bed (Ogwe Eke) was kept for it inside traditional houses.

- Some communities preserve a two-journey memory: an astral/interplanetary journey ending over the ocean, then a sea voyage to the present homeland — remembered in Uzo Iyi (water-passage) festivals. The greeting Nno/Nnoo (welcome/safe arrival) is tied to this. [notes, p.140]

- Umeh's frame: the Igbo are Ndi Mbu (the First Ones); cradleland sequence includes the Mountain of the Moon (Ugwu Nzu), then Egypt/Sahara, dispersing when the desert emerged — carrying Dibia practice worldwide. [preface, p.iii]