Aspects of the Akan Belief System - Term Paper Example

? Aspects of the Akan Belief System Akan is the largest ethnic group in Ghana constituting almost 49 of the larger Ghanaian population and others are found in Ivory Coast. The ethnic group shows similarity in various aspects including linguistically and culturally. The Akan group consists of the Adanse, Asante, Akuapem, Akwamu, Assin, Akyem, Bono, Dankyira, Fante,Gomoa and the Anyi and Baule that in Ivory Coast amongst others. Akan person was traditionally known for bravery, comeliness, hate for sycophancy, honors, and esteems brave sons and daughters. The Akan depict love for freedom and independence from the foreign rule and their insistence on independence helped them in transforming the modern Ghana. Akan has several belief systems and this form of writing highlights aspects of the Akan belief system. Akan’s main feature is their language Twi, which is the most predominant native language used in Ghana and has several intelligible dialects that are qualified based on the speakers. Currently, various dialects have been incorporated into the Twi language thus making it a unified language. The Twi language constitutes proverbs that are of concise moral and religious origin as they touch on issues of common sense and good manners. Akan’s cultural influence was trigerred by the Akwamu and Asante Kingdoms that detained people to learn Twi and forcing non-Twi speakers into their Kingdoms (Gyekye, 1995). The Akans are organizedin 8 classeswhere every group is known as a TOTEM, which are social institution, and they included the Aduana, Agona, Asakyiri, Asenes, Ayokoo, Bretuo, Ekoona and the Asona. The Akan was organized into kingdoms that were initially established by the Bono. The Kingdoms were full of gold that were mined in the Volta River that later turned them to merchandisers. The trade between the Portuguese with the Akan largely determined the locations of the Akan’s future kingdoms along the trade routes. The Akan’s village was headed by a headman who was regarded as the first amongst equals of family heads. The Queens mother who planted a tree crossroads in front of her house founded towns. The ethnic group believed that source of life could only be fed by life and therefore they buried Queens-mother’s daughter at the age of puberty and the tree that was known as GYA-DUA was planted on the grave. The human sacrifice was believed to be effective when the victim accepted it voluntarily and the Akan believed that it led to emergence of quarters and flourishing town. The place where the victim was buried was highly protected because they believed that it was sacred and it was mostly used to sacrifice and carry out libations. Moreover, the Akan believed in the family (Abusua), was considered as the basic social unit and one’s individual family included the issue of his mother, mother’s sisters, and children of his sisters. On the other hand, the extended family comprised of his immediate as well as the immediate families that traced their ancestry from the common female ancestress Extended family is regarded as vital since it ensured mutual helpfulness and cooperation as well as conformity to social norms. According to their matrilineal arrangement, females were deemed the maintainer of the family in such a way that a family would become extinct whenever there was no woman to keep it going. Father is only known to be a facilitator in the family. The family was headed by Abusua Panyin who had a number of duties such as ensuring sustainability custom, law, and tradition and exercising superintendence over the family members. The Akans hugely regarded the significance of procreation as the fundamental of life and everyone who bore children was highly respected. They really valued children born into wedlock due to the great importance they gave to marriage, which sets stage for responsible and stable family. Men searches for their wives and borne all the expenses associated with the search as well as with the marriage. Marriage is regarded as a group union between families rather than just a deal between the husband and wife. Women’s virginity was very important and it was established in a blood stained bed sheet, which was expected after the groom broke the hymen. Morality test on Akan women and marriages ensured high level of chastity before marriage and fidelity within marriage. There were various types of marriages such as that for unborn baby where a man targeted a family as per the regard he has for it to give him his future wife. There were also normal marriage contract, and uncommon marriages such as royal marriage. In other circumstances, twins were married to kings, freemen took slave women for wife, replacement of dead wives by the wife’s family, taking female pawn for wives and wife inheritance. The Akan believed that a newly born baby was a ghost and was therefore not warmly welcomed and if the baby died before the 8th day, the body whipped and mutilated placed in earthenware full of sword grass and buried near women’s toilet as a useless thing called Kukuba. Male children were named after Nkasa’s (the child’s grandfather) while female babies named after Nkansa’s mother (child’s grandmother) and the ceremony took place in the morning of the 8th day of birth. The Akan believe that God shared names for ease of identification and that there are many names varying with circumstances that gave occasion for them. Akan performed puberty rite for girls that elevated girls to an adulthood status and every mother was proud the first time their daughter menstruated. An old woman and relatives then gave a girl a boiled egg so that she would not destroy her future embryos and further taught motherhood and housecraft. During a woman’s menstrual period, she was considered unclean thus making her to be separated from men particularly during the flow and could only be accepted on the 6th day after washing. Boys, at age 10 were discouraged from eating food prepared by women in their periods as a way of keeping them clean and ensuring their future success in life. Although the Akans believe that death is a necessary end of man, they are usually interested in knowing what caused the death since they believed that death could be punishment for conduct inflicted by the ancestors. They wash the body thrice and apply lime as perfume, cut toenails and shave to ensure that the dead embark on a neatness journey. The number of attendance symbolized the dead person’s lifetime achievements. In the past, each family had cemetery and prominent people were buried beneath houses to protect graves from being looted due to the valuables that were put in the coffin and for the spirit of the dead to protect the family. Moreover, the Akans held wives’ accountable for the life and wellbeing of their husbands in such a way that when a man lives up to an old age, the woman receives praise. Generally, the Akans live in a spirit filled world and some of the spirits they strongly believe in include the supreme spirit who was never represented in any form through worship because he was too great for that and therefore worship was done through lesser gods who were both spiritual and physical. They further believe that God is all seeing and all-knowing, pardons sinners through ritual sacrifices. They believed in lesser spirits which animated natural things such as rivers and trees that they thought conveyed their compliments to the Supreme God. Furthermore, the Akans have a strong belief in Asase Yaa, the Earth Spirit that they considered a special creation of God to support life and that her powers are enlisted via libation and sacrifices. The Akans further believed in life after death prompting them to make elaborate provisions for the dead. They also believed in ghosts and that man passes from physical to spiritual life. References Gyekye, K. (1995). An essay on African philosophical thought: The Akan conceptual scheme. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press. Read More