The Akan of Ghana Their Ancient Beliefs by the same author * THE SACRED STATE OF THE AKAN AKAN TRADITIONS OF ORIGIN THE AKAN OF GHANA Their Ancient Beliefs EVA L. R. vM EYEROWITZ FABER AND FABER LIMITED 24 Russell Square London First published in mcmlviii by Faber and Faber Limited 24 Russell Square London W.C. 1 Printed in Great Britain by R. IVlacLehose and Company Limited The University Press Glasgow All rights reserved © by Eva Leonie Lewin-Richter Meyerowitz 1958 bif'- 1 I 0rr / I) '1 5" I) " fT.pIC0,;"'-Cl Contents PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS page 15 INTRODUCTORY: THE ANCESTRY OF THE AKAN 17 I. THE MOON CULf' (CULT TYPE I) 25 1. The Creatrix of the Clan and its Goddess (:Jbosom) 25 (a) The Supreme Moon-Mother-goddess 25 (b) The Birth ofthe Clan and its Goddess 24 (c) The Sacred Tree of the Village (gya dua kra) and the Sacred Tree of the Family (Nyame dua) 26 (d) The Divine Moon Queenmother as Priestess 28 (e) The Divine Moon Queenmother as the Ruler ofthe State 50 (j) The Foundation of Tanosu by the Divine Ameyaa Ampromfi: a Historical Account from the Eighteenth Century 5.Z 2. The Cult of the Clan-:Jbosom 56 (a) The Totem Animal (akyeneboa) 56 (b) The Sacred Tree of the Deity 57 (c) The New Year Festival . 58 (1) The Death and Resurrection of the Antelope-god at Winneba 59 (Z) The Death and Resurrection of the Mouse-god at Tanoboase 45 J II. THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) 46 .J 1. The Deities 46 (a) The Father-god Odomankoma B;)reb;)re 46 (b) The Bi-sexual Sky-Fertility-gods mani,fest in Vegetation 48 7 CONTENTS 2. The Divine King, the Son of the Moon Queen- mother and Incarnation of a Moon-Sky-Fertil- ity-god page 51 (a) The Divine King 51 (b) The Okra, the Bearer ofthe King's Kra, or Soul 52 (c) The Os:ifo-Panyin, or High Priest 54 (d) The Obmfo Priest and the Os:ifo-Obmfo 55 3. The New Year Festival 57 (a) Summary of Main Points 57 (b) The Death and Resurrection of Ntoa at Wankyi 59 (c) The Death and Resurrection of Ntoa at Asueyi 65 (d) The Death and Resurrection of Taa Kun- tun at Kuntunso 66 (e) The Naming Cere~ony of Tano Twumpu- duo at Tuobodom 72 (f) The Death and Rebirth of Ntoa at Seseman- Nkoranza 75 III. THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III), AN ANCESTOR CULT I N THE ROYAL LI NEAGES 82 1. The Sun-god Nyankopon 82 2. The Divine King .84 (a) The Divine King as the Son of the Sun-god 84 (b) The Divine King as the Incarnation of the Sun 86 3. The Death and Resurrection of the Divine King on New Year's Day 90 4. The Concept of Reincarnation 96 IV. THE NTORO CULT (CULT TYPE IV) 98 j 1. The Concept of Ntoro 98 2. Bosommuru, the Ancestral Deity of the Kings and Queenmothers of Bono and Asante 99 V. THE REIGNS OF THE KINGS AND QUEENMOTHERS OF BONO (1295-1740) 103 1. King Asaman (1295-1525) and Queenmother AmeyaaKese (1297-1529) 105 2. King Akumfi Ameyaw I (1328-65) and Queen- mother Owusuaa Aberefi I (1329-65) 105 8 CONTENTS 3. King Obunumankoma (1363-1431) and Queen- mother Sewaa (1365-1419): Introduction of the Sun Cult page 107 4. King Takyi Akwamo (1431-63) and Queen- mother Kyereme Mansa (1419-63): Introduc- tion of the Ntoro Cult 108 5. King Gyako I (1463-75) and Queenmother Kuromo Kese (1463-1527) 110 6. King Dwamena Kwaame (1475-95) and Queen- mother Kuromo Kese (1463-1527) 111 7. King Afena Yao I (1495-1564) and Queen- mother Kuromo Kese (1463-1527) and Queen- mother Nyako I (1527-64) 115 8. King Berempon Katakyira (1564-95) and the Queenmothers Ameyaa II (1564-6), Yaa Ab- erefi (1566-76), and Adwowa Twimwaa (1576- 1593) 114 9. King Yeboa Ananta (1 595-1609) and the Queen- mothers Kruwa 1-(1593-8), Aferanowaa (1598- 1604) and Aferakomaa (1604-10) 115 10. King Ati Kwaame (1609-18) and Queenmother Takyiwaa (1611-43) 117 11. King Ameyaw Kurompe (1618-53) and Queen- . mother Takyiwaa (1611-43) 118 12. King Afena Diamono (1633-39) and Queen- mother Takyiwaa (1611-43) 119 13. King Owusu Aduam (1639-49) and Queen- mother Akua Gyamfiwaa (1643-56) 119 14. King Akumfi Ameyaw II (1649- 59) and Queen- mothers Akua Gyamfiwaa (1643-56) and Gyasewaa (1656-79) 120 15. King Kofi Asamankwa (1659-64) and Queen- mother Gyasewaa (1656-79) 121 16. King Owusu Akyempo (1664-9) and Queen- mother Gyasewaa (1656- 79) 122 . 17. King Gyamfi Kumanini (1669-84) and Queen- mother Gyasewaa (1656-79) 122 18. King Boakye Tenten (1684-92) and Queenmother Ankomaa (1680-1707) 123 19. King Kyereme Pambuo (1692-1712) and Queen- mothers Ankomaa (1680-1707) and Nyako II (1707-26) 124 20. King Ameyaw Kwaakye (1712-40) and Queen- mothers Nyako II (1707-26) and Dwambara Akenten (1726 42) 125 9 CONTENTS VI. ANALOGIES TO AKAN BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS IN LIBYAN NORTH AFRICA page 129 1. Carthage (Libyo-Phoenician) 129 (a) The Divine Moon Queen 129 (b) The Bi-sexual Moon Mother-goddess Tanit- Pene-Baal 130 (c) Melkart of Tyre, the Ancestor-god of the Carthaginian Royal Lineage 138 (d) The Sky-Fertility-god: Ammon of Shiw:a 139 2. Libya Antiqua 141 (a) The Queens or Queenmothers 141 (b) The Au sean Mother-goddess 142 (c) The Sky-Fertility-god Set 142 SUMMARY 145 ApPENDIX: The Aduana Clan's New Year Festival 151 INDEX 155 10 Illustrations 1. Nana Akumfi Ameyaw III, Omanhene of Bono- Takyiman (Tekyiman-Brong) facing page 34 2. The Queenmother of Nkoranza Nana Afua Sarpong and her Sister 3. The Queenmother of Forikurom village with two of her Elders 35 4. Nana Akumfi Ameyaw III carried on the shoulders of his men 46 5. The High-priest ofthe Tigare Cibosom 47 6. The High-priest of Taa Kese 47 7. The High-priest of Ntoa at Seseman-Nkoranza 54 8. The Ntoahene of Kokoman 54 9. The priest of Edinkra in the sacred grove 55 10. An Cibmfo priest with the shrine of his god on his head 55 11. The Priest -chief of Kuntunso 58 12. A priest ir: front of the shrine of his god 58 13. Obmfo priest, serving the Cibosom Afua Keranka 59 14. Obmfo prieest, serving thE( Cibosom TaaKofi 59 15. Obmfo priest in a ·trance 64 16. Obmfo priestess serving Taa Kese at Takyiman 64 17. Obmfo priest, carrying the shrine of Ntoa after the rebirth of the god . after page 64 18. Obmfo priest of Ntoa and woman in a trance 64 19. Men carrying nkotobaa during the Apo festival at Asueyi 64 20. Obmfo priestess in a trance 64 21. Obmfo priestess personifying the aged god Taa Kuntun facing page 65 22. Obmfo priestess with ceremo~ial sword 65 23. Young Cibmfo priest dancing with a ceremonial sword 68 24. Obmfo priest and priestesses at Kuntunso 68 25. Obmjo priest in a trance dancing 69 26. Obmfo priest at Taa Kofiano watching a dance 69 27. '!Vomen shalcing rattles, accompanying the dance of an Cibmfo priest 76 11 ILLUSTRATIONS 28. Woman shaking a rattle facing page 76 29. The 'reborn sons' of Ntoa at Seseman-Nkoranza during the Apo festival 77 30. The women, who cook the offerings for Ntoa, in their characteristic dress during the Apo festival at Sese- man-Nkoranza 77 31. A 'reborn son l of Ntoa, the Sodohene (cook) of the god 80 32. The Kwadwomfohene (minstrel) of the Omanhene of Bono-Takyiman 80 33. Obmfo priest about to establish a new :Jbosom 81 ' 34. The same seen from the front 81 35. The :Jbrafo priest of Taa Ke;se demonstrating how he sings the praises of the god ' 96 36. The dais in front of the sanctuary of Taa Ke;se 96 37. The Nyame_cone in the palace of the Nkoranzahene 97 38. The Nyame cone in the palace of the Nkoranza- hemmaa 97 39. The Nyame Ke;se under the gya dua, the sacred tree of Nkoranza ' 97 40. Old mural decoration in the entrance courtyard of the palace at Takyiman 116 41. Outside altar of the :Jbosom Dame in front of the sanctuary 116 42. Oyene Maa, statuette in wood 117 43. Oyene Maa, statuette in brass 117 44. Ceremonial Chewing Sticks 124 45. The Silver Stool ofthe Omanhene of Bono-Takyiman 124 46. Gold Mask of a deceased queenmother 125 47. GoldMaskofadeceasedking 125 48. Gold Mask of Ntim Gyakari 128 49. An antelope carved and covered with silver plate 128 50,51,52,53. Akuaba statuettes after page 128 54. The house of a priest built in the old architectural style (Kumasi) facing page 129 Figures in the T ext 1. The Chief Routes of Migration of the Founders of Akan states page 19 2. Lunar Creation Symbol 24 3. The Lunar Swastika 30 4. Antelope Mask 42 5. Antelope that 'masks' a deity. Gold weight 47 6. Mural Painting showing the cone and sacred tree of a deity 50 7. The antelope-man, gold weight 54 12 . Preface and Acknowledgments Aier completing The Sacred State, oj the Akan and The Akan Traditions oj Origin, I realized that these studies had only scratched the surface of an extremely interesting and im- portant civilization. It was therefore a great pleasure when I was asked by Mr. D. M. Balme of the University College of the Gold Coast to continue my work; and when the Academic Council of the University Council offered me an award for further research during . a period of six months. This is to record here my appreciation, and deep gratitude both to Mr. Balme, and to the Academic Council, who also gave me an allowance for a year to write up my material. Unfortunately a year was not enough: I spent almost six on the two volumes-The Akan of Ghana: Their Ancient Beliifs here pre- sented, and The Akan Divine Kingship a'nd its Proto-type in Ancient Egypt, now also ready for publication-though perhaps two years of these were taken up by illne~s, travel and other work. Egyptologists say that nothing in the ancient Egyptian civiliza- tion ever became quite obsolete. The same is true of the Akan culture and civilization in Ghana. Hence the many contradictions, the variations ,in the beliefs and customs, which are only intelli- gible if one realizes that these. are the result of an uneven develop- ment: new ideas did not always supplant old ones, but often con- tinued side by side with them. A marked development had taken place in the course of centuries, owing to the introduction of new ideas from other matrilineally organized countries. Evidence for this are the events in the reigns of two Bono kings: Obunomankoma (1565-1451) and Takyi Akwamo (1451-65). Obunomankoma in- troduced the cult of the King as the Son of the Sun-god (see Ch. V, 5), which not only revolutionized all the ideas connected ~ith kingship and the state but also those connected with the After Life. 15 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Takyi Akwamo introduced, very much against the wishes of his people, the Ntoro cult; and this not only disrupted the whole social system by giving power and authority to the father, now the priest of the family and in charge of all the rites de passage, formerly in the hands of the priest of the Clan- or State-god, but tended to shift the power of 'giving life' from the gods to the ancestral spirits, the intermediaries between the deities and the people. In order to establish an ordered arrangement, in space and time, of my material, I finally fixed four Cult Types and their periods, and visited those regions in Ghana where I expected to find evi- dence that would clarify the outstanding problems. The region I selected was the Tekyiman-Brong, or Bono-Takyiman State, where I had worked before and whose people I knew. Moreover, the ruler, Nana Akumfi Ameyaw III, has always been exceptionally helpful, and this time went out of his way to assist me in my work. I here- with express my gratitude to him, and to the Queenmother, Nana Afua Abrafi, the chiefs and elders, court officials, priests, and many others, I can only list here my chief informants: Tuobodomhene Nana Kwaame Frempon and Elders Offumanhene Nana Kwaame Ankoma, Nana Kwaame Gyamfi and Elders Tanosohene Nana Yao Mensa Forikuromhene Nana Kwaku Agyepon and Elders Adiakahene Nana Kwaame Kra and Elders Gyaasehene Nana Yaw Atoa Korontihene Nana Kofi Badu Nifahene Nana Yao Inwirn The late Okyearne Pong N ana Kofi Adorna of K yiraa Ahenemahene Nana Kwasi Twi Abrafohene Nana Kwasi Wusu Banmuhene Nana Kwaarne Twi Sumankwahene Nana Kwaame Boto Kwadwomfohene Nana Kofi Asamoa Nana Kwaame Nyame, chronicler The High-priest of Taa Kese Nana Kofi M~si The priest Kofi Wusu of Krobo Akwamu-ba-panyin Nana Yaa Anaa and other Elders of the Queenmother. 14 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the neighbouring Nkoranza State I wish to record my gratitude to: Nkoranzahene Nana Guakro Effah V, the Queenmother and Elders Ntoahene Nana Kofi Anane The High-priest of Ntoa at ~eseman, Nana Kwabena Ankemako The priest K wabena Saben (Edinkra) The priest Koranten (Dame). I would express special thanks to my very able and excellent interpreter, the late N.A. Police Inspector Mr. J. K. Ankomah; and to Mr. D. K. Owusu, who also occasionally interpreted for me and was always a friend to be relied upon. While working as a Fellow at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa (1954), I had the opportunity of discussing my prob- lems with the late Professor A. R . Radcliffe-Brown; and it was he who first made me realize the importance of the material I had collected about clan-totemism-a system essentially connected with the matriarchal stage of culture. According to Frazer and others, totemism is both a religion and a social system; the religious side consisting in a special attitude of the clansmen towards their totem; the social side, in their special attitude towards one another. Whether the two sides-the religious and the social-have always co-existed or are essentially independent, is a question which has been variously answered. From the material I am able to present here, it seems evident that the two sides do belong inseparably to- gether. Thanks to the rich material provided by the Akan, I am also able to demonstrate the roots of totemism in the matrilineal society. Akan culture and civilization is not Negro-African in origin but can be classed, on the whole, as Libyo-Berber, more precisely perhaps as Libyo-Phoenician or Carthaginian (see Ch. VI), a civilization which owed almost everything to the Near East and Egypt. The Libyo-Phoenicians, or Carthaginians, were matrilineally organized-like the ancient Egyptians and other ancient peoples of the East and the Mediterranean. The matrilineally organized Akan, then, belong to the same' Kultur Kreis'; and their concept 0] State, their religious beliefs and customs give us clues to the_w orld of the ancients which archaeology alone cannot provide; particularly since the Akan had, until recently, altered little down the ages. But with 15 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS the break-up of the Asante Kingdom, in 1901, much disappeared for ever; and some fifty years of contact with Europe and Christi- anity have destroyed many ancient institutions and beliefs, and degenerated others. My visit was paid at almost the last moment, when it was still possible to collect material of outstanding interest. I also vvish to thank Professor Daryll Forde, who as on many other occasions, has given me sound advice. I am deeply grateful to Mr. R.obert Graves for reading the manuscript and making numer- ous suggestions for improving its prose style.Mr. Kenneth Gay was so kind as to type my manuscript; this was a special help to me since I was fully occupied with writing the second book. I am much in- debted to Miss D. E. Marshall for compiling the index. My brother R.icardo Lewin-Richter and his wife Elfi Osiander de L ewin- Richter I have to thank for seven delightful months in Barcelona where thanks to their care I was able to work in peace and comfort. For native words and quotations I have used the Africa Ortho- graphy throughout.!;) (0) should be pronounced as '0' in the word 'rock' or 'knot'; EO (e) as 'e' in the word 'left' or 'neck'. For the names of persons I have used the European spelling to make the reading easier. EVA L. R. MEYEROWITZ London, 1956 1 Practical Orthography of African Languages, Memorandum I, Pub- lished by the International African Institute. 16 --- INTRODUCTOR Y The Ancestry of the Akan ------------------------------------~ COrding to oral tradition, the people who founded the great AAkan States in Ghana (the Gold Coast), such as Bono, Asante, Akyerekyere, Twifo-Heman, and its daughter states Ak- wamu and Domaa,l formerly lived along the Niger Bend in the region lying roughly between Djenne and Timbuktu. From there . they were ousted (at the beginning of the eleventh century) by Moslems-Islamized Saharan Berbers ; according "to.-Dabo_y.a tradi- tioM, by the Assaud or Azawagh. 2 The Bono-Takyiman (modern: Techiman-Brong) people, and others among the Akan, further recall that their ancestors, b~fore they settled along the Niger, lived farther north in the 'White Desert' or Sarem, 'the country of the sand' which we call the Sahara.3 Koromante and Etsi still preserve the tradition of the place name-'Djadu', 'N'Djadum' . 01' 'Diadom', literally translated: 'Dja or Dia confederation (dum or d:Jm)'.4 Djadu, Djadom, or Diadom may be identified with the Oasis of Djado (or Jado), situated west of the Tibesti mountain range in the Eastern Sah ara; for Djado (the Arab name) is called 'Agwas' by the Tuaregs of Air; 'Gua' by the Tuaregs of the Fezzan; and 'Braun' by the Tebu. 5 All three names, the names ofpeoples-'-Dja, Agwa(s), Gua and Braun are also found among the Akan, who had a very mixed ancestry (see below) . Other names for the pre-eleventh-century Agwas (or, with pre- fix: Ilagwas) in the Eastern Sahara, were Agwatin, Ilagwatin, or 1 See the author's Akan Traditions of Origin, 1952. 2 wid., p. 51 and n . 2. 3 wid., p. 33. • wid., p. 64. 5 Francis Rennell Rodd, The People of the Veil, London, 1926, p. 320. Gua (or French: Geoua) by Labadie, La Colonie du Niger, 1927, p. 50. 17 AI.A.G. INTRODUCTORY Iiaguantan.1 They were Eastern Libyans, believed to have been of the same stock as the Luata in North Africa. 2 Braun was the name by which the Tebu, Tibu or Tubu, the earliest people settled in the Tibesti region, called themselves. They are on the whole regarded as Gara,3 said to have been originally of Kushite stock. The Dja, or ~a, Zaga (Arabic: Zaghawa), who gave the Oasis its third name, are believed to have originated in Abyssinia, or Southern Arabia. 4 In the first century of our era the Zaga conquered the Eastern Sudan (where descendants of theirs still live), the Eastern Sahara, and large parts of North Africa. 5 In the Tibesti region in the Eastern Sahara they founded the Zaga, or Zaghawa Kingdom, which is mentioned by the Arab writer Al Muhailebi (A.D. 905- 65) in the heart of the Fezzan-Lake Chad caravan route.6 The pre-eleventh-century Zaga Kingdom, it would appear, was a confederation of Za, or Dja, or Dia, who formed the ruling aristo- cracy and gave the state its name-the Oasis of Djado, not men- tioned by AI Muhallebi, may have been the seat of the kings; Agwas, Gwa (without prefix and suffix) or Gua, who were Eastern Libyans, or Libyan Berbers; and Gara, to whom belonged not only the Tibu but also the Kora' an, who were called Garawan in the Fezzan-the mediaeval descendants of the Garamantes of anti- quity. Kora'an still form part of the Zaghawa, who now live in the Eastern Sudan; the language of both is Tibu.7 It would appear that the founders of Akan states were the descendants of Dia, or Za (Diaga or Zaga); Libyan Berbers; and Gara of the Tibesti region, who emigrated when the Arabs con- quered North Africa and pushed the Lemta Tuaregs from the 1 TIagwas or TIaguantan have survived as a major tribe in the Air region, where they now fo= part of the Tuaregs. 2 Rodd, pp. 336, 340. The old name of Luata (Arabic) was TIagwas. Sir Richmond Palmer, Bornu Sahara and Sudan, London, 1936, p. 6, n . 3 . 3 E. W . Bovill, Caravan Routes of the Old Sahara, OxfoFd University Press, 1933, p . 23. • H. A. MacMichael, The History of the Arabs in the Sudan, Cambridge University Press, 1922, vol. i, p. 55, quoting Masu' ill ; p. 235, quoting El Hamdani; and pp. 106-8, who includes the Zaga as among the descendants of Canaan, son of Ham. 5 A Zaga Kingdom is mentioned by Abu-l- 'ala al Mari (A.D . 937) as having been situated in the Maghreb south of Ifrikia (Tunis , Algeria). See Palmer, Bornu Sahara and Sudan, p. :156. For the westward movement of the Zaga see MacMichael, op. cit., vol. i, p. 56. Also H. Soelken, 'Irmerafrikanische Wege nach Benin' , ANTHROPOS, 1954, vol. 49, Fascs. 5-6. 6 In Palmer , op. cit., p. 156. , MacMichael, op. cit., vol. i, p . 54. 18 LI BYA F·ezzan '. ' .' . "-. ~' ... ,.~' " FRENCH ; CHANA ! ca.80Q-122.4 / .. ~ i " ; o 200 400 600 Scale of Miles Fig. 1 1. •• •• Chief Routes of Migration of the Founders of Akan States 2. . - . - Ghana ( Gold Coast) . Fezzan into their territory. Settling along the Niger bend they in- corporated many of the inhabitants into their clans, as was the custom among matrilineally organized peoples. These people were originally of much the same ethnic stock as themselves but in the course of time had intermarried with negro aboriginals. When Islamized Berbers seized their kingdom, called Dia or Dja, thousands of refugees moved south and founded a number of states among the Mo (Grusi-speaking aboriginals). Defeated again, shortly before A.D. 1500, by the ancestors of the present rulers of 19 INTRODUCTORY Mossi, they again fled southward, ~ainly into Gonja (now the Northern Territories of Ghana (Gold Coast)); some moved still farther and settled below the Black Volta River. There Asaman, their leader, founded the Bono Kingdom, which became the first great Akan State in Ghana. 1 Other Dia, Libyan Berber and Gara refugees, after leaving the Niger region, colonized negro aboriginals to the north-west and west of the former Gold Coast (now the French Ivory) where, among other states, they founded the BOJila and Kumbu Kingdoms . Also defeated in war, many of them sought refuge in the tropical forest of Ghana where, about A.D. 1500, they founded the Akyerekyere Kingdom, Twifo-Heman and its daughter states, Akwamu (ca . 1575), and Domaa (ca. 1600). Refugees f~om Bona settled in the Bono Kingdom; in 1701, their descendants founded the Asante Kingdom, in the heart of the tropical forest, which remains stiil the greatest and most important of all the Akan states. 2 The descendants of the Dia, Dja, or Za seem to be represented among the Akan by the Diala (Ayoko clan), who founded the Bono Kingdom about A.D . 1295; the Adiaka, who founded the Dia-Mo (or Djomo) Kingdom about the same time; the Diana (Ayoko: clan), who about 1680-90 founded the Juaben and Bekwai States, now in the Asante Confederacy; and the Dia,;a-N'Koran (Ayoko clan), who founded first the Bona Kingdom in the beginning of the eleventh century, then the Kokofu and Kumasi States (seventeenth century) , and finally the Asante Kingdom. The akyeneboa, or totem animal, . of the Ayoko of Dia descent was, and still remains, the falcon. The descendants of the Libyan Berbers-'----Agwas (Gua), Agwa- tin, Laguantan, or Iguantan, without the prefixes and people's or plural suffixes-Gwa, Gua or Guan, constituted the most powerful clan in the Bono Kingdom and styled themselves 'Agwana' or 'descendants of Gwa' (A is the Akan prefix for living things). In other Akan states the name, in the various districts, became: Aguana or Eguana, Agona, Akwona or Aguna. Their akyeneboa, or totem animal, was and remains, tile. parrot. As the majority of the Bono people were by descent Gwa or Guan, the parrot was chosen as the state emblem. 'Bron' or 'Abron' (nasalized 'Brong') recalls the Saharan 'Braun', one of the names for the Oasis of Djado in the Eastern 1 Akan Traditions of Origin, p. 33. 2 ibid. p. 111. . 20 INTRODUCTORY Sahara. 'Brong' is a contraction of 'Bonong', the accent being on the second syllable. The Takyiman-Brong pronounce the name of their former kingdom 'Bono', that is to say, without the ng-sound at the end. Bono, as mentioned above, was the first great Akan Kingdom in Ghana. The Bonos proudly sang: 0' Bono be- ank-ama. ('Bono, who alone gives [civilization]' ') The last chapter of this book contains a short summary of the Libyan and Libyo-Phoenician (Carthaginian) concepts of national and religious beliefs; this shows that Akan civilization is essentially pre-Arab North African in character, and that the claim of some of the Akan, that their ancestors had been of a white race and origi- nally came from the Sahara, is unlikely to be fiction.1 . 1 For a more detailed study see the author's 'The Akan and Ghana' in Man, June 1957, voL LVII, pp. 83-8. 21 CHAPTER I o The Moon CuIt of the Akan (Cult Type I) 1. The Creatrix of the Clan and its Goddess (a) The Supreme Moon Mother-goddess t is evident from the position of the queenmother in the state, I and the rites and customs which reflect the identification of the divine life-giving queenmother with the moon, that in the beginning a Mother-goddess, visible as the moon, was held to have given birth to the universe. Survivals ' in Akan language support this view: srane, the moon; sranee, heavenly bodies; nsoroma, stars (literally '[moon] children of the space above'); okyin-nsoroma, planets (literally 'the wandering [ moon] children of the space above'); sraman, lightning; sraman-bo, thunderbolt; sramsram- sram, emitting sparks-all words derived from srane, 'moon.' Wi or ewi is the apparently vacant space encompassing the earth: the vault, or arch, of heaven. Wia or owia (with prefix 0 used in forming personal names) is the sun; ewiase, 'under the vault of heaven', is the visible world. The word wie or owie means 'com- pletion, termination'; and owia, the sun, may be connected with it, because of the Akan belief that the sun was the last heavenly body which the moon brought forth. The firmament certainly must have come into being first, since the twenty-four-hour day of the Akan starts with the night. There will originally have been many names for the Mother- goddess. Today, 'Nyame' has been accepted by all the Akan as the name of the universal genetrix, the one supreme deity without beginning or end. The word 'Nyame' is believ~ to have been derived from nyam, splendour, or brightness; Onyame-ani, 'Nyame's eyes' is the firmament. The substance or body of Nyame, 25 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) in her aspect of Moon- and Firmament-goddess, is envisaged as fire; the life-giving spirit or power that animated the fire, and caused the birth ofthe universe, is called the kra. Nyame in her form of Atoapoma, the Ever-ready Shooter, was to shoot a particle of her kra, a moon-ray (earliest phase Cult Type I) into the blood-stream of men, beasts and plants, who thus received life and remained alive so long as the kra vivified their blood. But Nyame also took life', and was thought of as the 'Killer Mother' (O di-a-wuo-no). People in remoter villages still fear to look at the moon when it is disappearing behind a cloud, for the Moon- mother might take their own kra with her and thus kill them. (b) The Birth of the Clan and its Goddess (:Jbosom) A woman possessed by the kra of the Moon Mother-goddess could give birth to an :Jbosom. Obosom (singular; abosom, plural), a word which would seem to be derived from bosom, the moon,1 is Fig. 2 Design from the Adinkra funeral cloth, symbolizing Crea- tion by the Lunar Mother-goddess represented here by the three-fingered hand. The three-fingered hand, frequently de- picted on ceramic fragments from Susa and Samarra, is regarded as a lunar symbol. (See John Prince Loewenstein, 'The Swastika its History and Meaning', MA1V, 1941, vol. xli, 58.) The Akan today interpret the design as meam'ng: 'One should not bite one another.' 1 Twi , the language of the Akan, contains three words for the moon: srane, bosom and gya. According to J. G . Christaller, Dictionary of the Asante and Fante Lan- guage, 1955 (sub bosom, p. 45), it was explained to him that ~bosom, meaning 'god', is derived from obo, 'stone' and som, 'to serve'-'because the gods which our forefathers served (by bringing them palm-wine and sheep) were stones.' This chapter shows that though the ~bosom used stones as dwelling places (see pp. 49, 147-Cult Type II), they certainly did not do so in Cult Type 1. 24 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) the visible manifestation ofthe kra, or vital force of the moon (Cult Type I). Obosom (to quote an informant) represents 'a small part of Nyame's power' or 'Nyame's power in manageable size'. Personified as a goddess, the ;)bosom was envisaged as a daughter of the Moon Mother-goddess and given a name so that people could address her in prayer. I n section (j) of this chapter I am able to give a detailed account of how Ameyaa Ampromfi, the founder of Tanosu (ca. 1750) gave life to various abosom and thus became herself divine. When a woman in the past gave birth to a goddess, she usually established herself as Oba Panyin, an elder woman, over a number of people, whom she ruled through h er ;)bosom. If, for instance, the ;)bosom revealed that she wished to be worshipped in another place where water was more plentiful, or the soil more fertile, then the Elder Woman would take her people and go in the direction indi- cated by the ;)bosom. The resultant hardships might be many, but the goddess could be relied upon to help. If the situation became dangerous, she showed herself to her people in animal shape-as an antelope, a falcon, a leopard, or the like-and led them to water, or showed them food, or helped them to escape from an enemy. The Oba Panyin then declared that the animal was their akyene boa, literally: 'the animal that helped to survive.'l Thereupon the whole species was venerated and came to be regarded as an incarnation of the Elder Woman's ;)bosom: the people identifying themselves with it and calling it ahoboa, 'the beast within oneself. ' If the akyeneboa, which can be described as a totem animal, had been a leopard, then the people became as aggressive and bloodthirsty as the leopard; if it happened to have been a ram, an animal believed never to fight unless attacked, then the people became as gentle and unwarlike as the ram; if a bat, then the people grew to be as unobtrusive and diplomatic as the bat which hangs upside-down from walls and preserves itself by its wits;2 if a falcon, then the people practised patience and endurance, since it is with patience and endurance 1 akyeneboa was translated to me by Mr. Kofi Antubam as the 'animal that helped to survive' (boa- animal; "-yene- survive; a noun prefix) by Dr. J . B. D anquah as the 'masked animal' (kyene can also mean 'hidden' or 'masked')- 'the animal that masks a god.' 2 A folk-tale recounted to me by Mr. Kofi Antuban, illustrates the diplo- macy of the bat. 'The Sky-god says to the bat: " Go to Earth, and get a gun to fight on my side." The bat replies: "Can't you see that my legs are spread out already, and that I'm on my way?" Then the Earth says: "I'm still waiting for you to come." The bat answers: "My legs are all spread out, don't you see that I'm coming?" , 25 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) that the falcon waits for the right moment to attack. The akyeneboa was consequently never trapped, killed, or eaten, except once a year at the annual festival. If a specimen was found dead in the bush, its body was painted with white clay to purify it from the defilment of death, and the sponge used for this purpose was placed on its body; the animal, however, was not buried. Should it have been acciden- tally killed by a member of the mon, that is, the clan who wor- shipped the same akyeneboa, then it was buried as if one of themselves, and funeral rites were performed for it. Just as the Elder Woman gave birth to a clan tlyough her :Jbosom, so she could give birth to a state (d:Jm).1 This happened when two or three mons formed an alliance. To unite them into a single people, the Oba Pany in might have decreed through her goddess-as was still the case in historical times, when states were founded by queenmothers-that the men and women of her mon must in future mate only with members of the other mons. All members of a clan, whatever their origin, regarded themselves as kinsmen: brothers and sisters, nuonom, 'children of one mother and descendants of one ancestress', namely the woman who gave life to their clan. Consequently, sexual intercourse between clan mem- bers came to be regarded as incest and was punished with death, or expulsion from the clan and state, of both parties concerned. According to the traditions found in various places this law of exogamy was relaxed only when the people could consider them- selves as without a state: that is, when they had cut themselves loose from an existing clan or state, or had lost their state through war or famine. But as soon as a new state was 'given birth' by their leading Oba Panyin, or Awura, 'Mistress' [of a state], a title that preceded that of Ohemmaa, or Queenmother, the law was again strictly enforced.2 (c) The Sacred Trees When the Oba Panyin, or Awura, as the case may have been- but for simplicity's sake I shall now use the term Ohemmaa (liter- ally 'female king' ), or 'Queenmother' (the European term)- decided that her people should settle down, she planted a life-giving fig-tree, the gya dua kra. The gya dua, 'fire-tree', was so called because of the red flesh of the fig, reminiscent of fire, or of blood 1 The modern word oman describes a confederation of autonomous states. 2 See the author's The Sacred State oft he Akan, p. 29. 26 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) animated by the kra spirit or power of the moon-hence gya dua kra. Under the gya dua kra, planted near the crossroads in front of the site where the :Jhemmaa would build her house, a human sacri- fice was buried to ensure the well-being of the village to be. The queenmother had to give her own child for this purpose, preferably a daughter at the age of puberty, or failing this, a son; or one of her sisters or n ieces. A woman was regarded as fit to rule only if she made this supreme sacrifice, showing that she placed the welfare of the state and its people above that of her family.l But the sacri- fice had to be voluntary, for only if the sacrificial victim whole- heartedly agreed to die could the desired blessings be achieved.2 It was essential that the victim should be of the queenmother's line- age, because the life-saving lunar kra of the ancestress, the founder of a clan or state, was incarnated in her descendants alone. The victim must act as an intermediary between the living queen- mother and the supreme Lunar Mother-goddess, whom the kra of the victim would now join. The grave under the tree became a place of worship, where in times of n eed, and during the annual festival, the Ohemmaapoured libations and said prayers to h er child for transmission to the Great Mother. In wartime, the gya dua kra with its grave was defended to the last, as the most precious possession of the state. Each clan built its village, or quarter, along a main-road, run- ning from east to west, which symbolized the path of the moon.3 Each head-woman of a clan in turn planted a tree before her house. When it is said today that a procession moved 'from one end of the town to the other', it still m eans only the distance between the two or three trees planted at a time when the state was restricted to two 1 See p . 104. 2 Nana Akumfi Am.eyaw III told me that it has also happened in the past that the children of a queenmother refused to be sacrificed. In the r eign of Ohene Ati of Bono-Takyinlan (177Z-83) the gods demanded a human sacri- fice bui all the princes and princesses declined, whereupon the king was exiled and the royal line cursed; a shot was fired into the sun to show that from now on they were commoners . Kyereme Kofi from another line was elected king after his niece Am.eyaa, daughter of Aberefi, had offered herself as a sacrifice. The present Bono-Takyimanhene is a direct descendant of Nana Aberefi.He told me further that in the past the victim was killed in the manner the gods de- manded; in general the prince or princess was stranged and the body buried in the middle of a sacred stream; or the body was pounded in a mortar and the bloody remains buried in the fields. Sometimes a pregnant princess was be- headed; or the victim was given to a stranger to be taken away to another country. 3 Sacred State p. 185 et passim. 27 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) or three clans; in later periods, seven or eight became the desired number. The number two symbolizes birth; three, the rule of the Mother-goddess over Sky, Earth and Underworld.! In the Bono kingdom (ca. 1295-1740), a seven-clan state, each clan identified itself with a planet, and it may be that in the early three-clan state each clan also represented a planet: the queenmother's planet being, as in later times, the moon (sky) ruled by the Mother- goddess; the second clan's being Venus (fertile earth) ruled by Asaase Afua; and that of the third clan Jupiter (underworld) ruled by Asaase Yaa, the Earth-goddess (barren soil). Every compound, apart from the queenmother's, always con- tained an altar dedicated to the Supreme Being Nyame, and called Nyame Dua, literally: 'Nyame's tree' (PI. 12). It was simply a wooden post planted in t he earth, with three (sometimes four) branches lopped short. In the fork of these branches stood, and still stands in many villages, a vessel containing water and a neolithic celt, called Nyame akuma, 'Nyame's axe', symbol of strength and power. The people in the compound bless themselves with this water, praising Nyame, and also give her thank-offerings as protectress of their dwelling. (d) The Divine Moon Queenmother in her R6le of Priestess The main duties of the queenmother were giving life to the clan, or state, at its foundation, and then maintaining this life, in either case through her divine kra. Every man and woman received a kra, in the sense of vital force, at birth from the supreme Lunar Mother-goddess, but t he queenmother alone was an incarnation of her spirit. She could approach the goddess either through the kra of the victim under the gya dua kra, or through the kras of her deceased predecessors in office which had been reunited with t hat of the Mother-goddess. Since Nyame, by whatever title she might be known, was much too occupied with her vast realm to pay indi- vidual attention to her people on earth, their causes were left to ·intermediaries-the victim under the gya dua kra, and the dead queenmothers. Thus it became the task of the living queenmother to keep these predecessors inte:rested in their people and to maintain unity with the dead by offering them propitiatory libations and offerings; as is still done today. She also paid similar attentions to 1 ibid., p. 94 et passim. 28 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE I) the state :Jbosom. In early times, the state :Jbosom was usually the goddess of a particular clan; but whereas the dead queenmothers could be approached in prayer only by the living queenmother coming on state business, the :Jbosom could be consulted on personal matters by anyone. To maintain life in the state, the queenmother was above all a rain-maker, and the annual festival centred on her power to pro- duce rain for the crops. In times of drought she would fill a pot with the last remaining rain water and, surrounded by young girls of her own house, woUld propitiate Nyame through her :Jbosom with eggs and libations. This rite is still performed in many areas. In Takyiman, the capital of Bono-Takyiman, the Queenmother would formerly walk in procession with her young girls to a small hill nearby, the abode of Botene-an :Jbosom of the earliest settlers, and now the guardian of the town-to pray for rain with offerings of eggs and a libation of the blood of sacrificed female animals. This custom has now lapsed at Takyiman, but is still in force at nearby Tuobodom. There, in time of drought, the women go in procession to the sacred grove of Sirew Anaa to pray for rain. The :::>hem maa of Tuobodom, the priestess in charge of the grove, pours out a liba- tion of rum, makes an offering of eggs, and sacrifices a h en. Then the women take the last remaining r ain water and sprinkle it all along the way from the grove to the centre of the town. Rain is expected to fall the very day. Anaa, to whom the grove is dedicated was the founder of Tuobodom (ca. 1660) after she was seized by the kra of Tano Tumpuduo, and is worshipped as the ancestress of the priest-chief and village queenmother of Tuobodom.1 Fire and epidemics also were dealt with by the queenmother. When the state :Jbosom Taa KE:Se of Bono-Takyiman prophesied a fire, or the nearby bush was ablaze, the Queenmother would again walk with her girls to Botene and make an offering, praying for protection. In near-by Nkoranza, the Queenmother still goes with h er girls to the Nyame Ke;se, the cone-shaped shrine under the gya dua kra of the town (PI. 39), after sh e has poured out one pot of water, handed h er by young men, at the entrance of the town; another pot in each quarter; and one before her own house; and one before that of the Nkoranzahene (hene, king)-the last emptied over the Nyame Kese. The empty pot is turned upside-down and left on top of the cone, with a large stone placed above to keep it in 1 ihid., p. 123 et passim. 29 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE I) position. This rite is called sumun, and the whole ceremony aman- nyina, 'in support of the state. '1 Whenever an epidemic threatened the town of Bono-Takyiman, the queenmother would once walk from door to door with the girls of her house, collectin'g ashes from the hearths as she went. Summe- leaves (Costus sp.) , for consecration, having been brought in from the forest, a procession in which all the girls and women of the town took part was then marshalled by the queenmother. It moved from house to house down all the streets, while songs of propitia- tion were sung. The four roads leading to Bono-Takyiman were then strewn with summe-leaves and ashes, to bar out death. During major catastrophes, the queenmother was everywhere expected to sacrifice one of her own children, who would go as an ambassador to heaven and there implore the dead queepmothers, or Nyame herself, for help. (e) The Queenmother as the Ruler oft he State. From earliest times the queenmother ruled her state, assisted by a council of head-women from other clans and sub-clans. Every adult in the village could jo.in the nhyiam, or meeting; but the Fig. 3 Lunar Swastika. The Akan call it Nkotimsefo-puaa because the design is cut out of the short-cropped hair of the Nkotimse, certain attendants of the queenmother decision rested with the women elders, and the queenmother's word was final. She would occasionally tour her state, as did the Queenmother Gyebi Saa Ababio of Wankyi (deposed in 1950), to receive petitions and investigate the people's condition. On such occasions, girls who had menstruated for the first time and who were unable to attend the capital, wer e presented to the Queenmother with a plea for the beragoro rites to be performed on their behalf.2 These rites consisted mainly of a ceremonial bath in 1 ibid., p. 48; n. 1 gives another version of the same rite. 2 ibid, pp. 44, 45. 30 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) the nearby river, and the adoption of women's clothes; but in the evening the girls were given sex instruction by the oldest women in the family. The Akan unanimously agree that the beragoro is the most ancient of all their rites. Boys were given no sort of initiation rites at puberty, or at any other time; the Akan peculiarly abhor circumcision, because it entails the shedding of blood-blood that had been given life through the kra. But when a boy showed his capacity as a hunter by killing some large animal-an antelope, or perhaps even a leopard-his mother's brother (or, at a later phase, his father) would present him with a weapon of his own in the presence of a few invited friends. The boy was then declared to be a man, and joined the fokuo, the warrior organization of the clan. Early laws are remembered because of the following customs. A man who had committed a crime against the state could take sanctuary at the stone, or cone, under the gya dua kra, that marked the grave of the queenmother's sacrificed child, in order 'to buy his head' . Crimes of this category were: sexual intercourse between ~ clan members ; rape; sexual intercourse in the buslk=a:n msult ~ against the Earth- and Underworld-goddess Asaase Yaa, the Mother of the Dead (an aspect of Nyame); with other similar offences thought to endanger the national well-being. Such offenders were required to obtain an animal for sacrifice-a sheep or sometimes a fowl-and taken away to be judged. Often, today, a dome-shaped cone or stone before the entrance, or in the courtyard, of the ·king's ahenjie, or house, fulfils this function. I once happened to be in Takyiman when a man made a rush for the stone (called Bronsamo, after the minor deity said to dwell in it) which he reached in time. The Bono-T akyimanhene thereupon allowed him to go to his house, under the escort of a policeman, and fetch a sheep. This was then sacrificed at the stone, the blood being spilt over it, and later the policeman took the man off to stand his trial in Court (PI. 37). Inside the queenmother's house there probably once stood, as now in the king's house at Takyiman, a small statue of a mother and child called Oyene mma, 'she who nurses children' (PI. 43). Girls and women who had committed a minor offence could fly to her and, before they were caught, say: 'Mother, save me!', when they would be pardoned after offering a sacrifice. Barren women also, smarting under their disgrace, could come and kneel before the figure, praying for children. The queenmother was once the supreme war-leader wherever 31 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) kingship had not yet been introduced, or if she was titularly king as well as queenrnother, or if the king had died or had been deposed and no successor had been appointed. She is likely to have accom- panied her warriors into battle, as did Amoanimaa, Ohemmaa of Amakum, a small state in the Kumasi r egion (ca. 1660), prior to the foundation of the Asante kingdom. It is said that she dressed like a man, with a belt full of knives, and fought the Ohemmaa of a neighbouring state for the possession of a golden mortar. The famous Yaa Asantewaa of Ejisu, one of the confederated states of Asante, was the last great queenmother to lead an army. In 1900, she roused the whole Asante nation to rebel against the British, and the war was subsequently named after her. . The minstrels still sing: 'Yaa Asantewaa, Obaa basia a okura tuo ne ofona beko.' 'Yaa Asantewaa, The warrior woman who carries a gun and the sword of state in battle.' And even as late as this, women who were past .the age of child- bearing fought ferociously in the advanceguard, armed with guns and urging the men to charge against the enemy. When killed, these Amazons were buried with full military honours.! (f) The Foundation of Tanosu by the Divine Ameyaa Ampromfi The following is a faithful translation of the narrative by Okyeame Pong, a direct descendant of Ameyaa Ampromfi, who gave birth to several abosom before she brought forth Atia Kosie; and who founded Tanosu in about 1750. The Tanosuhene Nana Yao Mensa, the successor of Ameyaa Ampromfi as ruler of Tanosu, has verified this account for me. I should point out, by way of preface, that Ameyaa Ampromfi did not give birtll to a clan :Jbosom of Cult Type I, but to a bi-sexual :Jbosom of Cult Type II, personified as a god or goddess according to what was wanted from it. I am using here the term 'god' through- out. The abosom of Cult Type II were, like the old clan abosom, givers of rain and promoters of birth and similarly acted as inter- mediaries between the people and the Supreme Goddess Nyame. 1 ibid, p. 412 n . 12. 32 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE I) Although the story does not mention the fact, Ameyaa Ampromfi gave birth to the god while possessed by the kra of the Mother- goddess-in this case Tano, once the supreme deity of the Fante people. Political reforms had made Tano the state god-goddess of the Bono kingdom; and Tano in his-her form of Taa Kese had become the city god-goddess of Takyiman. Okyeame Pong said: 'After the fall of the Bono kingdom (ca. 1740), when the country was occupied by the Asante, some of the princes and prin- cesses of the royal house of Bono lived hidden in the hills round Takyiman [once the second largest town in Bonol Presently they consulted the high priest of Taa Kese [Tano the Great], in order to obtain directions for these tro\lblesome times. The high priest thereupon consulted the oracle of the god, and told them that they must send one of the last king's daughters to Asante to find out the enemy's intentions with regard to their country. 'Ameyaa, daughter of Afua Owusuaa, who had been the favour- ite of her royal father, Ameyaw Kwaakye, and was still deeply devoted to his memory, came forward and declared herself willing to do what the god demanded. The high priest thereupon gave h er a small parcel containing some sacred objects to take with h er on her wanderings, aI).d allowed her only one woman, Kyereme Akuaa, as her attendant. This woman was given a small stool to carry, called adwa-pa, "th e good stool", on which the parcel had to be placed wh en Ameyaa could not carry it. 'The two travelled together for many years, and then headed back to Takyiman. When they passed the village of Takyimentia, Ameyaa while in a trance gave birth to an :Jbosom, who called him- self Banie. She built a house for the god at Takyimentia, and soon people came to worship Banie; so Ameyaa gave up the idea of returning to Takyiman. However, when the god entered his shrine he asked her to carry out this intention, and after about three years she finally left the village. She took the shrine of the :Jbosom with her, but had to leave her own child Kwatin Ankoma, born at Takyimentia, behind as a hostage for h er r eturn. When Ameyaa and Kyereme Akuaa crossed the river Sibri, they met a farmer, Opon Akyiayesu, who took them to Akumadan, wh ere a hunter of the Takyiman chief lived. The hunter came from Bemeri, two miles from Takyiman, and when Ameyaa looked at him, she fell in love and married him, again abandoning her intention of returning c 55 M.A.G. THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN ( CULT TYPE r) to Takyiman. But whenever the god Banie entered his shrine, he pressed her to do so, until one day he induced her to follow him, and led her to the Tano river. There Asubonten, a son of Tano, who lived on the surface of the water, entered into h er, and she dis- covered that this was the spirit who had his home in the parcel entrusted to her by the high priest of Taa Kese. Ameyaa thereupon returned to Akumadan, and made an offering to Asubonten. 'When Asubonten one day re-entered his shrine, the small parcel, he told Ameyaa that she would soon give birth to another :Jbosom. Later, he asked her to make her home at the spot where he had entered her body. But when Ameyaa wanted her husband to come too, he refused. Asubonten, however, when she consulted him, told her not to be distressed but to remain for the time being at Akumadan until summoned. When he again asked her to go to the Tano river, she found the trees felled and the site well weeded and ready for a village to be built on it. Thereupon her husband, his sons by other wives, and the chief of near-by Aferandwo, agreed to move to the Tano river and there build a village for Ameyaa. When everything was ready she gave birth to the :Jbosom Akwatia (or Atia) Kosie Kwaku. His name can best be translated as "Spy born on Wednesday", and he was so called because Ameyaa's village, Abofo, lay only eight miles from the Asante border village Mfutud- wanemu, so that the :Jbosom could easily hear what was going on in Asante. 'The new god now told her to return to Takyiman, for she had completed her task. Ameyaa thereupon left, with Kyereme Akuaa; and when she reached Takyiman, Atie Kosie Kwaku told her first to visit the high priest of Taa Keose. As she entered the temple, the high priest was seized by the spirit of Taa Kese and, thus incar- nating the god, embraced and welcomed her. She then went to see the Takyimanhene Nana Ameyaw Gyamfi, who had recently been enstooled king of the newly-created Bono-Takyiman state (1748). From him she received the name Ampromfi, meaning "nobility", or "the noble", and was given the rank of queenmother to rule the new village and the lands surrounding it. She received a stool, as symbol of her status, which was to be blackened after her death and preserved in the temple of her god, Atia Kosie Kwaku. She also received a large umbrella [the emblem of office of a reigning chief]. Before she returned to the new village, which she renamed Atia Kosiesu [" on the land of Atia Kosie"], she gave birth to a daughter 34 1. Nana Akumfi Am eyaw III, ;)manhen e of Bono-Takyiman (T ekylman-Brong) . H e is seen sitting h ere on the hu;"d:)ln throne under the double state umbrella . H e wears the :Jheneasa cloth which has to be wo'-en bet ween sunrise and sunseti the Bosum- muru gold dagger is in his right h and . The ornaments of his head- dress, the n ecklaces, arm, finger, leg and toe ornaments are of gold. l'\e:x."t to his r ight foot on a low stool is the puduo (or sanaa) with its sacred contentsi behind it is a bag filled with ancient treasures. Be- side his left foot is a metal container cover ed with whit e n etting and said to be filled with blessed water, and in front of it, covered with cloth, the so-called kyem, an ancient musical instrument or game, played by kings. Next to the :Jmanhene is the A dumfohene (chief executioner) with his whip and sword, the symbols of his office. (R.eproduced by courtesy of Nana Akumfi Ameyavv III. ) 2. The Queenmoth er of Nkoranza Nana Afua Sarpong and her sister. 3. The Queenmother of Forihu'om village, Nana Amaa Nt1msaa (centre) with two of her Elders. THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE J) named Tanaa Tasie. After her mother's death, Tanaa Tasie suc- ceeded h er as priestess queenmother of the village which, by this time, through the power of the god, had grown into a town sur- rounded by outlying villages. The ;;bosom being predominantly a promoter of birth, women from allover the Bono-Takyiman State came to worship him and, when they conceived, often settled at Atie Kosiesu. Since the soil was rich, their husbands followed them in many cases. The god became so renowned that woman from many regions of Asante, from Banda, and even from Nzima on the coast, also came and settled there, and with their relatives founded entire quarters in the town. Finally the town was renamed Tanosu ("on the land of Tano"), since it was felt that the name Atie Kosiesu might embarrass the Asante. Tanosu (or Tanoso) is today at least the second-largest town, perhaps the largest, in the Bono-TakyimanState. 'During the annual Apo festival, at the season of sowing and planting, Nana Ameyaa Ampromfi's black stool, the shrine of her divine soul, or kra, is still carried to Takyiman; and when it reaches the outskirts of the town, a sword-bearer is sent to the Bono- Takyimanhene to inform them of its arrival. The Bono-Takyiman- hene then comes in person to welcome the stool, which always has to arrive on Monday, the day of the moon before the Apo. It is housed in the sanctuary of Akane Asia and MfraIl}a, t he abosom which owe their lives to relatives of Ameyaa Ampromfi. On Wednesday, the stool is brought ceremoniously into the temple of Taa Kese, where the high priest welcomes and embraces its priest- ess; a sheep is then sacrificed over the stool. There it remains until the end of the Apo festival, and is carried back to Tanosu on Monday morning, New Year's Day, before sunrise, for Ameyaa's divine kra to receive offerings there later in the day. 'Ameyaa Ampromfi was succeeded by the following priestess queenmothers: her daughter Tana Tasie, who as ;;hemaa took the name Adwoa Ansaa (Adwoa, "She of the Moon"); then in turn by Adwoa To; Adwoa Akyempona; Yaa Benewaa; and Ampromfi II Akuaa-after whose death, chieftainship was introduced, and one of her sons by name Koratin Ankoma succeeded as chief of Tanosu. His successors were Akyia Wea, Yaw Brafi, Kodjo Dakrubo, Yaw Baafi, Kwasi Kwaaten, Kofi Kra, Kwame Brafi, Kwaame Kwaten and Yaw Mensa, the present Tanosuhene.' 35 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CU LT TYPE r) 2. Tlte Cult of the Clan Obosom (a) The Totem 'Animal (Akyeneboa) To repeat: the akyeneboa, or totem animal, was and still is the incarnation of the :Jbosom, or deity of the nton, or clan. It was reverenced by the members of the nton, and regarded as their friend and protector in times of need. When, for instance, refugees led by a queen'mother after the destruction of the Akwamu king- dom (south-eastern Ghana) tried, in 1734, to cross the Volta river and could not find a ford, their :Jbosom Ay esu appeared to them, it is said, as a wild pig and led them to safety. Ayesu was the :Jbosom of the royal clan, and the bi-sexual state-god ofthe Akwamu. The akyeneboa were often kept and cared for in the queen- mother's house and, when kingship was introduced, also in those of kings or chiefs. In Bono-Takyiman, until a generation ago, the kings kept a tame male falcon, the akyeneboa oftheir clan (Ayoko); and the queenmother kept a female of the same species. When a royal bird died, it was buried with royal honours, in a coffin marked with divine symbols; the male in the cemetery of the kings, the female in that of the queenmothers. Since the art of catching live falcons has been forgotten, only a parrot, totem and emblem of the state, is now kept by the kings. At Daboya (Northern Territories of Ghana), the sacred ibises, the akyeneboas of the previous dynasty, are still cared for by members of the present one. These ibises nest in an ancient tree, and fledglings which fall out of their nests are lovingly nursed, and buried with special rites if they die. The clan people identify themselves vvith the habits of their akyeneboa (see p. 25), and were in the past represented by its image, Even today, I am told, when Fante clan chiefs meet, it figures on their umbrella tops, and on the staffs of the royal spokesmen. In former wars, the Bono-Takyiman fighting men used to call them- sel ves 'parrots'; and referred to their old enemies, the Asante, as kotoku, 'porcupines.' During the long war between the Bono- Takyiman and the Asante (1877-96), the Bonos used to provoke the Asante by playing on their war-horns: 'Asante porcupines, where are you?' The clansmen, however, never use the fur, feather, or any other part of their akyeneboa for any ritual or domestic purpose. This is akyiwade taboo because. to do so would be to remind them of the death of their totem. The animal was killed only once a year 36 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE I) at the New Year Festival-a custom which still survives in some places (described in Section (c) 1,2). The people of a mon do not regard themselves as descended from their totem, . as is evident from the origin of the akyeneboa. The descent from the totem, or the abosom, here envisaged as a god, not a goddess, would appear to be a later feature (Cult Type IV), and came into being with the introduction of the Ntoro cult (see Ch. IV) and patrilineal descent, which among the Akan now runs parallel with matrilineal descent from the ancestress. (b) The Sacred Tree oJthe De~'ty The clan people identified themselves not only with the akyene- boa of their abosom, but also with the tree, the abode, of the deity's kra. IIVhereas identification with the totem animal gave them their 'self', character, nationality (Cult Type I), the tree became sym- bolic of their very being. The Akan language still expresses this identification. Nipa-dua, the figure, body, or personality of man, means when literally translated 'human tree' (dua, tree); onipa-dua means 'humanity'. The literal translation of ne nipadua npo a esi Jam nnyeJc, 'his personality, though sound, does not attract' is: 'his human tree, although it stands on the ground, is not beautiful.' The child in the womb is called ba-dwaa, 'tree-seed' - the word seed (dwaa) being contracted from dua-ba, tree-seed. A circum- cized man is described as twa dua, a lopped tree. At the death of a king or queenmother, the male and female aspects of whom incarnate the bi-sexual deity of their clan (Cult Type II), it is said adu pan atutu, 'a great tree has fallen .' Twa-dua- mpan, 'lean [on] the tree [and] fall not,' is an appellation of Nyame and of Nyankopon, her personified male aspect, as well as of numer- ous male abosom; Konkom dua kom, meaning 'tree firmness', is an~ther appellation. Rattrayl reports a case where a priest, seized by the spirit of his god, bursts out singing: 'I am the odom-tree. Let him who loves me come hither.' \ iVhen pointing to a grave, it is the rule to say: 'Me kura dua mu', ' I cling to a tree.' Thank-offerings were hung on the sacred tree of the abosom, and the custom persists in some places. The tree chosen is seldom the extremely holy one in the sacred grove, but usually the sub- sidiary tree planted outside or in the courtyard of the village 1 R. S. Rattray, AshanJi, Oxford, 1923, p. 149. 37 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) sanctuary. Such thanlc-offerings consist of bead necklaces, brace- lets, rags, pieces of cloth which have been worn by the donor, or the whole cloth. I have also seen shirts, ties, belts, hats, shoes and other modern personal apparel on the tree before Ntoa's house at Asueyi (Bono-Takyiman state). Small replicas of fetters are also occasionally hung on these trees, with the object of tying the kra of the :Jbosom to his or her tree.! Strips of white cloth usually represent pledges of attachment. Until she was deposed in 1950, the Queenmother of the Wankyi state, supreme priestess of Ntoa, annually gave two white cloths to the deity; these were first placed on the sanctuary altar and then, after the completion of the rites in the sacred grove, either on Ntoa's tree, or on another tree close by. A very ancient custom is still performed in the sacred grove of the :Jbosom Edinlcra at Nkoranza. Edinlcra was originally the bi-sexual-goddess of an Asine sub-clan. She has never had shrine or sanctuary-a feature which places her in Cult Type I-and offer- ings are placed on the roots of a huge and very old akata-tree (see Pl. 9) . A worshipper will occasionally tie a string around the trunk of the tree, to show that he 'wishes the goddess 'to bear him upon her back, as a mother bears her child'. 2 (c) The New Year Festivr:d The annual festival, a New Year festival, originally concerned the death and resurrection of the :Jbosom: It was believed that the kra, the vital force of a deity loses strength if not rejuvenated from time to time by the Moon Mother-goddess. To ensure this rejuve- nation the akyene boa, the mortal embodiment of the :Jbosom was I, sacrificed once a year, so that its kra, that of the deity, could join Nyame's and .hen return to earth, its strength renewed or re- surrected. The akyeneboa was caught in the bush by warriors of a clan or state, a custom which still prevails in the coastal town of Winneba. ' Winneba was founded (ca, A.D. 1530) by Afutu people from Amanforo-Ogua (Cape Coast), descendants of Guan and Mo (Grunsi- speaking people) who came from Bono-Mansu, sometime capital of the Bono kingdom. 3 So far as I know, the custom of hunting the 1 I have seen these in the sacred grove of the ~bosom Banda, about two miles from Akrokere in Adanse (Asante). , 2 Information given by the priest of Edinkra, Nana Kwabena Saben. a Akan Traditions, p, 75, 38 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) akyeneboa and catching it alive is obsolete elsewhere, but the cap- ture of large totem animals, which had accidentally strayed into villages, was such a memorable event in Akan history that children born on such a day still bear names commemorating it. For in- stance, Kwaame Kyeretwie-literally: Kwaame ('Boy born on Saturday'); kyere ('caught alive'); twie ('leopard'). The festival at vVinneba is remarkable for the absence of all important rites of later Cult Types-for example, the sacred mar- riage (Cult Type H)-though the ~bosom is no longer regarded as a mother, but as bi-sexual (Cult Type H); and the deity is served by a priest, not by a priestess; and the sanctification of the animal is performed by the king, and not by the queenmother. 1. The Death and Resurrection of the Antelope-god at Winneba. Two weeks before the annual festival at Winneba, the commanders of the various divisions of No.1 Company, called the Dentzefo, and of No.2 Company, called the Tufuafo, meet in the ahenfie (or palace) to discuss with the Omanhene, the ruler of the VVinneba state, what colours and materials will be worn by the men of the two competing companies in the inaugural hunt. This is intended to prevent all disputes which may arise later if something has gone wrong and one company blames its colours for having been less lucky than the other's. On a Friday night in the month of April, the season of sowing and planting, the first rites are performed by the priests of all the gods in town: they attend the headquarters of both companies, situated in different parts of the town, and there invoke the ances- tral spirits of Dentzefo and Tufuafo. Libations are poured and prayers said; and guns are fired by the hunters who have gathered outside. At about half past five in the morning, officers and men purify themselves in the sea. Then they return home to eat rice porridge cooked for them by the women of their families. vVhen they have eaten, they dress themselves for hunting. They all use protective charms, because the wansan, a large antelope with a striped belly, which has to be caught alive, incarnates the ~bosom Penkye Otu, and is dangerous. Penkye Otu belonged originally to the people of Apa, the owners of the land of Winneba and who were defeated by Osim Pam, the founder of Winneba (ca. 1630). The ~bosom's originalname was Sekum Apa. At about eight o'clock, the two companies leave their head- quarters and, accompanied by the priests, march singing and 39 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN ( CULT TYPE I) drumming to the ahenjie, where they are greeted by the Omanhene, with the Queenmother and the Elders, who await them, seated before the entrance. The companies then proceed to their adjacent hunting grounds. The Tufuafo's ground faces the lagoon and Manko Mountain; that of the Dentzefo lies behind. The men roam about until the Omanhene, Queenmother and Elders arrive and take their seats on a platform:. Then, at a given signal, all the men rush to the dividing line between the two grounds, called Mboni paado. The priests again invoke the ancestral spirits to assist the undertaking; after which the men begin to drum furiously and sing old songs, invoking the abosom of their companies to reveal themselves. In each case the :Jbosom is then seen as a wansan ante- lope. That of the Tufuafo carries a bird's-nest between its horns, and is called Sakaja; it is said always to hesitate a moment before turning off towards the sea, as that of the Dentzefo turns off towards the plains. Then the hunt begins with great clamour. Ancient songs are sung. The Dentzefo men use beagles and bull-roarers'; the Tufuafo use bells and whistles to frighten the ante- lope from its lair. Soon an actual wansan is sighted and, to heighten the excitement, is driven down into the plains so that the townsfolk can share in the chase. Presently the recall signal is sounded. The antelopE';., is then hemmed in and taken alive without the use even of sticks or clubs. The man who finally catches the animal slings it over his shoulders, holding its hind legs with the left hand, its forelegs with the right. Neither rope nor string may be used. As soon as the antelope is caught, the hunters are allowed to capture any other animal that comes their way-rabbits, grass-cutters, and the like. The company that has not yet caught its antelope may continue with the hunt until it succeeds, but the prey has no ritual importance. The antelope, which incarnates Penkye Otu, is then brought to the Omanhene and placed on the ground before him. He sets both feet on it three times, then sanctifies it first by touching it with the big toe of his left foot, moving this toe along the antelope's body from left to right, then with the big toe of his right foot, moving it from right to left, and finally with the toe of his left foot, again, from left to right. l The antelope is then lifted up and carried 1 Three is the number symbolizing the Mother-goddess as Ruler of the Sky, Earth and Underworld. Left is female; right is male. The JrnanJl£n£ sits facing south; the movement of his toe is ther~fore from west (west is female, like 40 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE I) through the town, the men of both companies swarming around it singing, dancing, or drumming, until they reach the sacred grove of P enkye Otu. The ;)S;)O, or high priest, of the ;)bosom is already awaiting them, and his assistant priests take the antelope from the hunters. The hunters then return to their headquarters to cele- brate their triumph. It would h ave spelt almost catastrophic ill fortune if no antelope had been caught. The Omanhene, the Queen- mother, and the Elders have m eanwhile returned to the ahenjie, where they sit in the audience courtyard and recall old times, especially the brave deeds of their ancestors. In a place before the grove ;)bosomba the antelope is prepared for death. An anaesthetic medicine prepared from the bark of certain trees, the juice of plants and other ingredients-the formula was not revealed to me-is smear ed over its legs, so that it does not suffer when these are broken, going peacefully and unsoiled to its death. But the contact of the antelope's feet with the earth, in which the dead are buried, is supposed to have defiled its kra, which must be purified for its return to Nyame. The antelope is sacrificed in the traditional way: its throat slit from ear to ear and the blood caught in a vessel. The hide is then removed and hung for a while on the sacred tree of the ;)bosom, but later it wi)l be taken down and preserved in the sanctuary in town. The h ead is placed at the foot of the tree,! and the rest of the car- cass jointed and then cut up. Small pieces from each limb and from every muscle and organ are strewn over the floor of the grove as an offering to Osim Pa and the first Queenmother, joint-founders of Winneba. Other pieces of flesh are given to P enkye Otu and placed below his tree. The remainder is sent to the houses of the ;)S;)O, the ' high priest, and of all other priests of gods-each of whom re- c.eive their traditional portion to be eaten at night with their families. left) to e;"'t (male); east to west; and again west to east. West to east symbolizes the path of the moon; east to west the path of the sun. The reference therefore must be to the Lunar Mother-goddess, Ruler of the Sky, Earth and Under- world, and her son, the abosom, incarnate in the wansan. 1 When a fowl, as substitute for the akyeneboa of the abosom Edinkra at Nkoranza, is sacrificed at the annual festival in the sacred grove, the bleeding neck of the bird is rubbed against the sacred tree. Then palm wine is quickly poured over the blood on the tree to eliminate all traces of the abosom's death. The same rite may also take place in the sacred grove of Penkye Otu; but I had great difficulty in getting information on this point, the rites being secret and witnessed by few people only. 41 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) When the rites in the grove are completed, a signal is given and the festival starts in the town with joy at the thought that the kra of the antelope has joined Nyame's kra and that, ilj} due course, the :Jbosom will be resurrected. Singing, dancing, and drumming con- tinue throughout the night. Sunday is quiet; the :JS:JO returns to the sacred grove and there asks the god Penkye Otu to reveal himself and tell his people what will be good and what bad in the year to Fig. 4 Antelope mask of the ;:>bosom Sakrabundu. From a drawing in R. A. Freeman's Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman, 1898. come. In former times the god is said to have appeared-probably, as in Takyiman with the :Jbosom Tano, a man took his place, dressed from head to foot in raffia, and wearing an antelope mask. Nowadays, however, the :JS:JO m erely pours a libation and then throws a white, a black and a red ball on to a board. The colour of the ball which hits the board in a certain way enables the :JS:JO to predict what the future will bring. Later in the day, men from the two hunting companies thank the Omanhene, their own command- ers, and the heads of clans, for organizing the festival,1 1 Information given by the Ex-~manhene Nana Ayiribi Acquah, ~heneba George Acquah and the Elders of Winn eba (1946). 42 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE r) 2. The Death and Resurrection of the Mouse-god at Tanoboase.1 The akyeneboa, which incarnates the ~bosom Amii, is a mouse (akura). The rite differs greatly from that performed at Winneba, but can nevertheless be regarded as a variation on the same prim i- tive pattern, since the festival is still exclusively concerned with the akyeneboa, and no rites belonging to Cult Type II are in evidence. Centuries ago, the people of Mansu in the Nkoranza State2 formed an alliance with the Tanoboase worshippers of the Antelope- god Taa Kora (Tano). This alliance is still so close that the death and resurrection ritual of the Mouse-god is celebrated in conjunction with that of the Antelope-god. Moreover, the priest of Amii is permitted to carry the shrine of Taa Kora, and vice versa, should one or the other priest be prevented from doing so. On F~-Dww ('Fertile Monday', day of the moon) of the Apo festival, the priest of Amii, carrying the shrine of his god and a mummified mouse, walks with his people to meet the high priest of Taa Kora and his people after the completion of their r ites in the sacred cave of Tanoboase. After forming a single procession they go to a near-by field and assemble around a hole in the ground in which the priest of Amii had just deposited the mummified mouse. A libation of palm wine is poured over it, while the priest of Amii offers a prayer for the well-being of the people of Mansu and Tano- boase in the year to come. Everyone present takes a sip from the calabash, and the last drop is also poured over the mouse. They sing: Priest: Akura, ee, nyc wo nko wo b~n ni. Dampan biako na ntokuro odu, ade sa, nyc wo nko wo b~n ni. Ycfri Amowi, 00, ycfri Amowi, Damankama, Amowi, eee, Asuo blo ma, ee. Gyata, ee, yc ba, 00. Dwom a yc de fre no ni. 1 I was unable to verify this information, given me by the chief priest of Tanoboase; because prevented from visiting the priest of Amii at Mansu. 2 The village of Mansu was built on the fringes of Bono-Mansu after the destruction of the Bono kingdom (ca . 1750). Land in the Bono kingdom was given to the people of the ~bosom Am.ii and Taa Kora in the middle of the sixteenth century. The people of Taa Kora were Fante by origin; as those of Amii may also have been. 45 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CULT TYPE D Chorus: YEmfa mfrmo kyers YEbewie sen. Priest: Takyimanhene, Ameyaw Kwaakye, Akura oni. Chorus: YEmfa mfrmo kyers YEbewie sen. Priest: Asantehene, Tano oni. Chorus: YEmfa mfrmo kyerE YEbewie sen. Priest: Brong-KYEmpem Duoduokwa, Tano oni. Chorus: YEmfa mfrmo Kyers YEbewie sen. Priest: Asanteman, Tano oni. Apuo ne ate, bosom oni. Takyifiri, Tano oni. etc. Translation: Priest: Mouse, ee, this hole is not yours alone. There are 50 entrances to the same chamber, This hole is not yours alone at night. liVe come from Amowi, * 00, We come from Amowi, creator, EEE, Red (i.e. life-giving) Rivert yield up, Lion,t ee, We are coming. This is the song by which we invoke him. * Arnowi is the name of the cave where the Bono kingdom was founded. t Appellation of the Mouse god. Chorus: But we do not invoke him till we have passed. Priest: To the King of Takyiman, to Ameyaw Kwaakye, *. To Mouse, kinsman. Chorus: But we do not invoke him till we have passed. Priest: To the King of Asante, t to Tano kinsman. Chorus: But we. do not invoke him till we have passed. Priest: To the King of the Thousand Brongs, t Tano kinsman. Chorus: But we do not invoke him till we have passed. Priest: To the Asante nation, to Tano, kinsman. Kinsman God, on the thrcile cushion of the Apo festival. To Takyifiri,§ to Tano, kinsman. etc. * The last IGng of Bono and ancestor IGng of the present dynasty of Bono- Takyiman. t Tanoboase is a village serving Asante. t Title of the Kings of Bono. § Founder of the town of Takyiman. 44 THE MOON CULT OF THE AKAN (CU LT TYPE ~ Next, a shot is fired at the mouse, and if it misses the mark mis- fortune can be expected in the coming year. Finally, a grass fire is kindled around the hole and allowed to spread. On the following morning the people return to the field, and find a live mouse in the hole-the resurrected Mouse god. They shoot it, when found, and joyfully take the corpse home to Mansu , where the priests mummify it for the next year's ritua1.1 1 Compare these two festivals with the Aduana Clan festival (Appendix I) of the latest Cult Type. 45 CHAPTER II The Venus Cult (Cult Type II) 1. The Deities (a) The Father-god Odomankoma B;)reb;)re The God Odomankoma presents an anomaly in the Akan cosmo-logical dogma because, unlike the abosom, he has no part in the kra, or life-giving power, of the Universal Genetrix, the Lunar Mother-goddess Nyame; nor does he personify her manifestations, but counts as an independent god in his own right. He is also a creator (O-dom-anb-ma, 'he who alone created the world'),! but whereas Nyame created by bringing forth, he worked with his mind and his hands and is therefore envisaged as a divine' craftsman or artificer. He created the world by carving or hollowing it out (b;)re-b;)re) from an inert substance devoid of kra. He represents creative intelligence, and is still venerated as the god of Natura naturata, the earth with its mountains, plains, seas, rivers and trees, as opposed to Nyame, Natura naturans. Odomankoma has no temple, nor are any offerings made to him, but there must have been a time, before 'Odomankoma passed through death', when he was worshipped as a great god. Odomankoma took his place, theo- logically, as the co-regent of the Lunar Mother-goddess, becoming her executive and administrator; and as the brother or husband was the 'father-uncle' of the abosom. Odomankoma's title Nna-mmere-nson refers to the most im- portant of his cultural introductions, the seven-day week; of which each day was, and still is, ruled by a planet--Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. He decreed, it would seem, that the abosom no longer received their kra exclusively or directly 1 For further details of Odomankoma, see the author's Sacred State, p. 81 et passim. 46 5. The H igh-priest of Tigare wearing the head-dress of an Akan chief. The spear, carved and co,"ered with gold and silver plate symbolises that his :J90S0m. is a giver of life, as represented by the cola nut on the point of the spear, and a gi,"er of deaLh as repre- sented by th e spear itself. 6. The High-pr iest of T aa Ke:se (Tano) Nana Kofi Mosi and the 'Mother of the god'. A priest in the background carries the shrine of the deity on h is h ead. THE VENUS CULT (CU LT TYPE II) from the Moon, but rather from the planet that ruled their natal day. He appointed special officers, the akragya or Kra-progenitors, envisaged as bi-sexual, or as male and female deities, to dispense kra: the akragya Awo (Moon) on Monday; Abena (Mars) on Tuesday; Aku (Mercury) on Wednesday; Abrao (Jupiter) on Thurs- day; Afi (Venus) on Friday; Amen (Saturn) on Saturday; and Ayisi (Sun) on Sunday. The akragya still give the abosom born on the day they rule not only their kra, but also their sunsum ('character', 'personality' and hence 'destiny').1 Those born on Monday will have the ch aracter of the Moon, which is calm, peaceful, cool and protective; those born on Tuesday will become, like Mars, hot and warlike; those born on V\Te dnesday will be wise and learned, like Mercury; those born on Thursday will become great heroes, like Jupiter; those born on Fridays, wanderers like Venus, but loving and full of generative force; those born on Saturday, experienced and seasoned like Saturn; those born on Sunday will be pure, immaculate and generous like the Sun. 2 Fig. 6 An antelope that 'masks' a deity. Note the feet pointing east and west (a reference to the rising and setting moon and sun); the eye that is fashioned like the kra sign, and the water sign in three fields (a reference to fertility); the horns have seven twists (seven planets or seven clans). Kra and sunsum came to be regarded as complementary parts of a whole. The kra now represented, apart from vital power, the immortal soul, the unconscious psyche, the Id, the universal mjnd without any trace of ego consciousness, and was contrasted with the sunsum (literally: 'shadow'), the mortal soul, consciousness of self, personality. The people of a clan then ceased to identify themselves with the akyeneboa, the totem animal of their :Jbosom who was no 1 For further details see the author's 'Concept of the Soul Among the Akan of the Gold Coast', AFRICA, 1952, p. 24 et passim. 2 See also J. B. Danquah, Akan Doctrine of God, London, 1944, pp. 47, 48. 47 THE VENUS CULT ( CULT TYPE II) longer exclusively associated with the moon, and identified them- selves instead with the planet of their clan god. The kras of the dead, consequently, returned to the planet of their clan :Jbosom,l exeept for those of the dead queen mother and her clanspeople, who returned to the moon, as before. (b) The bi-sexual Sky-Fertility-gods manifest in Vegetation In Cult Type II, then, the :Jbosom no longer embodied the mani- festation of the moon, but might be the manifestation of anyone of the seven planets. For example: Tano (Twumpuduro) of Tuo- bodom, born on a Monday, is worshipped as a Moon-god or goddess; Tano (Taa Kese) of Takyiman, born on a Tuesday, as Mars, a War- god or goddess; Tano (Taa Kofi) of Taakofiano, born on a Friday, as Venus or Lord of Growth; and Tano (Taa Kora) of Tanoboase, born on a Saturday, as Saturn, 'the great spirit that is everywhere.' The abosom were no longer envisaged as goddesses, but as bi- sexual beings; he represented the male principle in nature ; she, as mother and wife, the female principle. The abosom of Cult Type II are symbolized by the eight-rayed Venus star, which is a combina- tion of the male and female mberem or cross; the male cross points to the four cardinal directions of the compass, ntercw-mu, the whole expanse of the sky (the cross became a solar symbol only at a much later date); the female combines the symbols of the waxing and waning moon () ().2 Though the abosom retained their akyeneboa which gave a clue to their clan origin and continued to represent their kra, they acquired additional animals as emblems of their sunsum. Tano's akyeneboa, for instance, is the ewio, the black duiker- antelope (representing night, moon, firmament); but the main animal that expresses his personality is the bush-goat, an emblem of sexuality. Tano's main characteristic, therefore, is his power to arouse the sexual urge in man and beast, and thus stimulate pro- creation. Further animals personifying Tano are the crocodiles- fierce, destructive and devouring, but fructifying the waters of the Tano river and the catfish, the goddess' children, symbols of fertility. Crocodiles and catfish are fed by the priests at various places on the river Tano. 3 The tree symbolic of Tano's Kra is the tall palm (moon, kra); the tree symbolic of his sunsum is the small nnuonuo-tree (at Tuo- 1 Information given by Nana Akumfi Am.eyaw III. 2 Sacred State, Fig. 7, p. 113. 3 ibid., p. 135 and n. 1. 48 THE VENUS CULT ( CULT TYPE II) bodom), which flowers when the :Jbosom is reborn. FUrther he-she expresses his-her personality in rice, and also-from the beginning of the seventeenth century onwards-in a certain type of yam (mpo). Tano, originally no doubt the :Jbosom of a clan, became several centuries ago the chief deity of the Fante, and when the Fante settled in Bono-Mansu, was 'rediscovered' in the Bono king- dom. Soon afterwards Tano became acknowledged as the state god-goddess of Bono, and later as the chief deity of Bono-Takyiman which he-she still remains. 1 The earliest state god-goddess of Bono, worshipped until the destruction of the kingdom in 1740, was Ntoa. Ntoa remains the state deity of vVankyi, and Nkoranza, and is also worshipped in several villages of the Bono-Takyiman state. Ntoa, regarded as having been born on a Friday in all towns and villages (except at Seseman-Nkoranza) where he-she is worshipped, has Venus for his- h er planet. The akyeneboa of Ntoa is no longer known; his-her sun- sum is expressed in the goat (sex, life), and the dog (death and resurrection). His-her·tree is the nampranee (gardenia ternifolia), which also grows in certain desert regions of the Sudan; moreover, wild yams and, in some places, the tobacco plant, tiger-nuts and the cola-nut are sacred to Ntoa. The abode, resting place, or shrine, of the Sky-Fertility-:Jbosom, like that of the clan :Jbosom, was a sacred tree in a grove, at the foot of which meteorites, or pieces of laterite stone, were placed, sym- bols of the deity's strength, and power to strike from the sky. But sometimes instead of the sacred grove, the sources of rivers or pools, caves or rocks were chosen-for instance: the sacred cave of Taa Kora at Tanoboase; the grotto with its pool sacred to Bonda, in Adanse; the source of the river Tano, sacred to Tano Twumpuduo, at Tuobodom. Temple huts containing additional shrines may have first made their appearance in that cultural stage. 2 The shrines are either in the form of a larger and a smaller cone on a circular base (symbolic of the kra), respectively female and male, and sometimes joined together; or in the form of a large truncated cone and a square (symbolic of the daily sun) (:Jbosom Dame at Nkoranza, see PI. 41) joined together. Date (or Dente's) shrine is a truncated 1 ibid., Ch. VIII, 'The State god Tano.' 2 There are still abasam wha have no sanctuaries; for instance, Edinkra at Nkoranza, who is worshipped solely in -the sacred grove. Taa Kora, one of the Tano gods worshipped in the cave at Tanoboase, had no temple until about 1810, according to local tradition. D 49 M.A.G. THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) female cone, on the top of which rests a bowl, or basin, filled with water (fertilizing water-male). Tano's shrines usually consist of two brass basins filled with sacred objects symbolic of the bi-sexual deity. Those of Ntoa are two cone-shaped 'drums' (see PI. 17). Else- where the shrines sometimes take the form of two bowls containing 'medicines'. Temple huts containing such shrines still stand within the village or town; whereas the sacred grove with the sacred tree, usually stands outside it, and is reserved for the rites of the New Year festival. Fig. 6 A mural painting from a deceased priest's house in Wankyi. showing the Nyame cone and the cones, male andf emale, ofa Sky-jertility-deity. Out of the basin of sacred water on top of the cone grows a tree, which here is shown with partly withered leaves; the spade symbol indicates Death, the death of the priest who cared for the ;)bosom. The Sky-fertility-deities Ntoa and Tano, originally clan gods, now stat e gods, are regarded as manifestations of the Supreme being, the Moon- and Firmament-goddess, who now also became envisaged as bi-sexual. I call them Sky-fertility-deities because they r eceived their power from the planets and fertilized the earth from the sky. They were manifest in vegetation. They were also 'givers of children' (Abaama) but it was he, not she, who now promoted fertility among the women. The so-called tuobo display, in which the women showed their genitalia to the deity, was now made to 50 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) the god, and not the goddess. It must have been first officially admitted at that period (though perhaps previously known) that the union of the sexes, was a prerequisite to procreation; for the central rite of the New Year festival ceased to be the death and resurrec- tion of the totem animal and became the sacred marriage of the god and the goddess, with their death and rebirth .. 2. The Divine King, the Son of the Moon Queenmother and Incarnation of a Moon-Sky-Fertility-god (a) The Divine King With the advent of Odomankoma, a further development of the queenmother's functions took place in the early states. The office of Korontihene, traditionally regarded by the Akan as the most ancient of all government appointments, is likely to have come into being at that time; for the Korontihene's duties, like those of Odoman- koma, were to act as the queenmother's, later the king's, executive officer and administrator. In effect, h e became the actual governor of the state, and the leader of its men. He commanded the army in wartime, though women who had passed the age of childbearing still led the advance guard as warriors. The office often became hereditary, yet could be given to any man, even a foreigner, whom the queenmother, or the king, wished to honour. Thus, when the defeated Fante chief Amoasanka sought refuge in Bono at the head of an armed column, King Afena Yao I (mid-sixteenth century), took a great liking to him and appointed him Korontihene, giving him one of his daughters as a wife. Again, when the Denkyira princess Afera Aso, accompanied by a number of h er people, settled in Asantemanso, King Obiri Yeboa I of Domaa (ca. 1620) chose her leading elder Adjei Adiko as his Korontihene. The Akan state, always a confederation--originally of clans, later of autonomous states-mirrored the confederation of heavenly bodies known as the 'Upper Kingdom', osoro ahemman. This was ruled, at first, by the Lunar Mother-goddess, and at Odomankoma's advent, jointly by her and a young Lunar god, her son; but as their executive officer, Odomankoma administered the heaven from his seat in the Pole-star. On earth, the Lunar queenmother was now similarly associated with a Lunar king, constitutionally regarded as her son, and the Korontihene governed in their names. The Lunar god, whose function was celestial fertility, had to adopt an active rOle; his mother, credited with passivity, left all lunar manifesta- 51 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) tions in the hands of her son. On earth, the queenmother was re- quired to behave in the same manner, so that the divine king now became responsible for giving life to the state and maintaining its well-being. The king's title, as the son of the Lunar god, was Sramakomma, freely translated to me as 'High-born of the Moon'.! This title was still in use in the Bono kingdom,2 although since the mid-fourteenth century ;the kings have proclaimed themselves to be born of the Sun. (b) The Okra, the Bearer ojthe King's Kra There was a period, before kingship had been introduced, in which the male aspect of the Lunar queenmother was personified by her handsome young lover: either a prisoner of war, or a slave. He personified the Moon ;ybosom at the New Year festival and was sacrificed, just like the akyeneboa-his flayed skin being afterwards hung on the sacred tree in the grove. The Apo rites at Wankyi, described in section II, 5 (b), seem to recall this period. When a regular ;yhene (king)3 replaced the youth beloved by the queenmother, he suffered death only symbolically, unless there was a time when, as among other ancient peoples, he died at the close of seven, nine, twelve, or nineteen years; but there is no tradition of such a custom among the Akan. The handsome young lover con- tinued to be sacrificed annually, but now as the king 's surrogate, or mock-king. In Twi (or Akan), his name is ;ykra. (The prefix;) indi- cates a person; he personified the kingly kra.) The ;ykra was chosen by the queenmother, and he remained attached to her; but the king also chose a woman ;ykra to personify his female kra, which was derived from Venus, the Sky- and Earth-Fertility-goddess. The king's ;ykraa was usually his favourite wife, with whom he performed the sacred ' marriage at the New Year festival. During a later period-probably at the time when the kings regarded themselves as sons not of the Moon, but of the Sun, a change took place. The king not only chose an ;ykraa wife, but an ;ykra boy, a boy he loved deeply; very often he was one of his own 1 Literally translated: sram, a contraction of srane, the moon; Momma, or akom-ba (mm is an assimilation of mb) means a child (ba-) is the state of being possessed (akom) by the spirit of a god, here the Moon. 2 The Bono king's bed'room, for instance, was referred to as that of srama- komma (see p. 87). 80hene was the title of the king as ruler over a clan-confederation. The modern title is Omanhene: a king ruling a confederation of autonomous states. 52 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) sons. He was not sacrificed at the New Year festival , a slave or criminal took his place, but had to die when the king was buried to follow him into the Other World. He was regarded as the most sacred person in the state because he embodied the king's kra, and was entitled to all the privileges the king enjoyed. The queen- mother nGtv chose an :Jkraa, generally a beautiful young woman of some family that had been adopted into her clan. (Beautiful prisoners of war of both sexes were always incorporated into the royal clan .) Finally in the seventeenth century, King Akumfi Ameyaw II of Bono (1649-59), created the post of Akrafohene, which meant 'chief of the akrafo', or kra people. The akrafo assisted their relative, the Akrafohene, to cook the offering made to the royal kra, a task which had, hitherto, been consigned to the king's favourite daughters. Moreover, King Akumfi Ameyaw II officialized the Kra Dware, or kra cleansing ceremony which had, until then, been performed in private and only when the king felt that his life- giving kra was losing strength. Although the Akrafohene, a leading courtier, deputized for the king in the rites of the New Year festival, the honour of being sacrificed fell as before to some hand- some young slave, or criminal. The female counterpart of the Akrafohene was the Akrafo-ba- panyin, literally 'kra elder woman', who similarly served the q ueenmother. At what period Lhe deceased kings were each given an :Jkraa wife is no longer remembered at Takyiman. These lived secluded in the grounds of the Royal Mausoleum,l and were usually the descendants of noblewomen captured in war. The deceased queen- mothers of Bono had their male :Jkra, of which nothing is remem- bered except that they had the same role as the deceased king's :Jkraa. The most sacred persons in the state, next to the queenmother and king, were the bearers of their respective kra. Unwitting offenders, and even criminals, could run to take sanctuary with them and, once having taken hold of their garments, had to be pardoned. The :Jkra and :Jkraa (or the Akrafohene and the Akrafo- ba-panyin) , ate the same food as the king and the queenmother; and were once similarly fattened to malm them resemble the full 1 R . S. Rattray, for details in Religion and Art in Ashanti, 1927, p. 119, and Sacred State, p. 182 and n . 2. 55 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II ) moon. 1 When royal food taboos were introduced with the ntoro cult (Cult Type IV), the bearers of the king's and queenmother's kra, and their assistant akrafo, were also obliged to observe these. (c) The Os% Panyin, the High Priest As soon as the queenmothers began to share their rule with kings, the elder women of the clans likewise elected their brothers or nephews as clan chiefs to take over many of their duties. These clan Fig. 7 Gold weight showing a creature with a body and face which is half antelope half man. The antelope represents the ;)bosom; the man, the ;)kra or king who personifies the ;)bosom on New Year's day. chiefs, like the king, were regarded as the incarnation of their clan ;;bosom, and acted as the high priests of the cult. Originally the ;;bosom of the royal clan was also t he god of the state. In later times the god of another clan might be elected, either because this clan was numerically stronger, or because its ;;bosom had greater repute ; in which case, its priest became the high priest of the state. Thus, Buruku-Biakuru, the god of the royal clan of the founders of the Bono kingdom, was not elected state god, but Ntoa, the ;;bosom of the numerically strongest clan. Then, about A.D. 1595, the Mande defeated the Bono; Ntoa was made partly responsible for the disaster and fell in disgrace. Tano, the ;;bosom of the Fante settled at Bono-Mansu some fifty years previously, usurped Ntoa's royal honours. The high priests, ;;s;;o or ;;s% panyin, were, and still are in many cases, descendants of the woman reputed to have given birth 1 According to the traditions at Takyiman, the queen mothers of Bono were fattened to such an extent that, after three years, they were almost unable to walk by themselves. They were expected to sleep on the roofs of their palaces when the moon was full; but this custom had to be discontinued when they becante too fat to climb there. 7. lana Kwabena Anl;:emako, High- priest of Ntoa at Seseman-Nkoranza. 8. The· Ntoahene of Kokoman Nana Kofi Anane, a matri- lineal descendant of the high-priests of Ntoa of Bono-Mansu. 9. Nana Kwabena Saben, pries t of Edinkra III 10. An :;bmfo priest sacr ifices an egg by th row- the sacred grove of the god at Nkoranza. ing it against the sacr ed tree of the god. I-Ie rm-·. ... ·i (:\~ th p c:h rl l lP nf"l"h p rJ p il'v nn hi ~ 1, P::l rl THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) to an ~bosom, the high-priestly succession being in the female line. The present high priest of Taa Kese (Tano the Great) at Takyiman, a successor of Ameyaw who established the worship of this deity, is descended from the Fante Queenmother Takyiwaa, who gave life to Tano in the Bono kingdom. The present Tuobodomhene, a reigning priest and high priest of Tano Twumpuduo, is descended from Anaa (Sirew Nkromaa), to whom this god revealed himself when she was in a seven-day trance. The present Tanosuhene, reigning priest chief and high priest of Ati Kosie at Tanosu, is descended from Ameyaa Amprofi who gave birth to this ~bosom, as described in section I (f). The duties of an ~sifo panyin were, and still to a large extent remain, those of the reigning princess, his predecessor. Her place was taken, as in Tanosu, by a woman, descended like t he high priest from the same ancestress, but she is a priestess without political rights. In Takyiman she enjoys the title of 'Mother of the God', and is the keeper of his ritual; and, in Tuobodorr:;, the Tuo- bodomhemmaa, the Queenmother, has charge of the rites con- nected with the divine ancestress and the rain-making ceremonies are performed by her, and not by the Tuobodomhene, the ~sifo panyin. (d) The Obmfo P riest and the Osifo-Ok~mfo A stanza given on the ntumpane, the talking drums, runs: 'Odomankoma, after he created Death, created the ~bmfo'-the prophetic priest or priestess. This records a historical fact, since priests of abosom whose rites belong predominantly to Cult Type I -for instance Edinkra at Nkoranza, and Kodu Asare at Offuman- send worshippers who wish to consult an oracle (nbm) , to the ~bmfo of an ~bosom whose rites belong to Cult Type II-in these cases either to Ntoa at Nkoranza, or to Offuman, or to one or the other ofthe Tano gods. l The ~bmfo is able to prophesy the future by putting himself into an ecstatic trance, which expresses itself in dancing and wild gestures (see PIs. 15, 18,20,23,24,25). He is then possessed, not by the kra of the ~bosom, like a queenmother when she wished to give life, but by the saman, the departed spirit of the annually dying god. 2 1 Information given me by the priest of Edinkra, Nana Kwabina Saben and the Offumanhene Nana Gyamfi II. Z Finding it impossible to get any rational explanation on this subject from the abmfo priests, I have deduced the contents of this paragraph from a number of facts and explanations given me in other contexts. 55 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) The saman appears in the likeness of the deceased; that is, as a shadow or reflexion of his personality, with all its experience. The samanfo (plural of saman) spirits live in the samandow, the Other- world, originally imagined as situated in the outer region beyond the Heavens, the Milky Way leading to it. That 'Odomankoma created Death' implies his creation of the samandow and the con- cept of samano If an ::IS;ifO panyin of Cult Type II is not subject to trances, and therefore unable either to personify the deity in a ritual, or to prophesy the future, he employs an ::Ibmfo. The present high priest of Taa Kese at Takyiman and the high priest of Tano Twumpu- duo, being, as it happens, both subject to trances, are called ::Is;ifo-::Ibmfo. But the ::Is;ifo-panyin of Taa Kora at Tanoboase, and of Tanosu, for example, use ::Ibmfo as their deputies. The ::IS;ifO- ::Ibmfo, or the ::Ibmfo of an ::IS;ifO, foretells the future or renders oracles only for the state and its rulers, namely the King, the Queen- mother, and high-ranking elders. Ordinary people have their future foretold by ::Ibmfo priests and priestesses of minor deities, usually by the nsuoya method, or by throwing lots. The nsuoya method demands a brass basin filled with water from the river sacred to the ::Ibosom, crushed leaves, and eggs broken over it. When an ::Ibmfo priestess stirs the brew, the god appears to . her and she can predict the future. Obmfo priests usually read the omens from tiny replicas of hoes, axes and stone celts which are fished with a wooden spoon out of the nsuoya pot by the consultant. Odomankoma is credited with having introduced the abrafo into the cult of the Sky-fertilitY-::Ibosom. The abrafo's . duties are those of a master of ceremonies, as the name shows: a is the plural prefix; bra means 'conduct' or 'behaviour';fo means 'people'-thus people [who regulate] conduct [at a ceremonyP When, on festival days, male and female abmfo go into trances and identify them- selves with the deity as 'Giver of Life or Death',2 they frequently 1 Abrafo, or Brafo Tiri , meaning 'head of the [albrafo', as mentioned in the stanza which credits Odomankoma with the creation of the Brafo tiri, has been translated by R. S. Rattray, Ashanti, 1923, pp. 272 and 282, as 'Chief Executioner'. J. B. Danquah does the same in his Akan Doctrine of God, p. 70. Neither writer appears to have known that the abrafo originally were the masters of ceremony of the gods and recitation priests , long before they became the masters of cere~ony of human sacrifice and thus classed with the adwnfo, or executioners. 2 The knife, dagger, or sword here has become a substitute for the arrow of the Lunar Mother-goddess, who shot the life-giving rays of the kra into the universe, or dispensed death with it. PIs. 22 and 24 shows armed priestesses. 56 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) behave in a dangerous manner by throwing knives, daggers, or small ceremonial swords among the public; or fall into a stupor and have to be carried away. Female akomfo sometimes behave in- decorously, and again it is the abrafo's duty to calm them down or lead them off (PI. 20) . The abrafo also sing the praises ofthe :Jbosom when a high priest makes the offerings (PI. 30). J. The New Year Festival (a) Summary of Main Points Many different rituals in honour of the deities Tano and Ntoa are still performed in the old Bono country during the Apo (Apuo), the New Year Spring festival. Local variations often reflect changes in the religious dogma of fertility. For instance, the Apo celebrated at Wankyi (Ntoa), described in section 3 (b), apparently belongs to the period of Early Cult Type II; the Apo at Asueyi (Ntoa), and the Apo at Kuntunso (Tano), despite their differences, to the period of Late Cult Type II ; that at Takyiman (Tano) to the period of Cult Type III; that at Seseman-Nkoranza (Ntoa), to the period of Cult Type IV. The Apo at Wankyi still revolves entirely around the women; that at Seseman-Nkoranza entirely around the men. This demonstrates a remarkable shift in the conception of fertility, which was first ascribed to the woman as mother, later to the man as procreator. Early Cult Type II. At Wankyi, the Apo is concerned exclus- ively with the Queenmother and the women in the state. The Queenmother's partner was formerly a handsome youth (:Jkra) , who, impersonating the god Ntoa, was sacrificed in the sacred grove. The 'reborn god' performed a sacred marriage with the goddess Ntoa, impersonated by the Queenmother, in her Venus aspect if she was young enough, or if not, by her deputy-a sister, daughter, or niece-so that the male and female kra and sunsum, united, might assure the fertility of the earth in the year that followed. Late Cult Type II. At Asueyi, the central figure in the Apo rites is the :Jk:Jmfo priest, the spokesman or proxy of the village chief. He suffers death, even if only symbolically, in the sacred grove while impersonating the god Ntoa. As the 'reborn god', the :Jk:Jmfo is brought by the people to the village sanctuary with a wreath of flowers around his neck (PI. 17). There, in sight of the people, the sacred marriage takes place, though again only sym- bolically, between him and a young girl of the village queen- 67 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) mother's lineage. All women who want children go before the god's shrine and display their genitalia (the tuobo custom) in order to conceive. At Kuntunso, all the rites with which we are here concerned take place in the courtyard of the sanctuary of Taa Kuntun ('Tano the Hyena'). The death and rebirth of this bi-sexual deity is enacted by a priestess (;;bmfo) in male dress (PI. 21). 'Women chant elegies for Tano, and rejoice at his resurrection. The sacred marriage was formerly indicated here by the tuobo custom. At Offuman, the full rites ceased to be celebrated after the fall of the Bono kingdom, when the yams and the gold dust which had hitherto been offered by the Bonohene (King of Bono) could no longer be sent. The shrine of Ntoa is now taken to a sacred place in the bush, called Asram, while drums are beaten and guns are fired, as though a funeral were taking place-a reference to Ntoa's death. His rebirth is indicated by the name of the p)ace: Asram, 'moon' (srane, contracted to sram, with prefix a used for other meanings). The Offumanhene, Nana Gyamfi II, s~id of Ntoa the goddess: 'And there she mourns, because she says that she cannot get what she was given in the past'-i.e. the sacred marriage; and the offerings of first fruits (yams) symbolizing her female procreative power; and gold dust (gold is a solar metai), symbolizing h er male procreative power. Cult Type III. At Takyiman, the capital of the Bono-Takyiman state, two New Year days are celebrated: one in Spring, Apo, and the other, Aferihyia Dwarec, in Autumn, on the day of the autumnal equinox. The Apo no longer exclusively celebrates Tano (Taa KgSe), the stat e god; the greatest honour is paid to Kwaakye Ameyaw, last King of Bono, and ancestor of the reigning Bono- Takyimanhene. Tano's death is indicated by his confinement in the sanctuary: he had to prepare himself for his purification, and his rebirth. The so-called bo me tuo custom performed is' on F:J DwO;), 'Fertile Monday', wh en the shrine is taken out of the sanctuary and carried three times from one end of the town to the other: yourig men are then allowed to approach young girls and ask them to show themselves naked to them. This meant that the young men wished to be revivified by the sight; the young girls here personifying the Lunar Mother-goddess. On the Autumn New Year day (Aferehyia Dwaree), described in Ch. III, 3, the King, that is to say the Bono-Takyimanhene, 58 11. The Pr iest chief of Kuntullso performing a 12. The priest Nana KoG ,Yusu of Krobo . He rite before the sanctuary of Taa Kun. st ands in front of the shrine of h is god Afera Kofi, which is a pot containing sacred water and other ingredients, and resting on a Nyame Dua post. On the left is the sacred tree of the god . d '"2 ''-"< ~'" 'O"l '+' -< l':: (3 '0" ..<::> " -5'" oJ) .s >,.. ' " & ~ " ,~.. p.. 'S ~ k (j to "ri THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) personifying the Solar god, suffers death symbolically. He is then rt;)born, and performs the sacred marriage with his senior wife, who here incarnates the Sky- and Earth-Fertility-goddess-the queen- mother's Venus aspect-and not with his most beloved wife, as is still the rule in various parts of Asante. Cult Type IV. At Seseman-Nkoranza, the eJsifo-eJk:Jmfo, or high priest of Ntoa, impersonating the god, suffers death symboli- cally (in ancient days, a criminal actually died on his behalf), to- gether with the human sons of the god-namely, boys born on the day of the week sacred to Ntoa, or by his help. All are assisted in the rebirth ritual by the Moon queenmother of the Nkoranza state; aNd this takes place by night on the bank of the god's sacred stream. The sacred marriage was formerly indicated by the tuobo custom and (possibly) by the sacred marriage of the eJsifo-eJk:Jmfo with a girl descended from the founders of Seseman village. The ancestors of the V eJsifo-df.:Jmfo, and those of the chiefs of Seseman, both came from J Diuman, a town in the former Bono kingdom destroyed in 1740. (b) Death and Resurrection of Ntoa at Wankyi The Wankyi state was founded in the middle of the seventeenth century by refugees from Beoo, capital of the Banda kingdom,! and situated some 70 or 80 miles from the earlier town of Bono-Mansu. The queenmother who gave life to this state was posthumously awarded the title Asaase-boa-ode-nsec, meaning 'scarab'; because, like the winged beetle, she came with her people out of the dark- ness ot the earth into the light to start a new existence. Her eJbosom was the former state god of Banda, Ntoa. To this day, the Apo (or Apuo) festival is performed annually at Wankyi, the capital, in honour of the Wankyi queenmothers and Ntoa; though the state was not founded there, but in a cave at the source of the river Bonsuaa. The Apo Festival. 2 On a FeJ-Yaww, or 'Fertile Thursday', of the Adaduanan calendar,3 two abrafo, masters of ceremony, with 1 See the author's Akan Traditions of Origin, Ch. II. . . 2 D escribed in slightly greater detail in TheSacred State, p. 156 et passim; but the references to the former personification of the dying and resurrected god are new. These rites are secret, and I acquired the information about Ntoa and his brides piecemeal and with difficulty, by asking questions not too obviously related to the festival. Thus, when I wrote The Sacred State, my ideas on the subject were not fully clarified, and I did not venture to speak in terms of a dying and resurrected god. It h as since also been pointed out to me that the name 'Ntoa' should be so spelled, and not 'Ntowa' (as in The Sacred State), although that is how it is spoken. 3 For the Adaduanan Calendar, see The Sacred State, p. 143 et passim. 59 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE ill their attendants, thrust palm-branches into the interstices between the wall and thatched roof of Ntoa's sanctuary to prevent all light from entering; and bar the door. At the same time the townsfolk are told that during an entire week no light may be shown in the god's t erritory, nor any noise made; because Ntoa is expected to ent er his shrine during the night and will wish to sleep and prepare himself for purification-that is to say, for his death and rebirth. One week later, the sanctuary door is ceremonially opened by the abrafo in the presence of the Queenmother, the Wankyihene, and the high-ranking state elders. The abrafo enter the sanctuary alone, to perform the necessary rites, but report their progress from time to time to those waiting outside. A bullock is then sacrificed before the door, and each person present receives a portion of the flesh; the god's portion is sent into the sanctuary, together with some wild yams, to be offered to him during the night. When the abrafo have finished praising Ntoa, they invoke the spirits (kra) of the Queenmother's and King's ancestors, and then take up the nbtabaa1-emblems of the authority wielded by the first Queen- mother and by the son who succeeded her. They lift these rods into the air and strike the ground with them three times. The shrine of the god is then brought out, and his sacred drum beaten. This is the signal for general rejoicing, drumming, and dancing, which con- tinue throughout the night. On the following morning-which is Nkyi-Fie, or 'Destructive Friday'- a ram is sacrificed by the Wankyihene, and the Queen- mother, and those heads of the royal house of Yefri who are lineally descended from the four children of the first queenmother. The animal's flesh is shared between them for subsequent eating, a libation is poured to the gods of the state and the royal ancestors, and prayers are said for the well-being of the people. At the same time a libation is poured in every household of the town; this being the great annual festival of the abosom and of the departed spirits. In ancient times, the Queenmother's akra was then carried to the sacred grove (kanianko) and sacrificed; his skin being hung on the sacred tree to be subsequently used as a cover for the drum of Ntoa, 1 I was unable to get a description of these, but they may have resembled the ones used by young boys and men in the rites of Ntoa at Asueyi (see PI. 19), namely knotty branches cut from sacred trees-the emblems of authority of the ancestors or village lineage heads . 60 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II ) / called 'the voice of the god'. Today, the cloth, the native garment of a suicide is used. The ram, mentioned above, whose flesh is eaten on this 'great annual feast of the god', is a substitute for the akyeneboa; so that the meal should be regarded as a totem meal. From the preceding night until the following Nkyi-Yawo:J, or 'Destructive Thursday', the two abrafo and their attendants re- main in the sanctuary and leave it only in the evenings when drumming, dancing and singing have begun in the streets. They then rush out, bearing the ancient nbt:Jbaa, of the first queen- mother and first king, raise them high above their heads and, accompanied by young men and boys carrying the rods of their ancestors, run three times from the sanctuary to 'the end of the town', calling upon the people to dance more vigorously-because such dancing is thought to please Ntoa, by stimulating the sexual urge in men. During their week's confinement in the sanctuary, the abrafo and their attendants are fed by the Queenmother; and every noble child in town is allowed to visit them and share their meals. Throughout the week the Queenmother sits before her palace, receiving the girls and women from the town and sur- rounding villages, who sing ancient songs, and dance to the sound of their rattles. 'Destructive Thursday' is the day when everybody is permitted to discharge his pent-up resentment in free abuse. Early in the morning the Queenmother, with her girls, princesses, and others of her clan, walks in procession past Ntoa's sanctuary, without taking any notice of the abrafo and their attendants , who are seated in a semicircle before the door. They pass through the town, singing provocative songs and shaking their rattles, and thus license the people to begin the traditional vituperations. Then the Queen- mother, who wields such great power, receives a volley of insults from the women who close in and reproach her bitterly for all the bad things she is thought to have done during the year. Finally, when the Queenmother is able to extricate herself from this ordeal, she returns to her house and dresses two beautiful girls, or young women-a princess and a commoner. In former days the queenmother herself, if she was young, took the place of the princess; and the commoner was chosen each year from the leading family of a different clan. She gives both of them garments of the finest cloth, with a gold necklace, bracelets, and other trinkets, and ties a handkerchief filled with gold dust to their wrists. Then she 61 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) takes them to Ntoa's sanctuary, where they are stripped of all their new finery and their naked bodies striped with grease. Powdered gold is then poured on the grease stripes" and adheres to it, so that each girl has a large cross of gold on her stomach, four bands of gold encircling h er genitalia, and four more running across her thighs just above the knees. The inside of their thighs is entirely covered with gold dust. Then the Queenmother addresses the god, and offers him the girls as his brides. Until recently, two strong young men, also selected by the Queenmother, entered the sanctuary at this stage; each slung a girl across his shoulder and walked slowly out, through the main street to the other 'end of the town'. The street was crowded with men, women, and children lined up to watch the procession and touch the girls' genitalia as they were carried past them---one on either side of the street. This was done to secure ample rainfall for the crops, and so promote the fertility of men and beasts in the coming year. Later, the girls are carried back to the Queenmother's house, re- freshed with drink, and dressed again. Between six and seven in the evening the Akyeamehene, or chief of the royal spokesmen, posts himself in the middle of the main street and, raising a leopard skin on his ancient staff, blesses the state and its women. Surrounded by the women of Wankyi, he prays for a long life to be granted the queenmother, for ample rain- fall and plentiful orops, and for the fertility of women and beasts. At ten o'clock in the evening, Ntoa's drum is beaten and the Queen- mother, the Wankyihene, and all the more important persons in the state gather again in front of the god's sanctuary for the blessing of the ancient golden stools, the black stools of the royal ancestral spirits and, above all, the precious bead-stool of the first queen- mother-symbol of their national unity. Guns are fired when Ntoa's shrine is carried out by the abrafo. The attendants then collect eggs from the Queenmother, the Wankyihene, and the high-ranking elders, each of whom has brought two, and these are given to the god as a thank-offering. The prayers for the well- being of the state, for the queenmother's life, for the fertility of women and beasts, and for a plentiful harvest, are then reiterated. Ntoa is now joined by the War-god Gyansu, whose sIrrine has been brought from the sanctuary; and by all the other gods of the state. The priests (akomfo) of the various gods, falling in trances, utter prophecies; and the abrafo predict the rainfall for the coming year. 62 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE u) Between two and three o'clock in the morning-the day being Kuru-Fie, or 'Most Sacred or Exalted Friday', and Ntoa's birthday- the god's shrine and the great stools of state are taken to the sacred river for purification; and since this rite must be conducted in secret, people who try to follow are chased away by the abrafo's attendants. In the past, the abrafo and stool-carriers were accom- panied only by the two girls-brides of Ntoa-and a representative of the Queenmother, who had to see that the rites wer e properly executed. After the purification of the stools, and the blessing or cleansing of the girls, Ntoa was invoked in the sacred grove 'to come forth' . The sacred marriage was then performed between the man who personified the god and the two girls-who afterwards re- turned to the Queenmother, while the abrafo finished the cere- mony by burning asera (tobacco) leaves. As the smoke rose into the air, the blowing of the state horns signalled the completion of the Aporites. (c) The Death and Resurrection of Ntoa at Asueyi Asueyi, a village some -miles from Takyiman, was founded by Fa Kosakori, a chief ofthe Asin-Aboade clan, last Gyaasehene (Chief of the royal household) of the Bono kingdom, and his sister, some ten years after the destruction of Bono. Asueyi remained the family r esidence until 1896, when the then ruling clan chief, Gyaako II, Bono-Takyiman's Gyaasehene, and his sister, the Gyaase-ba-panyin ('Head of the Queenmother's household') moved to Takyiman. The two Asueyi stools were then given to younger members of the famiq-, who became the village's Asueyihene and Asueyihemmaa. The annual Apo festival is celebrated at Asueyi eaFlier in the year than at Takyiman in order to give the people a chance of attending both festivals. The rites begin around two o'clock in the afternoon on a Kwa, or 'op~n' Friday, in October, when Ntoa's shrines-a large male and a small female cone (see PI. 17)-are taken from the sanctuary by the :Jlomfo priest, the Asueyihene's proxy, and placed on mats under Ntoa's tree close to the entrance door of the building. This is done in the presence of the Asueyihene, the Asueyihemmaa, the elders, and villagers to the beating of Ntoa's drum. The people who have gathered then begin to drum a_nd dance; later in the day, the ?Iomfo himself dances with the male and female shrine of the god alternately placed on his head. Finally, while carrying the male 65 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) shrine, he is possessed by Ntoa's spirit and foretells future events in a trance. The shrines are then carried into the sanctuary by the asuanifo ('learners' or 'disciples'), and bathed in the blood of a sacrificed chicken. At nightfall, Ntoa is ceremonially fed with wild yams and boiled chicken, while the abrafo, or master of ceremony, sings his praises. On the F~, or 'Fertile' Friday, a fortnight later, the shrines are taken out again and placed before the sanctuary; then drums are beaten the whole day long. In the evening, the shrines are taken inside and, as at Wankyi, the people are warned to keep silent because Ntoa is expected to enter his shrine during the night in order to sleep and prepare himself for purification. No light is allowed to enter the sanotuary; and branches of the nampranec tree are stuck into the interstices between the thatched roof and the wall to prevent all light from entering. Branches of the same tree bar the door from the inside. One week later, on a Nwona, 'Protected' or 'Shielded' Friday, the Asueyihene, his elders, and other important men in the village, bring their mats and pillows, and sleep around the sanctuary in order to protect the god, now envisaged as old and powerless. The young men meanwhile roam through the streets to catch all the chickens and steal all the yams that they can lay their hands on; and bring them to the priest. The chickens must be caught without violence, like the akyeneboa ; and even the yams are said to be 'caught'. At dead of night Ntoa's drum is beaten; everybody gathers around the ~bmfo, and the door of the sanctuary opens. The shrines are carried out and placed on mats; after which the ~bmfo pours a libation, says a prayer for the well-being of the people, and sacri- fices a chicken over the shrines. The chickens are then given to Ntoa's cook for boiling, and are later eaten, with the yams, at a ceremonial meal; a portion being offered to Ntoa. The assembled people chant hymns until sunrise. From time to time, young men and boys from the leading families of Asueyi arm themselves with the nbt~baa, the ceremonial rods of their ancestorS (PI. 19) and, raising them high into the air, run three times along the main road from one end of the village to the other. There is also drumming and dancing. This procedure is repeated every night, until the following Nkyi, or 'Destructive' Friday, when proceedings begin in the afternoon with the customary abuse, as at Wankyi. After nightfall, Ntoa's shrines are taken to the sacred grove and left there. 64 , 17. The ;ybmjo pr iest carrying the shrine of Ntoa on his head after the rebirth of the god. At the back is the sanctuary '>,vith the sacred tree. Apo festival at Asueyi. 18. The ;ybmjo of Ntoa w ith a \'Yoman in a trance, personifying the goddess Ntoa. 19 . Men and boys carrying t h e nkotobaa during the Apo festiyal at Asueyi. 20 . Ok;lmfo priestess in a trance being restrained by an ;lbrafo priest. Seized by the spirit of the ;lbosom she had t hrown a knife into the crowd. 2 J. Obmfo pr iestess personifying t he aged god Taa Kuntun (Tano) at Kuntunso dur ing the Apo festival. 22. Obmjo pri estess w ith the ceremonial sword . THE VENUS CULT ( CULT TYPE II) About two o'clock in the afternoon on the next Kuru, or 'Most Sacred Friday', the birthday of the god, the people gather at t he entrance to the grove to fetch Ntoa home.! The secret of the r ites that took place in the grove were not revealed to me; but it is known t)-lat the ayere ye rite had been performed, that is to say, the shrines were 'mended'. Ayere ye, literally translated, means 'to stretch or distend the skin', namely that of the totem animal or its human substitute, a reference to the death and rebirth of the god, the renewal of his power. When the crowd gathers at the entrance of the grove, the ;;lomfo, his body painted white, a wreath on his head, and fresh, green leaves about his neck, stands with the male shrine placed on his head-thus incarnating the reborn god. Two large tail-feathers from a sacrificed chicken (presumably from the chicken used as a substitute for the akyeneboa) are stuck into the shrine. The ;;lomfo is accompanied by the Asueyihene, the Asueyi- hemmaa, and the Asueyihene's ;;kyeame, or spokesman, who has been placed in charge of the god. After a while, the shrine is taken from the ;;lomfo and set on a mat under Ntoa's sacred tree in the grove; whereupon the female shrine, also decorated with two feathers, is then placed upon his head. Finally a libation is poured out; and four strong young men, asuanifo take the shrines by the handles, two for each shrine, and run with them as fast as they can, twirling them round all the time, and going wherever the deity inspires them to go. At last the shrines reach the sanctuary, where they are set on a mat, but taken up again several times by the asuanifo whenever the deity gives these the order. Then the ;;lomfo carries the male shrine on his head for as long as he can support its heavy weight. A young woman of the Asueyihemmaa's lineage, who has fallen into a trance, and is now possessed by the goddess Ntoa, keeps close to him, though occasionally she wanders off as though in search of something. After .a longer absence than usual, she returns and kneels before the male shrine which has just been taken off the ;;lomfo's head. Then both he and she have a line of white clay drawn across their fore- heads (symbol of their sacred union-see PI. 18), to sanctify them. The talking drums, loud in the praise of Ntoa, are beaten almost all the time; women accompany them with their rattles and sing Apo songs; some of them dance. Later, in the afternoon, men and boys 1 The grove formerly was purified, for when a priest was dying, he had him- self crucified with staples to one of the trees ; his body had to be removed. 65 M.A.G. THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) arriv'e with their ancestors' ceremonial nk:Jtabaa lift them three times into the air, beat the ground three times, then run with them three times from one end of the village to the other. At nightfall they make another run, while the ak:Jmfo, with the male shrine of the god set upon his head, slowly walks to the main road of the village and pauses before the houses of the Asueyihene, the Asueyi- hemmaa, the elders, and other important people, to predict the future, the good with the bad, for the coming year. A woman holding a pot filled with water awaits him in front of each house. This he quickly overturns, so that the water is spilled, and throws an egg into the bottom of the pot. If the breach in the egg-shell fails to face the sky, misfortune will come to the house and, in order to avert evil, the head of the household must sacrifice a sheep to Ntoa on one of the following days. Then the shrine of Ntoa is carried back to the sanctuary. Next morning, the Gyaasehene, the Gyaase-ba-panyin from Takyiman, the Asueyihene, the Asueyihemmaa, the elders, and all the people, dressed in their best, gather before Ntoa's sanctuary with an offering of eggs. The abrafo open the door, and when the shrines have been carried out again by the asuanifo and set on mats, a libation is poured by the abmjo. Women who are anxious to have children then step forward and approach the god. While two women hold a length of cloth behind them so that they are visible only to the god, they display their genitalia, in the tuobo custom. Mean- while the women standing around shake their rattles and chant sacred hymns. Some men dance to the sound of drums; others grind asera leaves (tobacco), which are later offered to Ntoa. The Asueyihene's spokesman then raises his ancient rod and says the prayer for the well-being of the state, the village, and its people. He prays for rain, the fertility of women and beasts, and for a plentiful harvest. When he has finished his prayer, he pours a libation of palm-wine, after which the ak:Jmfo carries back the shrines, the door is closed, and the Apo is at an end. (d) The Death and Rebirth of Taa Kunlun at Kuntunso At Kuntunso, a small village about five miles south of Takyi- man, the deity worshipped is Taa Kuntun ('Tano the Hyena'). The festival (afahyia) , the main day of which I witnessed on 'Great Sacred Monday' (Fa-Dwoa-KEse), took place in February. On the previous Friday some four hundred people from Kun- 66 THE VENUS CULT (CU LT TYPE II) tunso and the neighbouring villages, worshippers of the god, had gathered in the courtyard of Taa Kuntun's sanctuary, ready to go to the clay wells (Tano kyirem) on the outskirts of the village. . The following is the ritual. A mass procession forms; and the people chant as they walk to the wells: Osee yei, yecyei Tano Kunlun Adwoa aje ano ahwyia, yerepe yeanya 0, 0, 0, yenya a yEbe di 0 Duduu. [Osee yei, yeeyei Tano Kuntun Adwoa, * the yearly festival, has come round again We are all happy, 0, 0, 0, Weare expecting the New Year.] * 'She of the Moon' a reference to the woman, who gave birth to the god. On their arrival at the wells, the prophetic high priest, ::Is::ljo ::Ibmfo, pours a libation, and makes a small offering of eggs and mashed yams (Eta) . Then lumps of clay are dug, and the people return with them to Taa Kuntun's sanctuary. His high priest then carries out the god's shrine and sets in on a low dais in the court- yard. Thereupon he sings the first dapaa songs, which are taboo at any other time because they r efer to the coming death of the god: Kae me dabi wo bi3kae me wo bekae ena. Gyam bibi hye wuda dabi wa bekae me. Ahia ne nee Kuntun Nsonsowo::l Kadja a/u'a mena me nye den, ahia me, aaa Kuntun, eee, Asamoa de neha aba eei atwie a ade ne ha, oa, Okra Nyamewa Basampema akam mye kam na, na akyire asem. Akobtan banee na yea ye wa dee sa; waka wa ma agu wakyi na wa sasa wa mfema akabtan ei na yea ye wa dee sa. 67 niE VENUS CULT ( CULT TYPE II) [Remember me some time As you remember your mother. Great and forceful, you will Remember me on the day of your death. I need you, Kuntun Nsonsowo;) Kodjo, * I need you, and what shall I do? I need you, 0, 0, 0, Kuntun, eeh! Cat +n ow presents himself to you, Who like the leopard has kept himself apart, 0, O! Small son of Nyame's kra, there are thousands of gods. To be a priest is not difficult but, A vocation is. The hen that beats another's chicken Beats you too; you should treat Others as you treat your own.] * Born of the Moon. t A title of Tano. The song before the closing of the ceremony runs: Enowa Kodjo b"ra ;)hene Kodjo brio Ohene name brew, dono ee, Adwoa Boakye ba, Kodjo merefri Kodjo hene ba Dono ee, OdJnb am' bi ose orefare akom, dono ee, ani amma no anu bm ose ama no anukrom dono, ee. [Little Mother, Kodjo King Kodjo be born anew! A king walks carefully, dono ee, * Son of Adwoa Boakye, +K odjo, I am going, King Kodjo, dono ee, A slave who has nobody to care for Him, says: dono ee That he wishes to become a priest.] * Dono, an hourglass-shaped drum used by the women. In outline the drum shows the two triangles that meet at the apex, the symbol of the bi- sexual Mother-goddess as ruler of the Sky, Earth and Underworld . t She was the woman who gave life to the :;bosom. 68 23. Young :yk:Jmfo priest dancing with th e ceremonial sword during the Apo festival at Takyiman. 2A·. Obmfo priest dancing. Left, t wo priestesses in a trance. Apo festi" al at Kuntunso. THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) And the final song: Recoda 00, bribi a yehu a yewu na rebeko Agyeman Tano. Na worebeko na waba Agyeman Tano. [You are now going to sleep, * 0, O! The fear is seizing those who dance. You are going, S9-viour Tano. But you shall come again, Saviour Tano. ] * To die . The shrine is then carried back into the sanctuary. At dawn on F'J Dwo'J Kese-('Great Fertile Monday') the Korontihene of Takyiman, owner of the village, comes to the sanc- tuary with all the priests and priestesses of other villages owned by him. He pours a libation and sacrifices a ram, as well as a number of fowls. The shrine of T aa Kuntun is then carried into the courtyard, and the priests sing the same dapaa songs as on the preceding Friday; but this time the songs are accompanied by drums and gongs. Meanwhile, a 'medicine' is brewed with which, when ready, all the priests and priestesses present rub their bodies (possibly to protect themselves against the infection of death). At about eight o'clock the crowd disperses . At about three o'clock in the afternoon, the rites and ceremonies are resumed. The Korontihene, this time accompanied by his elders, takes his seat to watch the proceedings that are about to take place in the courtyard. Priestesses are already dancing, armed with knives, daggers, or small ceremonial swords. Women sing and accompany them ,"lith their rattles . After a little time, the 'Js:ife> 'Jbmfo makes his appearance with the god's shrine set on his head. He staggers under the weight of the shrine-a large brass bowl covered with a silk cloth, said to be filled with gold dust, meteoric stones, and other symbols of Taa Kuntun's power. Pain t ests his faith, and tears well from his closed eyes. Asuanofo, on either side, keep him steady and make sure that the shrine does not slip off his head. The 'Js:ifo 'Jbmfo, once he has accustomed himself to the weight, makes the round of the spectators, and greets the Koron- tihene and his elders, the representative of the Takyimanhene, and 69 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) other important people seated on one side of the courtyard. Then, still carrying the shrine, he sings: AyEyi ayEyi, 00, oyee, nayaa woso~, yaymiyaYEse, 00, yeYE moa bia Y Eayi yE no. [Praise, praise, 0, 0, Oyee, We listen trembling, If we were beasts, (?) We should be freed.] Then the priestesses: Ane se yE mera YE- baa, ee yaba yE bE se; [Our ancestors said that we should Come, ee, And we have come to say:] The high priest: Yefiri Amowi 00, YEfiri Amowi 00, Odamankoma, Amowi 00, ee, YE firi Amowi, 00, ee Damankoma. [We have come from Amom. * 00, 'VIle have come from Amom, 00 Creator, from Amom, 00, EE, We have come from Amom, 00, EE, Creator.] * The cave in which it was decided to found the Bono kingdom. The priestesses: Nana mammua yE yE ti ne yE Nhwi yE som w~, Akoama boniaye mammua yen. [Nana, * do not mind our conduct. We serve you, Ally, forgive us our conduct.] * i.e. Tano. 70 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) The high priest, personifying the god Taa Kuntun, sings in a trance: Amoro biec mpete bae na yeri fre agya, ko na yc fre agya, Ko gue na na ycbae dim matem. Ko bae na agya wom bi obi nye bi mmo so? wuo bae na agya wom bi, obi nye bi mmo so? Kwabena gyae dec woaye nso a Kwabena gyae dec woanye nso a! obi nye bi mmo so? Bede ayeyi ara ne mo de Koto sumru·aso. [I am unhappy, during the small-pox epidemic you prayed to Jlle, during the war you prayed to me, and now I am abused. There was war and I was in the middle of it (unhurt). Wilo can do this? There was death and I was there (unhurt). Wilo can do this? Kwabena (i.e. Taa Ke;se) be silent! Let somebody do the same for me to see. Wilo can do this? (I am no more than) A basket made of palm leaves (bede) that has been thrown away when it has served.] Sung by priestesses and people: Naa woaye Kwagynamoa uon ye biako aboa bi. [Cat Tano (Kwagynamoa) does not serve only one person, but all.] The songs are interrupted by an Clkomfo, who appears carrying a smalier shrine on his head, also kept in the sanctuary. This too is very heavy, and he has to be supported byasuanofo. Wilen the songs have ended, the high priest with his shrine, and the Clkomfo with his, take them back to the sanctuary, where they leave them. Then they emerge again without them, but fetch them later in the afternoon. Akomfo appear now to amuse the people with their tricks, such as pretending to catch from the air various objects connected with the god. For example, I was given an egg (symbol of life and crea- 71 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) tion); a piece of iron stone (symbol of strength and striking power); and a small truncated cone (an emblem of the goddess) of the type that priestesses sometimes wear on a cord around their necks. A group of akomfo then acrobatically formed a pyramid; the pyra- mid, or triangle, symbolizing the Lunar Mother-goddess as nlier of the sky, earth and underworld. All this time the women were singing to the accompaniment of rattles, or the fontomfrom (talk- ing drums) were beating out proverbs, which most listeners under- stood. Towards the close, a priestess in male costume gave a dramatic performance: she acted the old, dying god, leaning on a staff; then indicated his rebirth by throwing her staff and some of her garments on the roof top, amid popular rejoicing (see Pl. 21). New yams had been cooking all the afternoon, and towards the evening were ready for offering to Taa Kuntun by the :Js?!o :Jk:Jmfo. These offerings were repeated nightly, until the Sunday which closed the Apo. (e) The Naming Ceremony (mranee) of Tano Twumpuduo (or Twumpuro) at Tuobodom Tano Twumpuduo, 'He of Monday', was the state god of Bono from about 1600 until 1740. He is still one of the three most important Tano gods in the Bono-Tilkyiman state; and his power is also recognized by the Asante. The Asantehene annually sends a ram for sacrifice at the Apo. The afahyia of Twumpuduo is celebrated, like that of Taa Kuntun, in November on 'Great Fertile Monday' (F:J Dwo:J Kcse). Forty days later, the Gyatutuo rite is performed. The Tuobodom- h ene, the reigning chief of Tuobodom and :Js?!o :Jk:Jmfo of Twumpuduo, carries the god's shrine on his head to a sacred spot near the source of the river Tano. There the shrine is set down, and a ram sacrificed before it, mpo yams are offered to the god. The Korontihene of Tuobodom then kindles a fire around the shrine, formerly using flint and iron, and walks around it three times (three honours the Lunar Mother-goddess) ; quenches it with summe leaves, commonly used for consecration; and addresses Twumpuduo three times with all his titles. This ceremony is called mranec, 'Naming.' Its significance is that the reborn god is reinstated as lord and king. His titles are: Atanotifihene: King ofthe source ofthe Tano river. Asubunmuhene: King of the Pool (at the source). 72 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II ) Takyiman Bosom nea: State god of Takyiman. P empongyae Kodjo : Ancestor of thousands, H e of the Moon. Kum-Adinkra Kodjo: Killer of [King] Adinkra, 'He of the Moon.' Kodjo Atuodenfuo: He of the Moon, Firer of Guns [i.e. rays of the moon]. Ankoma Powaji: Ankoma, Lord of the Grove. [Ankoma - 'H e who alone gives. 'J Ka-ntam-antono: He who fulfills his promise. There is no dancing or singing, but the talking drums recall the deeds of Tano. Afterwards everyone present takes a leaf or one of the sweet-smelling flowers of the sacr ed Nnuonuo tree, its flowering being a symbol of Tano's rebirth. L eaves and flowers are also placed on the :;bosom's shrine. Walking back to the village, the people sing: ~, f'r~~ ' Nnuonuo, 00, 00, Nnuonuo, 00, 00, i. Nnuonuo, 00, 00, Nnuonuo, 00, 00, 1< Nnuonuo, 00, 00. Nnuonuo, 00, 00. ;t.L Nana de :;yE no dE, 000, Our Lord is pleased, ° ·t~:I Twumpuro dE ayE no dE, 000. 1 Twumpuroispleased,OOO. ;,...., \ (j) The Death and Rebirth of Ntoa at Seseman-Nkoral1.za After the collapse of the Bono kingdom, the :;s:ifo-:;k:Jmfo of Ntoa, Nana Boa Nyanpano, and the chief of Diuman, Nana Sese brought Ntoa's shrine to Nkoranza-then a n ewly-creat ed state- where with refugees from other places they founded the village of Seseman (ca. 1750), which is now part of Nkoranza town. Ntoa soon became powerful again as Ntoa of Seseman, but since Nkoranza already had a state god, Dame, a Sky-Fertility-deity with Apo rites similar to those performed at Asueyi, Ntoa of Seseman was adopted by the Nkoranza state as a war-god and slayer of en emies, though retaining his old character as Sky-Fertility-god. His priesthood then developed on regal lines: that is to say, he was supplied with all the important officers and attendants that a king has in his service. On state occasions, the :;s:;jo-:;k:Jmjo wears the regalia of a king (see PI. 8), and is carried in a regal palanquin during certain ceremonies. 1 Information given to me by the Tuobodomhene Kwaame Frempon, the Tuobodomhe=aa Afua Fosuaa Aduanwoma, and elders. 73 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) The Apo festival at Wankyi lasts sixteen days (sixteen is a Venus number 2x 8). At Seseman, it covers a period of nearly three months, not counting the first rite which takes place, as in Asueyi, . on a Kwa, or 'Open' Friday at the end of November. On that day the high priest of Ntoa closes the sanctuary with summe leaves thus warning those who have eaten new yams not to approach the god. About orie month later, on a F:J , or 'Fertile' VVednesday, the Nkoranzahemmaa, the queenmother of Nkoranza, leads all the state elders to Ntoa with an offering of eggs and chickens. A libation is poured, prayers are said, and they consult the divine oracle. The high priest, possessed by Ntoa's spirit, foretells the future concern- ing the state, and then bars the sanctuary with branches from the nampranec tree, explaining that Ntoa wishes to sleep and prepare himself for purification. No noise that might disturb the god may be made in the neighbourhood ofthe sanctuary. Forty days later, on the evening preceding another Fertile Wednesday, the :Js:Jjo-:Jk:Jmfo of Seseman, and elders in the service of the god, eat a ceremonial meal consisting of the season's first yams. These have been grown by the village chief of Bomini, the Ntoa's farmer; other yams, including wild ones, are presented by the Sesemanhene and his elders. The meat h as been supplied by Ntoa's own hunters; and the meal takes place in the :Js:Jjo-:Jlomfo's house opposite the sanctuary. VVhile the food is being prepared by Ntoa's cooks, under the supervision of the gyaasehene, the chief of the divine household, abrafo sing the praises of Ntoa and his grekt deeds in war. The food, wh en ready, is shared out by the gyaasehene; he sits next to the :Js:Jjo-:Jk:Jmjo, who has the :Jkyeame, or 'spokesman of the god', on his other side. The Sesemanhene and his elders and other officers in the service of the god, are seated according to rank. VVhen the ceremonial m eal has ended, Ntoa's drum is beaten as a signal for general rejoicing. Everybody in Seseman rushes into the street; women form themselves into groups, shake their rattles and sing Apo songs; young boys carrying the ceremonial nk:Jt:Jbaa of their ancestors run three times from 'one end of the main street to the other' (the whole length of Seseman village) . VVh en the Apo is in full s"ving, the :Js:Jjo-:Jk:Jmjo, accompanied by the Sesemanhene, his elders, and all the people in the service of the god, attend Ntoa's sanctuary. There the :Js:Jjo-:Jk:Jmfo pours a libation and opens the door. The god is fed ceremonially with new yams and the meat of chickens which have been caught by hoys in the streets. Then the 74 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II ) ;;s:ifo-;;k::Jmfo and the Sesem an elders bring their mats and sleep in and around the sanctuary to protect th e dying god. Some time before dawn, when everyone else has fallen asleep, the ;;s:ifo- ;;k::Jmfo carries out the sacred shrine (there is only one shrine here, not two, as at Asueyi)l and, accompanied by Ntoa's retinue, takes it to the sacred grove where it remains. About eight o'clock next morning, a F;;-Wukuo, or 'Fertile Wednesday', the ;;s:ifo-;;k::Jmfo, dressed in full regalia, is carried in his palanquin under a large umbrella, to the sacred grove. At the head of the procession walk the ;;s:ifo-;;k::Jmfo's tail-switch bearers, to protect him from evil spirits. These are followed by stool-carriers in charge of the black stools; the shrin es of the as:ifo-;;k::Jmfo's pre- decessors in office, who once personified the god; after them come two ;;krafo, or 'kra-bearers'. Next come the spokesman of Ntoa, and the gyaasehene of the god, the ;;s:ifo-;;k::Jmfo's palanquin, flanked by sword-bearers and gun-bearers. The rear is brought up by the drummers, women shaking their rattles, and the townsfolk. When · the grove is reaohed, however, the women and townsfolk are obliged to return, being forbidden (as I was) to witness a small but mysterious rite performed there by the ;;s:ifo-;;k::Jmfo. Presently, he is carried back to his house. Since the 'death' of the god takes place that afternoon in the grove, it seems likely that in ancient times the ;;s:ifo-;;k::Jmfo's ;;kra rather than the ;;s:ifo-;;k::Jmfo himself, was carried there in a palanquin, and that he was not brought back. 2 At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the 'sons' of Ntoa appear in the main street; these are boys and men born on a Mono or 'New Saturday', like Ntoa, or whose mothers once performed the tuobo custom and were thereby helped to conceive. They are completely naked, except for a small loin-cloth (made from the bark of a sacred tree which has been beaten out by men in the ;;s:ifo-;;k::Jmfo's house), but are powdered with charcoal from head to foot-black symbol- izing death. They form small groups, and run three times from the sanctuary to the end of the main street and back, passing the ;;s:ifo- 1 The shrine resembles that of Ntoa at Asueyi, but it is squarer in shape. It has a patch of skin on top----either originally black, or blackened by the blood of sacrificed animals. The ~s~fo-~komfo, Nana Kwabena Ankemako, who has been otherwise most helpful in giving me information about his god, refused to tell me about the skin, or let me photograph the shrine. 2 In the past, the ~sofo-~kJmfo' s ~kra was a prisoner of war, or a criminal, and died for him. . 75 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) abmf0's house as they go. Then Ntoa's horn is blown, and the asafo-abmjo, himself dusted with charcoal and naked except for his bark loin-cloth, which is fastened by a gold brooch (gold being the symbol 0f the Sun, and of life), stations himself under the ancient tree in front of his house. A chieftainly umbrella is held over him; n ext to him stand, Ntoa's spokesmen. The sons of Ntoa gather and dance before the asafo-abmjo, clicking iron castanets. After watch- ing them for a time, he turns around, and walks to the sacred grove to fetch Ntoa home. The sons of Ntoa follow him, and so do the townsfolk; but no order is kept, and everybody is allowed to enter the grove. There, in the centre of the clearing, underneath a huge umbrella, stands the sacred shrine, but protected from common view by the shields of Ntoa's shield-bearers, who are sons of local chiefs. The asaf0-abmjo enters their circle and, unseen by the crowd, pours a libation. Then he performs a ayere ye rite--ayere ye meaning 'to stretch, or distend' the skin of an animal, a reference to the skin of the akyeneboa, or the human sacrifice, which was also once stretched before being hung up the sacred tree (see pp. 60, 65). A similar piece was also stretched over the shrine of Ntoa, as in Wankyi and Asueyi. Today, however, ayere ye means only 'the mending of the god's shrine', i.e. the renewal of his power. While the asajo-abmjo is so engaged, the sons of Ntoa dance around him until they reach a state of frenzy. In corners of the sacred grove dance the ak:Jmjo priestesses (Ntoa's wives?), and go into trances ; if they become unmanageable, they are carried out by Ntoa's abrajo to recover. After a time, three fowls are thrown into the air, caught by the sons of Ntoa, and again thrown into the air, altogether three times. Then they are sacrificed by the asajo-ak:Jmjo, While the asaf0-ak:Jmjo, and the sons of Ntoa, are symbolically suffering death, the Nkoranz{lhene and the Nkoranzahemmaa, and their retinue, have arrived in Seseman and seated themselves before Ntoa's sanctuary: the Queenmother directly in front of the door, the Nkoranzahene and his elders before h er, facing her. They have each brought a pot of palm-wine; as have the priests of Edin- kra, the priest of Dame, and the priest of Okumisa, the abosom of Dornase, a village not far from Nkoranza. Finally the asaf0-ak:Jmf0 arrives, accompanied by Ntoa's sons, and carrying the shrine of Ntoa on his head. He places the shrine on the simpini, a dais in the form of a truncated cone, which stands before the sanctuary; and pours a libation. Everybody present takes a sip of palm-wine; then 76 27. 'Vomen shaking rattles, accompanying the dance of an ::;brnjo priest. 28. ,Yom an shaking a rattle. 29. The 'reborn sons of Ntoa' at Seseman-Nkoranza dur ing the A po festival. 50. The women who prepare and cook the offering to Ntoa in their ch aracteristic dress during the Apo festival at Seseman-Nkoranza. THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) the ~s;ifo-~k:Jmjo sets the shrine of Nte>a on his h ead again and goes off, with Ntoa's sons, to the sacred stream to cleanse themselves of charcoal and the defilement of death. The Nkoranzahemmaa and her women also go off because, as the Moon Mother-goddess' daughter, she has to renew the life of the ~s;ifo-~k:Jmjo and Ntoa's sons. By the t ime that the river is reached, night has fallen; but the moon can usually be counted on to give light. Ntoa's shrine is set on a chair, and the men bathe in the sacred water to prepare them- selves for the rebirth, which will be celebrated sixteen days later. When they return and assemble before the Queenmother, Ntoa's spokesman three times sprinkles the shrine, the Queenmother, and all present with the sacred lustral water.1 He then prays for the well-being of the state. The ~sifo-~k:Jrnfo goes into a trance, with the god's shrine on his head, as if possessed by Ntoa's spirit. Finally the procession returns; the shrine is replaced on the simpini be- fore the sanctuary; another libation is poured; and the Nkoranza- hene, the Queenmother accompanied by the elders and the visiting priests, returns to Nkoranza. At Seseman, drumming, dancing and singing of Apo songs continue until dawn. Two days later, in the afternoon of Nkyi Fie, of 'Destructive Friday', the black stools are taken in procession by the ~sifo-~k:Jmjo--these are shrines containing the souls of his deceased predecessors. He is dressed in full regalia and carried in his palanquin for purification in Ntoa:s sacred river. On his return, new yams are cooked which will be offered that night to the ancestral spirits and placed on the stools. Meanwhile, the abotw rite takes place in the main street, which runs from north to south. Townsfolk of Seseman line up on both sides to prevent anybody from crossing it. VVhoever does so-usually strangers who walk into Seseman to see what is going on-has to pay the penalty of a sheep, which .he must supply at once and sacrifice to Ntoa. The prohibition is probably enforced because Ntoa, as a Sky- and Fertility-god, has the cross as his symbol; and to make this sign by walking over the road would be disrespectful, since Ntoa has died and not yet been reborn. Aboto~ ('here is your stone') means that the people realize the culprits' having sinned innocently; their pardon is symbolized by the stone given to him-in ancient days people who violated a 1 I do not know exactly what the Queenmother does in this rite, which I was unable to witness. 77 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) taboo were sometimes stoned to death. Afterwards Ntoa's horn is blown, and his shrine carried out and placed on the dais under a large umbrella. The drumming and dancing then recommence, and continue until late at night. A fortnight later, on Kwa, or 'Open Friday', the gyaasehene, chief of Ntoa's household, sends gong-gong beaters through the streets to announce that the Apo is to be resumed. Simultaneously, Ntoa's spokesman sets out from his village of Akpim for Seseman, where he sends a sword-bearer to the as?!o-abmjo to announce his arrival. The as?!o-abmjo thereupon advances to meet him, and together they walk to Ntoa's sanctuary and open the door. The shrine is again carried out and placed on the simpini. By and by, the priests and priestesses of Ntoa from allover the country bring their local shrines on a visit to Ntoa. Libatiops are poured; they dance and go into trances. During the dances, any young man may go up to any girl and say, 'Bo me tuo,' literally: 'fire a gun at me.' The girl is then expected to whisk off her dress and reveal herself naked to him, except for a little red cloth between h er thighs, the ends of which are tucked into a bead girdle at front and back. The original formula will have been 'shoot an arrow at me'-namely a life- giving moon-ray, like those shot by the Lunar Mother-goddess into the Universe. The girl, in fact, impersonates Nyame, and the young man is asking to be revitalized by her. The bo me tuo custom recalls the tuobo custom, which was formerly also performed at Seseman, in which the women show the god their genitalia ; though the pur- pose of the tuobo custom is for women to be fertilized by the god; not, as goddesses, to revitalize man. When the priests and priest- esses have gone away, the people drum and dance until late at night. The following day is Mono Memene, or 'New Saturday', when the rebirth of Ntoa and his sons is celebrated. Early in the morning the as?!o-abmjo again carries the shrine out of the sanctuary, plac- ing it on his head, and stations himself before the door. Soon after, four strong young men seize the shrine from him, and run at great speed wherever Ntoa may take them, twirling it between them. Other young men catch hold of one another and, forming compact circles, move forward and backward, thus symbolizing the flow and ebb of life. Then Ntoa's shrine is placed on the simpini, on which now lie the ceremonial nbtabaa, carved from the god's sacred tree and hence emblems of life and growth, some shaped like 78 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) axes (PIs. 33, 34), emblems of his power of striking fear from the sky.! The :;s:ifo-:;k:mifo then walks home. At about five o'clock in the afternoon, Ntoa's sons appear in, the street, naked except for a loin-cloth (see PI. 29), but smeared all over, on this occasion, with white clay from the sacred clay wells. VVhite is the colour of life, joy, and happiness; and celebrates the ritual renewal of Ntoa's power. They run three times 'from one end of the main street to the other', then fetch the :;s:ifo-:;bmfo from his house and lead him to the simpini. He is wearing a simple white cloth, and his long h air hangs down to his shoulders. Surrounded by the elders of Ntoa he then twice pours over the shrine a libation of palm-wine mixed with white clay. The r emainder of the wine is now drunk by those who perform the rite. During these proceed- ings Ntoa's praises are sung by the abububofo, 'the flatterers'-four elderly women, who begin their incantations with a long-drawn-out eee, each on a different note, a high-pitched eee alternating with a low one. They sing: eeee, He who is the son of Nyame, eeee, He who like thunder and lightning destroys, eeee, He who resembles a leopard whom one fears, eeee, A great king, a master of wisdom, eeee, A big breast that feeds orphans, eeee, A builder of towns, eeee, Strong like leather that cannot be eaten. eeee, A destroyer of evil plotters, eeee, Wise like the kotokoamamenakwa bird that knows the future, 1 The nk.:J0baa of the abosom and those carried by men or boys during the Apo festivals are said to have the same meaning; in both cases they represent sceptres, and are either branches of the nampranec tree, or carved from the trunk ofthe tree . Nampranu or Nyaprane (Brong dialect) is possibly a corrup- tion of nya-prannaa (aa in Asante dialects is often pronounced e or c in Brong dialects) and may have been originally, as Dr. M. J. Field (now engaged in research in witchcraft in this area) has suggested to me Nyame-pranaa or 'Nyame's Lightning'. Incidentally some of the nk.:J0baa are definitely zigzag- shaped reminiscent of lightning, others are axe-shaped (see PIs. 33, 34). Axes are often associated with lightning. The nk.:J0baa of the abosom are usually referred to as weapons with which the deity punishes wrongdoers , especially witches . In the past the blood of human sacrifice was poured over the nk.:J0baa of the abosom; they are usually thickly encrusted with blood-after a victory ascribed to the deity or after a successful prophecy. In some cases the hemakyem plant, a creeper, is substituted for the nk.:J0baa ; it is said to make a noise when cut with a knife . 79 THE VENUS CULT (CULT TYPE II) eeee, Like ashes ofa burning bush thatfly great distances, eeee, Who can turn somersaults like a bird. l These incantations are accompanied by a drum, beaten un- obtrusively, and a gong-gong; occasionally Ntoa's horn sounds-a short elephant-tusk, the ivory colour of which has darkened to a yellowish-brown. Then the :Jsifo-:Jk:Jmfo returns to his house, accompanied by the god's elders and other old men from the town who, under the leadership of the sodohene, the chief of Ntoa's cooks, run three times 'from one end of the town to the other', and then remain outside the house. Next, the young boys form into groups and also run along the street and back three times. Then the women' appear, dressed in all their finery: their faces, arms and h ands painted with creation symbols and other intricate patterns in white clay. They form three groups and, closely pressed together, walk 'from one end of the town to the other' under the leadership of the Seseman queenmother: three times, with a shuffling gait. Then, singing Apo songs and accompanying themselves with their rattles, they end many of the songs with the refrain: 'Remember what Ntoa has done for you in time past.' Before the women have finished, the four young men have again seized Ntoa's shrine and run with it wherever the god may take them. But now Ntoa wishes to fetch the :Jsifo-:Jk:Jmfo from his house; whereupon the young men, possessed · by the divine spirit, halt under the sacred tree. Old men rush into the house to warn the :Jsifo-:Jk:Jmfo, who has been expecting the call. He appears in the street, painted white from top to toe, naked except for his bark loin- cloth, which is secured on each hip by a large gold ornament. An umbrella is held above him, while he slowly walks to the simpini through dense crowds, Ntoa's shrine preceding him at frightening speed on an unpredictable course; while the people shout, the drums _beat, and the sound of Ntoa's horn pierces through the hubbub. The shrine soon returns to the simpini, where the :Jsifo-:Jk:Jmfo . stands waiting. It is placed on his head, and he carries it into the sanctuary. VVhen he emerges again, the sodohemmaa,2 the chief of 1 They sang so quickly that I was unable to transcribe every word; and I was forbidden to hear the incantations repeated privately. 2 Ntoa at Seseman has male and female cooks in his service. The male cooks under their chief, the sodohene, cook the ceremonial food that is partaken of by the ~s~fo-~bmfo, and the ancestral spirits of his deceased predecessors; the female cooks, under the sodohemmaa, cook the offerings for Ntoa (PI. 30). The ~s~fo-~bmfo, like the Akan kings , employs male cooks only, for fear that a 80 " 31. A 'reborn son of Ntoa', t he Sodohene in 3'2. The KwadwolTifohene (minstrel) Kofi Asam oa of charge of t he ofFering to N toa and th e de- the 8manhen e of Bono-T akyiman. ceased predecessors ofthe high -priest. 55. An ':Jbmfo priest about to establish the \yorship of a n ew :Jbosom. Note the nkotobaa in h is hanel . The spears, daggers and knives sym- bolize the :Jbosom's life and death-giving power ; the python skin is a reference to the goel 's annual death and rebirth . THE VENUS CULT (CU LT TYPE II) Ntoa's women cooks, and her assistants, await him with basins full of sacred river water and, in the presence of Ntoa's elders, ceremon- ially wash the white clay off his body. vVhen the time comes for everybody to go home and wash, the chief of Bomini, acting as Ntoa's atujohene ('gun-bearer') fires his gun to all four quarters of the sky. His fellow-villagers, who have gathered around him, con- tinue to follow his example until nightfall, when the Apo festival ends. On the next Fo, 'Fertile VVednesday', which is celebrated as New Year's day at Seseman, Ntoa's shrine is once more taken out by the :Js:Jjo-:Jbmjo and carried most of the day. Visitors from all over the country come to consult the divine oracle, and he fore- tells the future of all visitants. Late in the afternoon, every man in Seseman is obliged to attend the Gyahye r ite. The Queenmother of Nkoranza has a broad apakyie (calabash) before her, filled to the brim with strained kenke (a drink brewed from millet or maize). By using the kenke as a mirror, she can see whether there are any absentees; if so, they will later be summoned to court, and she will fine them. Gyahyie means the burning down of the bush that surrounds a town-the signal for the hunting of any aniIJ:lals it may harbour. Farming is later undertaken on the reclaimed land. The presence of every man is required because of the danger that the flames may spread to the town. The fire is started by the gyaasehene of Ntoa in a particular part of the sacred grove; they take three palm-branches tied together, and kindle them at a fire provided by three logs of esa wood. female might be in a menstruous condition. The menstrual flow is held to endanger the kra that resides in their blood, and thus diminish their life-giving power. But Ntoa, being bi-sexual, need have no such fears, hence women are permitted to cook his offerings. 81 M.A.G. CHAPTER III The Sun Cult (Cult Type III) 1. The Sun-god Nyankopon riginally, the sun was believed to be reborn every morning Oby the Moon Mother-goddess. When, however, the convic-t ion grew that the sun always r emained the same eternal, self-generating power, quite unindebted to the moon, the sun became the most important of the religious planets. This view caused a religious revolution. The Father-god Odomankoma, hitherto worshipped as the creator and administrator of the world, was deposed in favour of Nyankopon, the personified male aspect of the Moon Mother-goddess Nyame, who now became a Sun-god and, as such, ruled the Universe. The event is recorded in three ancient sayings: 'Odomankoma bO:J owuo na owuo kum no,' ('Odomankoma created Death, and Death killed him,');1 'Odomankoma kowui no, oden akyi gyaw agyina,' ('Odomankoma left his affairs in the hands of councillors [Nyame and NyankoponJ, his co-regents in the sky,'); and 'Nyankopon no Domankoma ba,' ('Nyankopon is Odoman- koma's son,')-'son' here meaning his successor or heir. Odoman- koma, however, lived on in Nyankopon, because it is also said: 'Nyankopon anye Odomankoma sunsum,' ('Nyankopon is Odoman- koma's sunsum, or personality'). Thus Odomankoma's name is sometimes joined, in prayers, to that of Nyankopon, as for instance in the phrase, 'Onyankopon Odomankoma abo ade nyinaa,' ('Nyan- kopon-Odomankoma created the world'). For though Nyankopon was credited with a supreme kra, only a deity with a strong sunsum can be a god above all gods; and this Odomankoma supplied. Before being associated with the Sun, Nyankopon had been an 1 For maxims referring to Odomankoma see J. B. Danquah, Akan Doctrine, pp. 58-77. Also Sacred State , p. 81 etpassim. 82 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III) ;)bosom, or clan-god; then he became a Sky-Fertility-god. This is proved by his titles and certain popular sayings. One of his most ancient titles is 'Awurade TWcduamp;)n' ('Lord of the tree, on which you lean and never fall'), which implies an ;)bosom's sacred tree;! 'Nyankopon TWcduamp;)n' is still invoked in woman's songs sung at royal enstoolment ceremonies. Then, he shares the lauda- tory name 'Konkonduakom' ('tree firmness'), with many Sky- Fertility-abosom; and as a Rain-god, he is called 'Teterebonsu' or 'Totorobonsu' ('he who causes rain to fall copiously'). To this day, when rain is approaching, people say: 'Nyankopon ba,' ('Nyankopon is coming'). A word for rain-water is 'Nyankopon-su'; and, for the rainbow, 'Nyankopon-ton.' VVhen it thunders, people say: 'Nyan- kopon bom'; and, though the thunderbolt is usually called 'lVyame akuma' (or 'abonnua'), Nyankopon's name can here be substituted for Nyame's. This refers to a finger-shaped stone which is believed to fall from Heaven with the lightning; then to enter the ground until it strikes water, after which it returns. Neolithic celts, or stone axes,2 are identified with these thunderbolts. Nyankopon's natal day being Saturday, he is addressed in prayers as Nyankopon Kwaame, 'He of Saturday.' Saturday is ruled by the akragya Amen (Saturn), and as the Sky-Fertility-god, Nyan- kopon's sunsum was that of Amen. In some places, Nyankopon is still invoked together with Asaase Afua, the Goddess of Procreation, 'She of Friday', whose planet is Venus. Nyankopon's title 'Odaa Amen', may have come to him when he became a Sun-god. It is translated either as 'He who rests (odaa) on Amen's day', or as 'He who is an appendage (odaa) of Amen'.3 Both translations however imply that Nyankopon does not rule on Saturday, as Amen does, but rests; consequently he can be regarded as an appendage to Amen. As a supreme deity, Nyankopon has divine 'sons', to whom he delegates some of his power. But whereas Nyame's children are a particle of her life-giving kra, Nyankopon's sons are a particle of his honhom, or 'divine breath'. A priest to whom the god reveals him- self receives the god's honhom in a blinding flash of lightning. He then builds a shrine for the new ;)bosom thus created, and mediates between him and his worshippers. 4 Nyankopon, through his sons, 1 Sacred State , Ch. IV, 4 , 'Nyankopon'. 2 Christaller, Dictionary, p. 39, under abonua. 3 Danquah, AkanDoctrine, p. 47. • Rattray, Ashanti Proverbs, 1916, pp. 21-2; Sacred State, p. 81. 83 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III) is worshipped by the people as a Father-god. He is 'Nyaamanekose', 'He in whom one confides troubles'; and 'Brekyirihunuade', 'He who sees and knows all.' As a Sun-god, his laudatory names are 'Tetekaframua', 'He who endures for ever'; 'Oteanankaduro', 'He who knows the antidote for the serpent', the serpent being death; and 'Atoapoma', 'The Ever-ready shooter', because he shoots the life-giving rays of the sun into the universe. 2. The Divine King (a) The Divine King as Son oft he Sun-god The cult of the King as Son of the Sun-god was introduced into Bono by Obunumankoma (A.D . 1565-1451), at a time when the royal line had been firmly established, and the country had grown from a city state to a kingdom of considerable size'! Moreover, pros- perity was now assured for several generations because of the dis- covery of gold and its exploitation on a large scale. In Asante, the cult was introduced by Opoku "Vare at some date previous to A.D. 1749. He had conquered Bono and the kingdoms to the north of it- Gonja and Dagomba-after extending his rule over several states to the south and west of Asante. The courts both of Bono and Asante must have felt that a High King, who rules over numerous petty kings, must enjoy a higher status than they, if he is to consolidate his position. The cult of the High King as Son of the Sun, rather than Son of the Moon (as every petty king and clan-chief had to be in matrilineally organized states), fulfilled this purpose. The task of the Sun-king, like that of the Moon-king, was to give and maintain the life of the state. He achieved this through his solar kra, which was the kra both of the Sun-god, his divine ancestor, and of his Royal Ancestors (nananom), the deceased kings, whose kras had become one with Nyankopon after death. The solar kra can therefore be regarded as an ancestral and collective kra, reincarnated in the reigning king. He won it, in a special rite, at the end of the Werempe ceremony, when the stool of the late King (the shrine for his kra) was brought to him;2 the Enstoolment ceremony earlier performed having given him his secular power to rule the land. He was, however, Son of the Sun-god solely with regard to his office, the kingly kra descending to him in the male line from his predecessors; as a man, he remained the son of the Lunar 1 See Oh. V, 3. 2 The rite is fully described in The Akan Divine Kingship, Ch. VIII, 4. 84 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III) Mother-goddess, from whom he was descended in the female line. At the annual Asubo ceremony, the kings of Bono and Bono- Takyiman purified their lunar kra by sitting on the silver moon- stool, and not on the golden sun-stool which they occupied five days later during the New Year rite that followed the Aferihya D warec. Constitutionally also, the King continued to be the son of the Queenmother: he could issue decrees only after consultation with her and his council of elders. Thus, though proclaimed supreme as the incarnation of the Sun-god, h e never became an autocrat. . The King was venerated as the fount (ndeli nseli) of everything; above all of truth, justice and wisdom, and the repository of all authority and power. In reality h e had delegated all his power to subordinates, but the· fiction r emained. Although he never went to war,1 all victories were ascribed to his personal valour and superior intelligence; songs credited him with personally slaying the enemy king. He was equally h eld responsible for national disasters and defeats. Because he had failed to preserve his subjects from death and famine during the Mande invasion from Gonja, Berempon fIT Katakyira, the King of Bono, found himself obliged to challenge ,~, Death to battle, and had himself locked up in a conical hut without doors or windows. Thirty days later he died of starvation, defeated by Death and deserted by his father, the Sun-god. 2 'When, in 1740, the Asante conquered the Bono kingdom, the then ruling King of Bono, Akumfi Ameyaw Kwaakye, committed suicide, it being impossible for a king to survive the shame of so great a disaster. 3 The King devoted himself entirely to the task of giving life, which implied keeping his generative kra in perfect working order, preserved from all defilement, particularly corpses and menstruous women. Among the Bonos, he was forced to live in such seclusion that he left his palace only once a year, on the day of the Asubo ceremony, and then took a road reserved exclusively for th e royal procession. His people were not allowed to see him, lest their evil wishes might injure his kra. The work of government was under- taken by his heir-apparent, who bore the title 'Dea ote Abakoma 1 In the Bono kingdom, after the introduction of the cult of the king as the Son of the Sun-god, the kings never went to war, nor did their heirs-apparent. In Asante, where this cult was never fully introduced, the kings continued to go to war. 2 See p. 115. a See p. 126. 85 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE IU) Dwa SO', literally: 'He who sits on the Highborn's Stool', and ruled publicly like a king. Since, in most cases, the King himself had been an heir-apparent, he was familiar with all governmental matters. He kept himself well informed, and gave final decisions on matters of importance. The King was entirely surrounded by his sons, or the sons of his predecessors, who held all palace or governmental posts. Of course they served him loyally, because their personal interests were bound up with the throne. In Bono, the King had over a thousand wives (three thousand three hundred and thirty-three was the desired number), who lived in a harem, supervised by eunuchs. Nearly all came from families who owned stools in the country- that is to say, hereditary offices which their sons and daughters, namely the King's sons and daughters, could be chosen to occupy. The King could thus attach closer to him, through marriage ties, the clans, states, vassal states, towns and villages, as well as court officials and palace officers. The King's children who succeeded to the politically important stools, above all of clans and vassal states, remained in their mothers' clans; the others, heirs to less important stools and such of the King's children as did not succeed to an office had to join the state-clan (or child-clan) of the royal line which, in Bono, was the Anana. The King himself was obliged to leave his clan after his enstoolment ceremony-he now belonged to the State-and when he (as represented by the heir-apparent) appeared in public, he wore a golden helmet or head-dress, surmounted by a golden parrot, the akyeneboa of the Anana clan and emblem of the state. As the supreme priest of the Sun-god cult, the King venerated his great-ancestor in the Chapel of the Stools. He also propitiated the Royal Ancestors who had joined the god, after their deaths, in Nyankopon-kurom, 'the City of Nyankopon', and who mediated between him and the living king. The Sun-god cult was exclusively an ancestor-cult in the royal line, for the people continued to worship Nyankopon as the son of Nyame, her personified male aspect. (b) The Divine King as the Incarnation of the Sun The King had to model himself as closely as possible on the sun. Since the sun rose, set and travelled across the sky with unfailing r egularity, the King's day was similarly regulated, even to the times of his walks, his meals and his children's visiting hours. He 86 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III) committed a serious offence if he did not go to bed when the sun set; and, if he refused certain foods that were intended to make him as fat and shining as the sun, the Sodohene, or chief of the royal kitchen, could refuse to cook the offerings for the Royal Ancestors when the New Year festival came around. The case would then come before the State Council, and should they find the King guilty, he had to pay a fine in the form of a present to the Sodohene. Even his sexual life was arranged for him, so that h e could neither choose a wife from his harem, nor refuse one sent him by the Odabeni, or chief of the royal bed-chamber-he always had to be the grandson of a king by a mother who was of the royal lineage- whose task was to see that each wife had her turn in the royal bed.), No wife might argue with the Odabeni, who settled all quarrels between the King and his wives, and between the wives themselves. Moreover, the Odabeni reported all quarrels to his superior, the Gyaasehene, or chief of the royal household and palace-in Bono always the son of a king and chief of the Aborade Assine clan, maternally descended from kings of a former Sudanese state'! The Daberehene, or chamberlain (always the son of a former king's granddaughter), decided on the cloth, head-dress and jewellery which the King had to wear, and ordered them from the Man- wErehene (also the son of a former king's granddaughter). The Daberehene had to decide, after consultation with the Gyaasehene, :what presents the King must give to important guests. In ancient Bono, the King's day began when the sun rose behi'D.d the ruler's head. He slept in a bedroom on the top floor of his three- storied palace, the window of which opened east. The bed was built like a seven-step pyramid; each step being covered with material of a different colour of the r ainbow. The rainbow was envisaged as a ladder by which the King could reach his father, the Sun-god, and the Royal Ancestors; or the Royal Ancestors could descend by it to visit him in his sleep. The counterpane and sheets were of yellow silk or brocade, embroidered with gold, symbolic of the Sun. His mattress and pillow were stuffed with gold dust that would renew his strength during the night. The King's reveille was sounded by the Ahenemahene (always the eldest son of a former king by a commoner wife), the only household officer permitted to enter the royal bedchamber while the King was in it. On reaching the presence, he slipped off his 1 See pp. 105-6. 87 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III) sandals as a sign of respect, and three times rang a bell which hung above the bed. H e then turned away to avoid the King's first glance, which might be dangerous if the royal ancestral spirits with whom he had communed at night were still occupying his body. The King then would invite the Ahenemahene to sit down-on the chair kept for that pUl'pose-and ask him what was going on in town. After giving the latest news, the Ahenemahene would seize the oppor- tunity of apologizing for one or other of the King's sons who had incurred his displeasure, or of asking favours in their name. When the King was ready to rise, the Ahenemahene again rang the bell three times, and a number of men entered the room, where they threw themselves on the floor and allowed the King, who might never touch the floor with his bare feet, to walk on their naked backs into the ante-chamber. (This probably symbolized the Sun's victory over the evil powers of darkness.) In the ante-chamber, the King was received by the attendants in charge of his morning toilet, who made him sit, facing east, on a low stool decorated with divine symbols, and setting his feet on two elephant tusks. There they bathed, dried, and perfumed him with lime-juice---limes being yellow like the sun-from a 'sponge' made of plantain-tree bark. (The plantain is a sexual symbol.) When the Adwarefohene and his attendants had finished, the Asrajohene and his attendants entered to grease or oil the King's skin. He was then dressed by the Man- wErehene and his attendants. Next, the Nsajiesohene and the drink- bearers were called in to offer the King palm-wine or other refresh- ments. Breakfast was served in another room by the Sodohene and the sodo, or stewards; there the royal jester had to amuse the King. A group of small boys, the sons of nobles (ahenkwa) on the palace staff, were also present; because a king must always have subjects around his feet. The King's second meal was served at about four p.m. While eating, he had to observe a number of taboos which would prevent any evil spirit from entering his mouth and endangering his kra. The Sodohene (or rather the Sodohene's heir- apparent,! except on festival days), removed all bones before offer- ing him his food. After each meal the King was given a cold-water massage, and required to rest. 2 1 Not only the King and Queenmother had their heirs-apparent; so also did every chief of importance, including such palace officers as the Sodohene. Their younger brothers or nephews did the work for them except on important occasions. 2 The above information was given to me by the Ahenemalzene Kwasi Twi, in the presence of Nana Akumfi Ameyeaw III and selected Elders. When the 88 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE In) Friday was a holiday in Bono, sacred to the state god Ntoa in his female aspect as the Goddess of Fertile Earth and the Lord of Growth. Also the Bono kingdom had been founded on a Friday; it was the day on which the god Buruku-Biakuru had ordered the building of towns. Thus it became the custom for the Sun-king to receive on a Friday his many sons and daughters. The stool-sons and stool-daughters-heirs and h eiresses to great hereditary offices- used to ride on horseback into the Palace, which was situated behind that of the heir-apparent, to greet him. Sons and daughters who happened to be good musicians and dancers used to perform for him, their bodies daubed with gold dust, and would receive presents. Poets were also sometimes invited to r ecite or sing their latest work. VVhereas the King was celebrated as the Son of the Sun-god, and all his ornaments and ceremonial instruments were of gold (the Sun's metal), the Queenmother was venerated as the Daughter of the Moon-goddess, and h er ornaments were made of silver (the Moon's metal). However, because she owned the state, and was the King's mother, h er state swords, the nkerante, and h er smoking pipes (tobacco being sacred to Ntoa), were made in pairs, one silver, one gold. Like th e King, sh e had to live in seclusion, devoting her- self entirely to h er life-giving function . Her kra, like that of the King, was a reincarnated ancestral one derived from the Moon Mother-goddess, and the queenmothers who had preceded her. The rites she performed in the Chapel of the Stools were identical with those performed by the King in his Chapel. From the time of the Bonohemmaa Gyasewaa onwards (1656-79),1 the Queen- \\ mother's palace was at Amona, a few miles north of the capital I beyond the river Yaya; but her h eiress-apparent remained in Bono- Mansu, deputizing for her. All customs connected with the King's daily routine now also applied to the Queenmother. But whereas the King was always bathed and dressed on the eastern side of his room, the Queen- Ahenemahene had finished his recital, the high-ranking Elders rose to say that, in the past, for speaking about these matters a slave would have had to be sacrificed-to inform the Royal Ancestors in the Upper Kingdom that the disclosure was necessary. Since human sacrifice had been abolished, however, he proposed to make a libation of six bottles of gin. The Bono-Takyimanhene thereupon ordered the gin to be brought, and one bottle was poured out at once on to the floor of the audience courtyard, the others were taken to the Chapel of the Stools to be poured over the black stools of the Royal Ancestors. I felt most embarrassed, a bottle of gin being very expensive at that time, and offered to pay; but my offer was of course rejected. 1 See p. 122. 89 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III) mother had to shift daily from one corner of her rectangular room to the other. These corners did not symbolize the four cardinal points of the compass, but points of the revolving year-apparently the equinoxes and the solstices. The Queenmother's courtiers and palace attendants held the same offices as did t h e King's, and generally came from the same families. Her Gyaase-ba-panyin, in charge of her palace, was usually the sister of the King's Gyaasehene, the ' father' of the King's stool-sons, and she was the 'mother' of the princes and princesses of the royal line. At about the age of puberty the princes went off to their own palace in the city, but the princesses remained with the Queenmother; even, for the most part, when they were married. Many never married, but took lovers ; and their children were said to come 'from the stool-hole'. Such a stool-hole child without an acknowledged father might succeed to the throne. Ideally, the King, like the Sun, should have no father; and the King's father, even if h e were known, had no place in this matrilineal con- stitution. }. The Death and Resurrection of the Divine King on New Year's Day The ritual by which the divine King dies and returns to life, as a means of renewing his kingship and being able to give and main- tain life throughout the coming year, is still performed in Bono- Takyiman on F:J-Yawo:J-Kcse, 'Great Fertile Thursday', the nearest Thursday to the autumnal equinox. This day was originally chosen because the equinoctial sun rises due east and looks on both hemispheres equally; so that the year seems to h ang in the balance.! Early in the morning of F:J-Yawo:J-Kcse, the Akrajohene, or chief bearer of the kingly kra, and the akrajo that assist him, bathe in cold water from the sacred Adare river, and shave their heads except for a tuft at the top of the skull, which they adorn with a gold bead or some other small ornament. They then walk the two miles to Takyiman from Hansua, their own village, to visit the ahenjie, or palace, where the King (Omanhene) of the Bono- Takyiman state awaits them already. They greet him; the Oman- 1 The ritual is described in the Sacred State, pp. 169, 170, but without the references to the king's death and resurrection. The death of a king is a subject too painful to be mentioned, therefore the information was suppressed. The additional material I was given by Nana Akumfi Ameyaw III. 90 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III ) hene informs them how many r ams, fowls , eggs and yams have been sent as a New Year gift by the Osifo-Ok::lmfo of the state god Taa Kese, Tano the Great. The Akrafohene, with his akrafo, then takes his leave and withdraws to his tOWIl house, wh ere he negotiates with the leaders of the sword-bearers, gun-bearers, umbrella-bearers, palanquin- bearers, stool-bearers, and drummers, and arranges for them to wait at about two or three p.m. just outside the ahenji·e, and then escort him, with his akrafo, to the sacred river. Shortly before the appointed time, the King, the Queenmother, the Elders, the royal wives (those of the great families), the sons of the King's predecessor, and his own stool-sons, headed by the 'eldest son', the Gyaasehene, assemble all dressed in white, in a palace room which serves on that day as Kra·:fieso ('Chapel of the Kra')-there used once to be a separate building for this purpose- and wait for the Akrafohene and his akrafo. When the Akrafohene finally enters, the King rises to greet him and offers h im the throne seat. Then the regalia is produced: the precious cloth decorated with waxing and waning moons (see PI. 15 in The Sacred State); the croWIl, consisting of a broad band covered with sea shells, cast in gold, that symbolize the King as Apupuo, or 'Creator of [fertilizing] Water' ; the kanta, or chains; and the atwaban necklate in gold (PI. 1); sandals, decorated with a gold nugget, golden shells and cowries, and other gold ornaments; the large gold finger-rings which include the abetia, a replica of the top of the royal palm (symbolizing the King's descent from the Lunar Mother-goddess); and the pitire, the symbol of total ownership, which is worn on both hands; the gold bracelets, anklets, precious beads worn below the knee (PI. 1); and the omantimase, which are gold chains con- necting these with the anklets; finally, amulets encased in gold, which are worn on both arms and on the right wrist (PI. 1). The King then invests the Akrafohene with his r egalia, because in the rites that are about to follow the Akrafohene is to personify the King. When the Akrafohene has been dressed, the King gives him his Silver Stool, to which two bells are attached, and the elephant-skin on which it must be placed. The King then takes one of his golden- hilted state-swords and, standing before the Akrafohene in the guise of a sword-bearer, a mere commoner, hands over to him and the akrafo the snow-white, long-legged, short-haired rams (im- ported from the Sudan), with four cocks, seven yams, and eight eggs, 91 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III) which must be taken to the sacred river for purification. Then he steps aside and announces: 'Nana aho a,' 'the King is coming' and, walking ahead of the Akrafohene, comes to a stop at the entrance of the ahenfie. There the palanquin-bearers, the bearers of the large state-umbrella, the bearers of the Royal Ancestors' black stools, the sword-bearers, gun-bearers and drummers are waiting and form a procession. At the head walk the Queenmother's stool-carriers with the low white stools for the royal wives, and the offerings; they are followed by the royal wives, who are guarded by four adumfo (formerly executioners of human sacrifices), holding long, straight swords. After them, beneath one of the state-umbrellas, walks the Sannaahene, or chief treasurer, who is the son of a former king, carrying the puduo in the sannaa bag. The puduo consists of gold nuggets separately wrapped, each of which represents the kra of one royal ancestor; and above them lies Bosummuru's gold dagger.! The whole collection, still in the sannaa bag, is placed in a brass basin and covered with a white sheet. Behind this official, under a smaller umbrella, walks the Akyeamehene, or chief of the royal spokesmen, followed by the Silver Stool, which the chief of the stool-bearers carries-another stool-carrier is entrusted with the white stool for the puduo. Behind these, the Akrafohene is borne in the King's palanquin-a long, basket-shaped litter-flanked on either side by the akrafo, holding scimitars with hilts decorated in white and gold. Next come the stool-sons, many of them weeping at seeing their father, the King, deprived of his kingship. They are flanked by bearers of guns; and the drummers with the huge state- drums bring up the tail of the procession. On arrival at the sacred river, Adare, the Akrafohene seats him- self on the Silver Stool; the brass basin containing the sannaa bag is placed before him on the white stool, and h e is shaded by the state- umbrella. The akrafo sit in two rows on the ground in front of the Akrafohene; and the stool-sons enclose him and the akrafo in a semi-circle. A little apart from this group sit the royal wives. An- other basin is now filled with sacred river-water by an ::Ikrafo, and the Sannaahene, uncovering the sannaa, uses the leaves of a summe plant, uprooted on the river-side, to sprinkle this water on the puduo and Bosummuru's dagger. H e also sprinkles the Akrafohene, thus purifying and blessing him; then the stool-sons, one after the 1 For Buru- Bosummuru see p. 99 et passim. 92 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III ) other; and finally the royal wives. No speech, however, is made, nor is any libation poured. VVhen the rite has ended, the sannaa is covered up again with the white sheet, everybody shouts 'Asubo!', 'Cleansed, cleansed!' and 'Aferihyia pa of' 'We wish you a good year!' The state-drums are beaten, and the gun-bearers fire to all four quarters. Three eggs are left on the river banle as an offering to the River-god, whereupon the procession forms up again and returns to Town, where crowds of people are awaiting it. At the southern end of the town the Queenmother and Elders, sitting in a semicircle, are also waiting for the procession to arrive. The Akrafohene dismounts and sits down on the King's throne seat, to the right of the Queenmother. The Sannaahene then steps for- ward and, with sacred river-water which has been brought by them, purifies and blesses all the assembly, including the common people who throng around. The Queenmother then makes a speech and thanks the Elders and the people for all they have done for the State during the past year. Her example is followed by the Akrafohene, who speaks as though he were the King. Guns are fired again, drums are beaten, and the procession, which now includes the Queenmother and the Elders, returns to the Palace. The King, still disguised as a common sword-bearer, is waiting at the entrance gate and, standing on his sandals, humbly greets the Akrafohene with the formula: 'Nana akwabo,' 'Welcome, Nana!' The same group of people who have congregated in the Kraji'eso earlier that after- noon, assemble there again. Everyone sits down, the Akrafohene taking the Silver Stool, slightly in front of the Queenmother, who is next to the Gyaasehene (here acting as the eldest stool-son); but the King takes his seat right in the far background, next to the royal wives. The sannaa is placed on the table before the Akrafohene, and the gold nuggets of the puduo, with the Bosummuru gold dagger, are uncovered. The Queenmother now rises and purifies these objects by sprinkling them with sacred water? and then also sprinkles the assembly. She utters the prayer for the well-being of the State in the new year, and implores the Royal Ancestors to assist their people once more and make them prosper. 1 When the Bono kingdom was at its peak of power, the sacred water came from the source of the Tano river. All sons of the reigning Bonohene and of his deceased predecessors , who were chiefs or sub-chiefs, and all vassal kings whose mothers had been daughters of a king, would form a line stretching from the source to the Kra-fieso in the Bono-Mansu palace. They would pass a golden basin containing the sacred water from hand to hand. It was a scene of great splendour and showed the neople how i=ensely powerful their kingdom had become. 93 THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III) Meanwhile, yams and eggs purified at the riverside, have been cooked and brought in. The yams are mashed by the akraJo, kneaded into small balls, and placed on a dish; bits of hard-boiled egg are sprinkled over them. The AkraJohene takes an adwera, which is a leaf floating in the sacred water, puts it into his mouth and spits the water from it three times over the food, saying: 'Kosie, me kra didi me hyire m' ako,' ('Blessing: let my kra take this food from my heart!'); he then eats the traditional three mouthfuls. When the Eto has been divided into three portions, the first is offered in a small bowl to the kras of the Royal Ancestors, and placed before the puduo; the second to Bosummuru, and placed next to his gold dagger; and the whole assembly share the third. Whatever €to remains on the dish is placed on the puduo and the dagger. Next, a fowl is brought in and held by the AkraJohene before one of the offering bowls. He says: 'If no misfortune is destined to befall in the new year, then take this fowl.' If the fowl thereupon pecks three times at the consecrated food, the Royal Ancestors are held to have accepted the offerings. Everybody now shouts: 'We thank you , we thank you!' and the fowl is sacrificed. Should the fowl, however, refuse to eat, this is regarded as a bad sign and a sheep must be sacrificed to avert disaster. After a while, everybody moves into th e audience courtyard, where the AkraJohene, still personifying the King, sits on the royal dais. The other courtiers arrange themselves according to rank. Two rams which have been purified at the riverside are brought in and sacrificed by the Sannaahene, who pricks their throats; four cocks are also sacrificed. A fire of three logs of esa wood is lighted and, while another sacred meal, the :Jkra suo, is being prepared, minstrels recite the great deeds of the Royal Ancestors. The talking drums then take over: drummers beating out the rhythms which refer to great historical events, and which all present understand. There is dancing to the beat of drums until the meal is ready. The :Jkra suo consists of a thick soup made from the flesh of the rams and cocks, which is poured over sevenl Juju balls prepared from mashed yams, and offered by the AkraJohene to the Royal Ancestors and to Bosummuru, the 'Great Ancestor'. On top of each of the offering bowls thus filled are placed pieces of ram's heart, ram's liver and 1 Seven here sYJIlbolizes the state, a confederation of seven clans, each ruled ,by a planet. 94· THE SUN CULT ( CULT TYPE III) ram's tail; a cock's head, a pair of cock's legs, cock-hearts and cock- liver; as well as a sausage made from the rams' blood. The Akrafo- hene blesses the bowls, over which he pours a libation of gin.; and does the same for the akra suo soup eaten by the assembly. Women and children who wish to share the consecrated meal may send in small bowls. The rest of the boiled meat is then distributed among the Elders, along with their share from the gifts sent to the King by Taa Kese's High Priest. When the meal is over, the Akrafohene calls for palm-wine, and while the assembly are drinking it, he slips quietly away to a room nearby, takes off his borrowed regalia and walks home, accom- panied by the akrafo. The Omanhene equally quietly withdraws to another room, where he resumes his regalia and re-appears as King. In former times the King of Bono, representing the risen Sun, wore only gold on that occasion. His body would be greased and powdered with gold dust, he would put on a woven gold loin-clothl and, dressed in a profusion of gold ornaments would seat himself on the Golden Stool. When homage was done to him, he used to withdraw with his senior wife, the queen, into the Nyame Dan, a sanctuary dedicated to Nyame, and spend the night there with her so that she might be possessed by the Royal Ancestors. Three white rams were sacrificed to Nyame on the threshold of their bedchamber. Very early next morning the Akrafohene, three akrafo, and the Sannaahene enter the kra fieso, collect the summe leaves and adwera leaves which were used for consecration, carry them into the forest and bury them there in a secret place. On the next Great Fertile Thursday, forty-two days later, the Akrafohene and the akrafo visit the King and present him with one hundred hard-boiled eggs. They then enter the Chapel of th e Stools and, after having poured a libation to the Royal Ancestors, place some of the eggs before, and on, the puduo and the Bosommuru gold dagger. Then they return and share out the remaining eggs among the visitors who come to greet the King this morning; namely the Queenmother, the Elders, chiefs from allover the country, and others. On the Fa-ji'e, or 'Fertile Friday', before the Great Fertile Thursday, almost identical rites have been performed for the Queenmother. Her Akrafo-ba-panyin, daubed with white clay, 1 The loin-cloth is said to have been woven with threads of hammered gold; it was about a yard square. The square symbolized the four quarters of the earth on which the sun daily shines. The cloth is said to have been woven in. one day, from sunrise to sunset. 95 'v \>H4~ 8 ~ 7 ~_ ______________________ _ THE SUN CULT (CULT TYPE III ) dressed in the Queenmother's own white cloth, and accompanied by female akrajo, is carried in a sako (sedan chair) to the sacred river. All the princesses of the royal line, and all daughters of the King whose mothers have inherited stools, go with her. Instead of the puduo, however, and the gold Bosummuru dagger, one of the Queenmother's daughters carried the ajoro box, filled with preci- ous beads and pieces of silver and gold. The beads symbolize blood, and therefore lineage; silver symbolizes the Moon and the Queen- mother's predecessors in office; gold symbolizes the Kings as Sons of the Sun-god, though also sons of a Queenmother. On the return from the river, the akra suo soup is prepared from the carcasses of two sh eep and a hen, and the offering is placed on the ajoro box. The sacred meal is eaten in the same way as at the King's death and r esurrection ; also a hen is sacrificed after it has prophesied, by its pecking at food, whether the new year will be good or bad. 4. The Concept of R eincarnation No tradition survives as to when the concept of Kra reincar- nation first arose, but as it has no place either in Cult Type II or in Cult Type IV, one must assume it to have been evolved when the King was first conceived to be the Son of the Sun-god. The solar kra of the King is the collective kra of his Royal Ancestors, and reincarnated in him; the lunar kra of the Queenmother is the collective kra of h er predecessors in office; each receives it in a rite following his or her enstoolment ceremony. The idea of the ancestral collective, reincarnated kra eventually spread to the common people, who no longer believed their kra was a gift from the akragya of their clan-deity's planet, but attributed it to the akragya of the planet which ruled their own natal day of the week. The kra-names given to children, according to the day on which they were born, are evidence of this. Boys born on a Monday are still called Kwadwo (Kodjo); the girls are called Adwowa (akragya Adwo, Moon); boys born on a Tuesday are called Kwa- bena (Kobina); and the girls Abenaa (akragya Abena, Mars); and so forth.! The kra received at birth was, and generally still is, that of his maternal clan and family; it is reincarnated in him for com- pletion. That is to say, it is every person's duty to fill the kra that had been given to him-actually the honhom that dwells in the kra 1 See the author's 'Concept of the Soul Among the Akan', AFRICA, 1952, p . 24 et passim. 96 55. The :Jbrajo priest of T aa Ksse at Takyiman demonstrating ho"· he sings the praises of the god while the offerings are being made . . j?-':- 56. The dais in front of the sanctuary of Taa Ksse upon which the shrine of the deity is placed on FO:J Dww. 57. Nyame cone in the palace courtyard of th e Omanhene of Nkol'anza over which libations ar e poured and wrong-re-B:Jre. In contrast to the Mother-goddess, who had borne the universe, he was said to have made the world with his hands like a craftsman or artificer. His seat was the Pole star (an indication that Odomankoma came from the North, because the Pole star is barely visible in "Western Africa). Odomankoma's people seem to have been ruled by a council of men, led not by a king but by an elected elder , and must have had a con- siderably more advanced culture than those of the Mother-goddess, since Odomankoma is credited with the introduction of such novelties as the (Babylonian) seven-day week, and the recording of history. The union between the two people produced the following results in religion and politics: Odomankoma shared the rule of the Sky vvith the Mother- goddess, in Twi called Nyame; and as her brother or husband, the father-uncle of the abosom, he became her executive officer. "Whereas the goddess personified kra, immortal life-power, Odo- mankoma personified sunsum, personality or individuality, which was envisaged as mortal. V\Tith the introduction of the seven-day week, the akragya came into being: namely, the deities of the seven planets-Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and Sun, whose task it was to give kra and sunsum to the abosom on their natal day. For instance, abosom born on Monday received their kra and sunsum from Adwo, the akragya of the Moon; those born 0):1 Tuesday from Abena, the akragya of Mars, and so forth. The akragya were regarded either as bi-sexual, or as male and female twins; and so now were the abosom. As patrons of growth, the abosom were symbolized by the Venus star; and agriculture had now become the people's main concern. The male god of each pair became responsible for the fertility of women; who thereupon addressed themselVes to him (tuobo custom), and no longer to the Moon Mother-goddess, except in conservative regions where the ()lder oustom still holds even today. The kra of an :Jbosom was still incarnate in the totem animal, 146 SUMMARY and its sunsum in various other animals, regarded as expressing the :Jbosom's peculiar character. The :Jbosom's shrine remained the sacred tree in the grove, at the foot of which meteorites or laterite stones were often placed, to symbolize the god's power of striking from the sky. Temple huts gradually made their appearance, con- taining additional shrines, in the form of a female cone and a smaller male cone, or of a female, truncated cone on which a bowl with water (fertilizing water-male) was placed, or two cone-shaped drums (Ntoa), one male, one female. Sometimes two bowls, a larger female and a smaller male one, containing ritual objects, constituted the shrine. The grove surrounding the sacred tree of the bi-sexual state god now became too holy to be entered, except at the New Year festival, which was made to coincide with the deity's annual birthday. The main feature of this festival, a sacred marriage-the re- newed union of the god with the goddess-also insured fertility for the year to come. The goddess was personified by the Queen- mother of the clan state, if she was young; otherwise by her daughter, sister, or niece; the god, by a handsome favourite of the Queenmother's. In some cases this young man was then sacrificed like the akyeneboa of an earlier period: the priests flayed him and hung up his skin on the sacred tree. Later, when kingship was introduced, the King himself personified the god. As a rule, a young male favourite of his (:Jkra), died vicariously for him, as mock-king. The first fruits of rice, millet, or yam, depending on the :Jbosom's particular sunsum (Tano originally was a rice-god; Ntoa, a yam-god) were offered in token of his-her power of resurrection and productivity. Men in that period ceased to identify themselves with the totem animal of their clan, but adopted the sunsum of the planet which had given birth to their :Jbosom (Moon, peaceful; Mars, warlike; Mercury, wise-and so forth), and to which thelr kra returned at their death. A dead person's sunsum changed after death into a saman ('shade' or 'ghost') which' went to live in an Otherworld, situated in the outer regions, beyond the stars, and reached by the Milky Way. The state was ruled as before by the 0 hemmaa, or Queenmother, but she now had a chief male executive at her orders, in Twi called Korontihene, as the goddess Nyame had Odomankoma. When king- ship came in, the King, divine like the Queenmother, and consti- K2 147 SUMMARY tutionally regarded as her son, represented the male aspect of the Moon, a Fertility-god born by the Moon-mother. Yet he ritually married the Queenmother in her aspect of Venus personified by one of his wives. The King's main task, like the Queenmother's, was to give and maintain life in the state. As supreme priest of his clan god as well as of the state god, in cases where the two were not identical owing to political circumstances, he appointed a high priest (:ls:ifo pany in) to deputize for him and relieve him of many burdensome duties. The Period oj Cult Type III With the expansion of the city state, by conquest of other city states, and uncivilized tribes, it was felt that the High King, as ruler over several petty kings, needed a higher political and religious status than they. He was therefore deemed to incarnate the Sun, which had hitherto been viewed as a creature that died nightly and needed daily resurrection by the Moon-goddess, but which now seemed self-regenerative. His claims to incarnate the Moon lapsed, and h e called himself Son of the Sun-god, announcing his indepen- dence of the Moon-goddess, and of the Queenmother, who con- tinued to represent the Moon. In the enstoolment ceremony he now officially quitted the Queenmother's lunar clan in proof that he stood alone and supreme. The Sun-king, like the Qaeenmother's Moon-consort, was charged with giving and maintaining life in the State; and in con- sequence had to live a secluded life, as regular as the course of the sun. An heir-apparent deputized for him in public; but the King, often a former heir-apparent, understood governmental affairs, and gave final decisions after consulting with the Queenmother and his ministers. The people venerated him as the sole source of truth, justice, wisdom, authority and power. Although he never went to war, all victories were ascribed to his personal valour and superior intelligence; but at the same time he had to assume responsibility for all national disasters. The Sun-king was matrilineally descended from the Moon- mother. His solar kra, however, was a reincarnation of the kra animating his nananom, or Royal Ancestors, the deceased King's descendants of the Sun-god Nyankopon in the male line. After death, this kra returned to the Sun; and his sunsum, also a solar one, changed into a saman and went to the Netherworld (Saman- 148 SUMMARY dow), now envisaged as situated below the earth, possibly in the regin through which the sun was supposed to travel. The King's honhom, a new concept, the breath of divine life, returned to Nyame in her aspect of bi-sexual Creatrix. The shrines for the Royal Ancestors-leather cushions, later stools-became more important than ever, as the point of assembly for the dead King's kra, saman and honhom. Only when these three elements had reunited was the dead King's immortality insured; propitiated by the living King, he could then assist him in giving and main- taining life in the state. The Royal Ancestors thus mediated be- tween the living King and the Sun-god-a concept originating in the period of Cult Type I, where the Queenmother sacrificed her daughter or sister at the foundation of a clan or state, to mediate between the Moon-goddess and herself. The worship of the King as Son of Nyankopon was an ancestor cult in the royal lineage of which he acted as high priest. Two New Year festivals were now usually celebrated: one in Spring, after the completion of sowing and planting, dedicated to the Sky-Fertility- god; the other, in autumn before the crops were gathered, dedi- cated to the ritual death and resurrection of the King as a means of renewing his divine life-giving power: On the day of the autumn equinox he was deprived of his kingship and became as if dead; but at nightfall he reappeared in full splendour as the resurrected Sun soon to appear above the horizon. He then performed the sacred marriage: either with his senior wife, the queen (as in Bono); or with his most beloved wife (as in Asante), who similarly represented the Venus aspect of the Moon-mother. The Queenmother remained an incarnation of the Moon, and was regarded as the Moon-goddess's daughter. She also propitiated her ancestresses in the Chapel of the Stools, intermediaries between the Moon-mother and herself. At the same time, the theory of reincarnation spread among the people. The kra was still envisaged as fire, supplied by one or the other of the seven planets which animated a person's blood, but its spirit the honhom that dwelt in the kra was now that of a maternal ancestor; the honhom-kra was constantly reincarnated in order to become wholly pure at last. The child received a kra with its hon- hom at birth, from the akragya of the planet that ruled its natal day, together with its sunsum, in a good-bye ceremony from Nyame. 149 SUMMARY The Period of Cult Type IV In the period of Cult Type I the people moulded their char- acters on the akyeneboa, or totem animal, the incarnation of their :Jbosom, or clan goddess. In the period of Cult Type II they moulded their characters on whichever of the seven planets had supplied their clan :Jbosom, now a bi-sexual Sky-Fertility-god, with his kra and sunsum, character of personality, on his natal day. In the period of Cult Type III they moulded their character on the planet of their own natal day from which they had received their kra-now that of a maternal ancestor-and sunsum. In the period of Cult Type IV the men moulded their char- acters on the water, river, or lake of their ntoro :Jbosom, a former Sky-Fertility-Clan-god, now regarded as their supernatural ancestor in the male line. Water was chosen because it could be equated with seminal fluid; but the character of the divine water was determined by the planet from whom this god had received his kra and sunsum on his natal day. The result of the Ntoro Cult, based on a paternal group, was to establish patrilocal, instead of matrilocal, marriage. It gave author- ity to the father in the family; the mother's brother, however, remained the real head of the family. In the sexual act, the father identified himself with the god; and was at the same time the priest of his ntoro :Jbosom. So far only women had been venerated as givers of life; now the men claimed equality with them in the same function. The Sky-Fertility-gods continued to be worshipped agri- culturally as the givers of life; and the King and Queenmothers remained intermediaries between the ancestral deities, the Moon- mother, the Sun-god, and the ntoro :Jbosom of the royal line- through whom life was given to the state. 150 APPENDIX The Aduana Clan's New Year Festival at Takyiman Originally the people of a clan were the descendants of t h e people who had gathered round the Elder Woman, the creatrix of the clan. Today, owing to a long historical development the import- ant Akan clans are all confederations of clans. To give an example: the Aduana clan represents really twenty-two clans or, if one wishes to express it differently, it is a clan with twenty-one sub-clans. Seven of these were major clans in the past-Aberade, the royal clan; Adu- ana, the state clan ; Atwea, Nyankonpasakyie, Amoakare (Amoakade), Abira, Adaa (or Onyanyo)-for its clan chiefs under a king ruled the Kumbu Confederation, one of the great Akan states of the past, that was situated in a region which now belongs to the French Ivory Coast. It ceased to exist about 1480. Refugees then founded (in Ghana, the Gold Coast) the Twifo-Heman, Akwamu and Domaa kingdoms and at a time, when these states suffered disastrous defeats, many of its people emigrated and settled in other Akan states. An Akan state is basically or ideally, the confederation of seven dominant clans (abusua nson), and since many states at that time had already seven clans, the newcomers were usually grouped into ' one clan, the Aduana, and two clans of the former amal- gamated.! The Aduana clan of Kumbu approximated the Anana of Bono; after the introduction of the Sun' cult, most of the chiefs of the kingdom, royal sons, had to leave their own clan to belong to that of the king, or state (p. 86). 1 When it was found some years ago that Asante has eight instead of seven clans the Asantehene Nana Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II ruled in a meeting of the Asante Confederacy Council, that Asante should have seven clans only: Ayoko (and Dako); Aduana; Asona; Asine; Konna (and Asokore); Beretu (and Agona); and Asakyiri. 151 APPEND IX The Aduana's clan-totem animal, or akyeneboa, is the dog; but the other twenty-one lesser clans retain their own sub-totems. The Aduana people of Takyiman, for instance, have the awidie, or parrot. However, their New Year festival is no longer an akyeneboa hunt but concerns the Aduana stool, which has become the emblem of the Aduana great-clan. This festival takes place, as in all Akan States, on a Munufie, or 'New Friday', twenty days before Sanaa Kf:se, the first New Year Day. On the Thursday night two murukua drums are beaten. These are shaped like the ntumpane (talking) drums, and attached to the Aduana Akondwa-nnonson, the Aduana stool with its seven bells symboli2ing the seven dominant clans of the original Kumbu King- dom. This is the only time that the murukua drums are beaten, and they sound from about six o'clock on Thursday evening until nine o'clock next morning, or later. Before the drummer begins, the Aduanahene, the Clan-chief, pours a libation wishing him success in his undertaking, and long life. He says: Murukua nsa, mo mEgye nsa yi nom, nnE afe ana ahyia, ~kyerEma yi rebeka mo, mo ma biriara a ObEyE biara enyE yie ma no, mo ma no nkwasanten, me sre mo nkwa ne akwahosan rna Nana Takyimanhene, ~hemmaa, mpan- info~, mmrerantec ne mmabaa, nemofra ne me ara a me gyina mo' /lim ha seisei ara yi. ('Murukua, here is a drink, come thou and take it, now that the year has come round again. This drummer is com- ing to drum upon thee. Give him success in all his undertakings and lengthen his life. I pray thee grant long life and health to Nana, King of Takyiman, the Queenmother, the elders, the young men, the young women, the children, and to myself who now stand before thee. ') When the drumming ends, visitors arrive: the first being the King of Takyiman, the Queenmother and State elders come to wish the Aduana people a happy New Year. The Aduanahene receives them and takes their presents. They sit down for awhile and are offered drinks. When they rise to go, the Aduanahene's sodoo people, the cooks, who claim descent from prisoners of war, prepare to cook the mashed yams and fufu, as offerings to the ghosts of ancestors. At about 3.30 p.m. these are placed in little dishes upon a table before the Aduana Akondwa-nnonson in the Aduanahene's Stool-house. His ~kyeame, or spokesman, then steps forward, and pouring a libation of water, says: Nananom Aduana mo me gye nsuo nhahra ma nsa na ma me didi, afe ano ahyia, ma asamdwoe mmra 152 APPENDIX :Jman yi mu. (' Aduana ancestors, come for water to wash your hands before eating. The year has come round again, let the kingdom be at peace.') Then he cuts the juju into gobbets and sets some of these on the black stools of the Aduanahene's ancestors, and others in front of them, while seven t en-year-old boys ring the seven bells of the Aduana Stool. The :Jkyeame then pours a libation of rum, and says: Wo aj:Jreb:Jdec ni, wo aj:Jreb:JdeE ni. Yi wo tirum jitace bogye di. ('Here are your offerings, here are your offerings. Accept them heartily.') And then: Nananom edidie ne anom, nsa a egu akyire ni-oo. ('Ancestors, here is a drink which you may take during or after the meal.') The rest of the rum is shared by all present, the last drop being poured over the Aduana stool, to a chorus of: KosE, koso, kosE musuonta. ('Blessing, blessing, blessing, may the offerings prove successful.') At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Aduanahene receives the visit of the Aduana stool-sons and daughters; the heirs and heir- esses to the stools of various offices; his village chiefs, and many commoners, all of whom bring him presents, mostly yams. Singing and dancing in the courtyard of the Aduanahene's house continues until nightfall. A libation is poured and offerings are made to the ancestors of the Aduana clan, every morning for a week. This ends the festival. l 1 Information given by the Aduanahene of Takyiman Nana Yao Inwim. 153 Index Aardvark and aardwolf, 143 Merakomaa, Bono Queenmother, 115 , Aba-koma-naase (king's anklets), 120 116-17 Aba koma bode (queenmother's an- Meranowaa, Bono Queenmother, 115, klets), 120, 121 116 . Abena Aberefi, 124 Aferihyia Dwarec (New Year autumn Abetia, 91 purification ceremony), 58-9, Abodwewu(death from natural causes), 118 112 Mua Abrafi, Bono Queenmother, 128 Abosom. SeeObosom Agwas, the, 17-18,20 Abosomnom, swearing of, 113 and akyeneboa of, 20 n. l Ahenemahene, 87-8,88 n. 2 Abotoo rite, 77 Ahenkwa (page), 88, 110 Abrafo (masters of ceremony) , 56 and Akan, the, ancestry of, 17- 21 n.l,57 culture of, 13, 15, 21 akomfo and, 56-7 sacred tree, and Akan language, Apo festival and, 59-60, 61, 62, 63 37 Ntoa's rites and, 64, 66, 74 AkanStates, the 17jJ., 51, 151 Abububofo (,flatterers ') founding of, 17-19 Ntoa's praises sung by, 79- 80 Akomfo. SeeOkomfo Abusua nson, the seven great clans of Akrafo (kra or soul-bearers), 53, 75, a state, 151 90, 91,92, 94, 95, 96 Abusuapanyin, 110 Akrafo-ba-panyin, queenrnother and, Adare, sacred river, 90, 92 53-4, 95-6 Adawu (minstrel songs), 103 n. 1 Akrafohene (chief of the soul-bearers), Adiaka, the, 20 53,121 Adinkra funeral cloth, (fig. 2), Divine King in New Year festival 24 rites and, 90, 91jJ. Adjei Adiko, Korontihene, 51 King of Bono and, 53-4,121 Adosowa, the, 142 Akrafokoom (badge of office), 121 Aduanahene, the, 152, 153 Akragya (Kra-progenitors), 47, 96, 98, Adumfo (Executioners of human sacri- 99,100,101, 146,149 fice),92 Akragya Amen (Saturn), 83 Aduana Clan, Akua Gyarnfiwaa, Bono Queenmother, akyeneboa of, 152 119-20 New Year festival at Takyiman, Akuaba, 132-3 151-3 Akurnfi Arneyaw I, King of Bono, 105- seven clans of, 151 107 . Adwarefohene, 88 Akumfi Ameyaw II, King of Bono, 53, Adwera, 94,95 120-1 Adwowa. Twimwaa, Bono Queen- Akurnfi Ameyaw III, King of Bono- mother, 114 Takyiman, 14, 30 n . 1, 127, Afahyia ceremony, 66-72 128 Afena DiamonD, King of Bono, 119, Akunaye and Kunaguo laws, 110 120 Akwarn u, the obosom of, 36 Afena sword, 113 Akwarnu State, 20, 36 Afena Yao I, King of Bono, 51, 113-14 Akwatia (or, Atia) Kosie Kwaku, Mera Aso, Denkyira Princess, 51 Obosom, 34 155 INDEX Akyeamehene (chief royal spokesman), Nyame and Tanit incarnated in, 113 133-4 Apo festival and, 62 Set symbolized by, 143 New Year festival and, 92 See also Akyeneboa; Sacrifice Akyeneboa (totem animal), 20, 25-6, Ankomaa, Bono Queenmother, 123, 124 25 n.l, 36, 38, 43, 100, 152 Antelope, the, 84 clan members and, 47-8 death and resurrection of, 39-42 death of, and rites for, 26 gold weight of, (fig. 5), 47 (fig. 7), 54 hunting of, 38-9 mask of, (fig. 3), 42 Nyame and Tanit and, 133 Nyame symbolized by, 133 Oba Panyin and, 25 Penkye Otu and, 39, 40, 41 and n. 1 obosom incarnated in , 36-7, 38, 43 , Antelope-god, the, 43 48,150 death and resurrection at Winneba Akyerekyere Kingdom, 20 of,39-42 Akyiwade (taboos), 98, 100-1 See also Sakrabundu; Taa Kora akyeneboa and, 36 Anwobawu (death of a cnildless person), Amanl7lfina ceremony, 29 112 Amakum State, 32 Apo festival and rites, 35, 57, 58 Ameyaa II, Bono Queenmother, at Sesamun, 74jf. 114 at Wankyi, 52, 59jf., 74 Ameyaa Adiyaa, Bono Princess , 127 Apunya ceremony, 122, 123 Ameyaa Ampromfi, 32jf. Apupuo, the king as, 91 abosom and, 25, 33, 34 Arabs, the, North Africa conquered by, Asubontem and, 34 18-19 Tano and, 33 Asaase Afua, Earth-goddess, goddess of Tanosu founded by, 32-5 procreation, 83, 136 Ameyaa Kese, Bono Queenmother, clan ruled--c&y, 28 103-4, 105 , 106n.2 Asaase Yaa, Earth-goddess, goddess of death of, 105 the naked soil and of the Under- title of 'Adwo' and, 104 world,31 Ameyaw Gyamfi , Bono Prince, 127 clan ruled by, 28 Ameyaw Gyamfi, Takyimanhene Nana, Asaman, King of Bono, 20, 103-5 34 laudatory name of, 104-5 Ameyaw Kurompe, King of Bono, Asante, the, 85, 126, 127, 157 n. 1 118-19 Tano Twumpuduo and, 72 Ameyaw Kwaakye, King of Bono, 33, war between the Bono-Takyiman 58, 85, 125-6 and,36,127 Amii, :Jbosom, 43 AsanteKingdom or Confederacy, 20,127 akyeneboa of, 43 founding of, 20 Amoanimaa, Queenmother, as war- Ntoro cult in, 102 leader, 32 Sun Cult in , 84 Amoasanka, Fante Chief, King Afena Asantemanso, 118, 119 Yao I and, 51 Ash, Moon-god. 142 Amon, or Ammon, Sky-Fertility god of Asipim(chair), 108, 117 Shiwa, 137, 139-41 Asrafohene, 88 Amumuwu (woman's death during Assaud, or Azawagh, the, 17 pregnancy or childbirth), 112 Asuanofo (disciples), 71 Anaa, sacred grove of, and founding of Ntoa's shrine and, 64, 65, 66 Tuobodom, 29 Taa Kuntun's shrine and, 69 Anaa (Sirew Nkromaa), 55 Asubo ceremony, 85 Anana clan, 86, 109 Asubonten, son of Tano, 34 Ancestral spirits, 14 Asueyi,63 Dentzefo and Tufuaefo, of, 39,40 New Year festival at, 57-8, 63-6 Divine King and royal, 86jf. Au (leather cushion), 105, 108, 117 Royal Ancestors, New Year festival Atia Kosie Kwaku, 34, 35 rites and , 60, 87, 88, 93, 94, Atia Kosiesu, village, 34-5 95,152-3 Ati Kwaame, King of Bono, 117-18 See also Kra; Nananom; Ntoro 'Atoapoma', 'Ever-ready shooter', obosom; Stools Nyame as: see under Nyame Animals, Bosummuru and, 100, 102 Atofowu (death of the transgressor), emblems and, 137 112 Ntoa personified by, 49 Atufohene, 'gun-bearer', 81 156 INDEX Ausean Mother goddess, and festival of, 'Brong' , the, 20-1 142 Bronsamo, the, custom concerning, 31 Awura (,Mistress' of a state), 26 Bull, the, 139 Axes, 83 Bosummuru and, 100, 102 emblematic use of, 132 and n. 2 Bosummuru, or Buru , hi-sexual deity, 'Nyame's axe', 28 , 132 98 and n. 2, 102, 109 Ayiforo (wedding feast) , 111 Bosummuru or Buru, Ayere ye, 65, 76 animals incarnating, 100, 102 ../ rite of, 65, 76 bull and, 100, 102 ../ Ayesu , bi-sexual state god, 36 cow and, 102 Ayetecustom, 109 gold dagger of, 92, 93, 100 Ayoko clan, 20, 109 'Great Ancestor', natal day and shrine akyeneboa of, 20, 36, 105 of, 100 incarnations of, 101 Baal Haman, Sky-Fertility and Moon- Melkart of Tyre and, 138-9 god, 130-1, 135,137,140 New Year festival rites and, 94 Nyankopon and, 135-6 Ntoro cult and, 99-102 Banda Kingdom, 118 sword of, 102 Banie, god, 33, 34 Buru, ,bosom, 99-100, 101 Banmuhene and Banmuhemmaa -naman consults, 104 (cemetery priests) , 116, 117 name of 'Biakuru' and, 104 Bat, the, 25 'son' of Buruku, 100 folk-tal e about, 25 n. 2 ~-Biakuru, Bono god, 54, 89, Bekwai State, 20 100,140 Beragoro rites, 30-1 See also Buru Berbers, Islamized , 17, 103 Bush-goat, the, 48 Akan and, 17, 19 Byaei, the, 141 . Libyan, 18, 20 Berempon Katakyira, King of Bono, 85, Carthage, 129 114-15 gods of, 130-1 Bi.d.abiakyi (state umbrella), 120 Catfish, Tano personified by, 48 Bo me tuo custom, 58, 78 Chapel ofthe Stools, 86, 88 n . 2, 89, 95, Boakye Tenten, King of Bono, 123-4 105,123,133,136 Bona Kingdom, 20 Chickens. See Cocks Bono, the, 54, 113 Children, afterbirth of royal, 134 Bono Kingdom, 20, 21, 33 Kra-names of, 96 Divine King and , 84, 87 names derived from the akyeneboa, kings of, 52, 103-28 39 ntoro cult in , 99-102 Ntoro cult and, 99 seven-clan state, a, 27 royal, 86, 90, 91 State god-goddess of, 33, 49 sacrifice of, 137, 138 Bono-Mansu, 104, 115, 122, 126, 127 stool-hole child, 90 Bono-Takyiman, the, 17 urns at Carthage of, 137 Asante and, 36, 127 Circumcision, Akan abhorrence of, 31 Bono-Takyiman (town), New Year Clans , 145, 151 festival in , 151-3 nuonom and, 26 rites for epidemics in, 29-30 ,bosom and, 36-44, 145 Bono-Takyiman State, 14, 34, 35, 36, seven chiefs of, and their titles, 123 n.2 102,127 village of, 27 chief deity of, 49 See also Nton death and resurrection of the divine Cleopatra Selene, 130 king in, 90-7 divine descent and coins of, 130 kings and queenmothers of, 127-8 Cocks (chickens, fowls), Ntoa's rites Bono-Takyimanhene, the Aferehyia and, 64 Dwaret and, 58-9 See also under Sacrifice Ameyaa Ampromfi's stool and, 35 Cola nuts, 107 Bosom-Pra, god, 98 & n. 2, 99 Companies of Dentzefo and Tufuafo, Bosom-Twe, god, 98 & 'n. 2, 99 New Year festival and, 39-42 Botene, :Jbosom, 29 Creation of the universe, Moon- Boys, weapon presented for hunting of, Mother goddess and, 23 31 Odomankoma and, 46, 56, 146 Bride price, 11 0, 111 symbol of, (fig. 2), 24 157 INDEX Crimes , Akan, and, 31 Edinkra, bi-sexual goddess, 38, 49 n. 2 Crocodil e, Set and, 143 customs concerning, 38 T ano and, 48 Eggs, New Year festival rites and, 62, Cross, or mberem, 48 66, 67,93,94, 95 Cross-cousin marriage in Asante, 102, Enstoolment ceremony, 84, 86, 96, 100, 109 148 Cult periods, Cult Type I , 145-6 Epidemics, rites for, 29-30 Cult Type II, 48jJ., 146-8 Esmun, god of Carthage, 131 Cult Type III, 148-9 emblem of, 131 Cult Type IV, 150 Eteota spoon, 114 See also Moon; Sun Etsi, the Sahara Desert and, 17 Customs, Akan, 31 Ewio (duiker-antelope), 48 D aberehene (Lord Chamberlain), 87 D aboya,36 Fante,the, 54, 114, 116, 117, 126,127, Dame, Sky-Fertility deity, 73 134 Dapaa songs, 67-9 Tano, chief deity of, 33, 49, 116 and Date, or Dente, deity, 49 , 140 n . l Dead, t he, goddess of, and kras of, 145 Fa Kosakori, Chief of the Asin-Aboade See also Ancestral spirits; Kra clan, 63 D eath, adosowa and, 142 Falcon, the 20, 25-6, 98 n. 2 causes of, and ritesfor, 112 akyeneboa of the Ayoko, 20, 36, 105 kings of, 37, 140 Fertility, New Year festival and the kings and queenmothers' deaths un- conception of, 57 ann ounced,123 rites concerning, 62 New Year festi val and symbolism of, See also T uobo custom 57,58,59,59-72 Fo-Dwoo (,Fertil e Monday'), Mouse- D eath and rebirth of bi-sexual deities , god rites and, 43 51,58,59-72,73-81, 140 bo me tuo custom on, 58 Baal Haman, 140 Fo-Dwoo-kcse (Great Sacred or, Fertile Ntoa, 58jJ., 59 n. 2, 73-81 Monday),43 Taa Kuntun, 66-72 afahyia festival on, 66-72 D enkyira, the, 118-19 Fo-Fie (,Fertile Friday'), New Year Diakpa Lanta, Mande chief, 119 festival and , 64, 95 Diala,20 Fo-Wukuo , (,Fertile' Wednesday), 74, Dia-Mo (or Djomo) Kingdom, 20 75,81 Diana, the, 20 Fo-Yawoo-Kcse, (,Great Fertile Thurs- Diara-N'koran, the, 20 day'), New Year festival on, Dido (Helissa), 129 59-60,90,95, 101,102 Carthage founded by, 129 Friday, rites on , 64 Dja, or Dia, the, 17 , 18jJ., 103 Divine Klng Cult in Bono and, 89 descendants of, 20 Funeral rites, 112 origin of, 18 and n. 4 Klng's, 122-3 Dja, or Dia, Kingdom, or Confedera- tion , 17, 103 Gara, t he, 18 Djadu, or Djado, 17 Gbon, the, 103 names of, 17 Glaphyra, 130 Oasis of, 17, 18, 20 Goat, the, 49 , 133, 143 Dog, the, 49, 134, 139, 152 Gold, 96, 107, 126 Domaa State, 20 currency of gold dust, 107 n. 1 Domaahen e, 127 discovery of, 105 Doves, 134 dust, 58 Drums, 105 king's ornaments and use of, 89, 91, fontomfrom (talking drums), 65, 72, 95,108,118 94, 106 New Year festival and, 16-2 murukua, 152 Owusu Akyempo and, 122 Ntoa's, 64, 74 symbolism of, 76 ntum.pane, 55,1 06 weight (figs .), 47, 54 Dwambara Akenten, Bono Queen- Golden Wall, the, 125- 6 mother, 125, 126 Gonja, 20,104,115,119, 122 Dwamena Kwaame, King of Bono, Guan, the, 20, 140 111-13 war with the Bono of, 113 158 INDEX Gya dua kra (sacred tree), 26-7, 29, kra of, 52-4 31,104 Moon, King as son of, 52 and n . 1 human sacrifice under, 27, 28 personification of deity by, and hu- Gyaasehene (chief of the king's house- man sacrifice, 147-8 hold), 87, 91 , 93, 105 , 106 n. 1, regalia of, 91, 105 123 n. 2 solar kra of, 84jf. , 96, 100, 101 , 148 Asueyi and, 63, 66 Sramakomma title of, 52 dutyof,117 Son of the Sun-god, as, 13, 84jf., Ntoa 's rites and, 74, 75, 78, 81 108, 148 Gyaase-ba-pany in ('head of the Stool-sons of, 90, 91 , 92-3 queenmother's household' ), 63, Sun, the, and, 52 66,90, 106 Suns urn of, 100, 101 , 148-9 Gyaasewaa, Bono Queenmother, 89, taboos in food and, 88 120, 121,122, 123 wives of, 52, 53, 59, 86, 87, 92, 93, Gyahye rite, 81 149 Gyako I , King of Bono, 110-11 Kofi Asankwa, King of Bono, 121-2 Gyamfi Kumanini , King of Bono, 122-3 Kokofu State, 20 Gyamfi II, Offumanhene, statement Koromante, the Sahara Desert and, 17 about Ntoa by, 58 Koronti-ba-pa!1flin of the Queen- Gyansu, war-god, Apo rites and, 62 mother, 123 n. 2 Gyatutuo rite, 72 Korontihene (an elder of the ;) man- Gyebi Saa Ahabio, Queenmother, 30 hene, and Governor of the State), 51, 69, 72-3, 147 Hannibal, 138 duties and position of, 51 H emma papa (queenmother's fans), rites and, 69 , 72-3 121,135 Kosa K waretoapie, Gyaasehene, 105-6 High priests (O soo), 41, 42, 54- 5, 74 Kra, the, 24, 27 , 28, 47, 53, 56 n. 2, See alsoOsofo-Okomfo 96-7, 137-8,142,146,149,150 Hippopotamus, the, 143 and n . 8 akyeneboa and, 38 H onhom (breath oflife), 149 Ameyaa Ampromfi, of, 35 kra and, 96-7 Antelope-god and, 42 Nyankopon's sons and, 83 Apo festival and, 60 Horse, the, symbolism of, 136 dead persons, of, 48, 142 Ibis, the, akyeneboa at Daboya, as, 36 deceased kings, of, 138 Ideograms of Tanit and Nyame, 132-3 fire from planets supplied for, 149 honhom and, 96-7 Juaben State, 20 king's kra, 52-4 Juba II, King of NUln idia , 130 and n. 1 king's solar kra, 84jf. , 96, 100, 101) Jupiter, 28, 101 , 131 148 kra-names, 96 Kenke, 81 Moon, the, and, 25 King, the, Royal Ancestors and, 86jf. Moon Mother-goddess, and, 24-5, 56 Apupuo and, 91 n.2 Bono kings , 103-28 Moon Mother-goddess's bestowal of, death of, 37, 123, 140 28 death and resurrection , ritual, on Nyame, of, 24 New Year's Day of, 90-7, 149 Nyame's personification of, 146 deceased kings, okraa wives of, 53 obosom, of, 37, 38, 46-7, 146 divinity of, 51-2, 84jf. , 90-7, 115, queenmother, of, 96 147-8 reincarnation and, 96-7 daily routine as Sun-king, 86-9 representation of, 47 incarnation of the Sun, as, 86jf. Royal Ancestors, of, 84, 94 fount of everything and having all vital force of, 38 power, as, 85, 148 KraDware ceremony, 53 familyof, 86 Kra-fieso (Chapel of the Kra), 91, 93 , functions of, 85 95 funeral rites of, 122-3 Kuntunso, New Year festival at, 66-72 heir-apparent and, 85-6, 148 Kurumo Kese, Bono Queenmother, High Priest in ancestor cult, as, 149 110-13 honhom of, 150 Kuruwa I, Bono Queenmother, 115-16 immortalIty of dead kings and life in Kumasi, 126 the state helped by, 148, 149 Kumasi State, 20 159 INDEX Kumbu Kingdom or Confederation, 20, queen mother as daughter of, 77, 89 101 n . 2, 107 n. 1, 151 Sun-god and, 82, 83-4 Kuntunso, 66 states and, 27-8 New Yearfestival at, 57, 58, 66-72 triangle symbolic of, 72 Kuru-Fie (,Most Sacred Friday'), Apo See also Neith; Tanit-Pene-Baal. rites and, 63 Moon-Queen, Divine, Libyo-Phoeni- New Year festival and, 65 cians and, 129.ff. Kwa Friday (,open' Friday); 63, 74, 78 Moon-sky-Fertility-god,51.ff. Kwaakye Ameyaw, King of Bono, Apo Mossi, the, 20 festival and, 58 Mouse-god, death and resurrection of, Kyereme Akuaa, Ameyaa Ampromfi 43-5 and,33,34 Mranee ceremony, 72-3 Kyereme Kofi , King of Bono-Takyi- Munufie ('New Friday'), 152 man, 30 n.l Kyereme Mansa, Bono Queenmother , Nafara , the, 118 100, 108-10 Naming, or Mranec ceremony, 72-3 Kyereme Pambuo, King of Bono, 124-5 Nampranee (tree) , Ntoa and, 49, 64 , 74 Nananom (Royal Ancestors), King and, Leather cushion. See Ate 86.ff. Left hand, the, Bono and, 108 lora of, 83, 94 Leopard, the, 25 shrines for, 150 Libyan North Africa, analogies to stool s of, 62, 63,75, 77, 88 n. 2, 138 Akan beliefs in , 129-44 Sun-king and his, 84, 148-9 Libyans, Eastern, the, 18 Neith, Libyo-Egyptian Moon-goddess, Libyo-Phoenicians, 15 143 beliefs and customs of, 129-41 New Year Festival , 38-45 , 51, 53, 57- Lunar Mother-goddess . See Moon 81,147,149,151-3 Mother -goddess. akyeneboa and, 36-7 Lunar symbols, (fig. 2) 24, (fig. 3) 30 central rite of, 51 See also under Ntoa M aa Dwa (ceremonial stool of queen- Nit, or Ta-Nit, Libyo-Egyptian deity, mothers), 113, 117 137 Manatee, 100 and n. 4 Nkerante (state-swords), 89, 91, 152 Mande, the, 54, 115 Nbt,baa (rods , emblems of authority), Mansu, 43 & n. 2 60, 61, 64 , 66, 74 , 78-9, 79 Mouse-god ritual at, 4>3-5 n.l Manwerehene, 87, 88 Nkoranza State, 15 Marriage cllstoms and reform of, 111 state deity of, 49 matrilocal, 99 Nkyi-Fie (,Destructive Friday'), 64 patrilocal , 99 , 109-10, 150 Apo festival and, 60, 77 See also Sacred marriage Nkyi-Yawo" (,Destructi ve Thursday'), Matrilineality, 15 , 141 Apo festival and, 61 Melkart, god of T yre, 128, 138-9 Nnuonuo tree, Naming ceremony of Mo (Grunshi), the, 19, 103 Twumpuduo and , 73 Mono Mememe ('New Saturday'), 75, Nsafiesohene, 88 78 Nsawkaw, the, 123 and n. 2 Moon, the, King as incarnation of, 52 Nsramuwu (death by violence), 112 and n. 1, 108, 148 Nsuoya method, foretelling of the Mother-goddess, as, 145 future by, 56 rulers as Sons of the Moon, 84 Ntoa, Bono bi-sexual deity, 49, 50, 54, 73 See also Moon cult; Moon Mother- animals personifying, 49 goddess crucifixion of the priests of, 65 n . 1 Moon cult, the: death of, 58 cult type I , 23-45, 145-6, 150 death and resurrection during New Moon Mother-goddess, 23, 51-2, 58, Year festivals of, 59-66, 59 n. 145 , 148 2,73-81 daughter of, 25 goddess of fertile earth and lord of 'Killer-mother', as, 145 growth , aspect of, 89 lora and, 28 New Year festival and, 57, 58, 59.ff. life-giving rays of the lora shot by, plants sacred to, 49 56 n. 2 praises of, 79-80 o bosom as r epresentative of, 145 procreative power of, 58 160 I NDEX shrines of and rites about, 62, 63- 4, royal ancestors of king, and, 148 65,66,73, 75 & n. 1, 76jJ. Saturday and, 83 'sons' of, 76-7, 77, 78, 79 sons of, 83- 4 sunsum and, 149 Nyankop,n-kurom (city of Nyankop- War-god atSeseman-Nkoram.a, as, 73 on, home of good dead per- white cloths given to, 38 sons), 86, 97 Nton(c1an), the, 26 , 98 Nsana (wild berry), 101 and n. 2 abosom and, 145 akyeneboa and, 26, 36, 145 Oba Pany in (Elder Woman), ,bosom descent of, 37 and,25,26 founding of, 26 state (d,m) given birth by, 26 See also Glans Obiri Yeboa I, King of Domaa, 51 Ntoro concept of, 98-9 Obosom, 24- 5,29,32,33,34,35,47-8, rites de passage and, 99 49 n. 2, 145, 146 N toro Cult, the, 14, 37, 54, 98- 102, Akyeneboa and; see Akyeneboa 110,150 antelope as, 40 beginnings of, 109 antelope symbolism of (fig.) 54 descent and, 98 bi-sexual ,bosom of Cult Type II, Ntoro ,bosom, Ancestral deity, 98-9, 32-3,48-51, 150 100 clan chiefs and, 54 akyeneboa and, 98 clan ,bosom and cult of, 36-44, 145 ancestors in Gult Type IV period, as, first fruits offer ed to, 147 150 Kuromo Kese and, 111 Ntumpane (talking drums) , 55, 106 Moon, personification of, 52 Numbers, sacred, symbolism of, 28 Odomankoma as ' father-uncle ' of three, 40 n. l , 106 n. 2 the, 46 . Venus number, 74, 139 planets and, 48, 146, 147, 150 Numidia, 129-30 State ,bosom, 29 Nwona Friday (' "Protected" Friday'), trees, sacred, and, 37-8, 41, 49 64 Wankyi queenmothers and, 59 Nyako I, Bono Queenmother, 113 Obunumankoma, King of Bono, 13, Nyako II, Bono Queenmother, 124,125 84, 107-8 Nyame, Supreme Being, 23-4, 28, 31, Odabeni , (chief of the royal bed- 37,82,100 n . 2, 131, 135, 136jJ, chamber), 87 akyeneboa of, 133 Odomankoma B~reb~re , Father-god, 'Atoapoma', Ever-ready Shooter, as, 46-7,82, 131,146 24,84,132, 142 abrafo and, 56 axes of, 28, 132 creator, as , 46, 56, 146 daughter of, 25 heavenly bodies' confederation and, ideogram of, 132-3 51 'Killer-mother', as, 24 origin of, 146 Moon and Firmament goddess, as, 24 seven-day week introduced by, 46-7 Nyame Dua, 28 sunsum and, 146 Nyankopon as son of, 86 Offuman, New Year festival at, 57 Odoma'nkoma and, 46, 82, 146 Ofo ro box, 96 sons of, 100 Ohemmaa, 26, 27,148 Sun-king's honhom returns to, 150 ruling of the state by, 147 symbolic number three and, 106 n. 2 sacrifice, human , given by, 27 Tanit-Pene-Baal compared with, See also Queenmother 131-5 Ohene, 52 & n. 3 Nyame akuma. See Nyame : axes of. See also King; Omanhene Nyame Dan, 95 Ohene Ati, King of Bono-Takyiman, Nyame Kese, shrine under the gya dua 30 n.1 kra, 29 Obmfo priest or priestess , 55-7, 58 Nyankopon, Sun-god, 37, 82jJ., 100 n.2, New Year festival and, 57, 58, 62, 131 , 135, 137 71-2 Baal Haman and, 135-6 prophetic powers of, 55-6 changes and titl es of, 82-3, 84 Ntoa's rites and, 63-4, 65 , 66 dead persons and, 97 Okra, 53, 147 king, the, worshipped as Son of, 100, Apo festival at Wankyi and, 57,60 148-9 king's kra and, 52-4 rain and, 83 Ntoa's rites and high priest's ,kra, 75 161 INDEX Okra suo (sacred meal), 94-5, 96 Mouse-god rites and, 43-5 Okraa (femal e okra), of the king, 52-3 mural painting from deceased of the queenmother, 53 priest's house, (fig. 6), 50 Okrabiri, 97 Ntoa's rites and, 76, 78 Okrafo. See Akrafo SeealsoObrnfo. Okyeame (royal spokesman), 152-3 PwIuo (gold nuggets), 92, 93, 94 Ntoa's rites and, 65, 66, 74, 77, 78 Okyeame Pong, narrative of the found- Queenmother, the, 23 ing of Tanosu by, 52-5 ancestresses propitiated by, 28, 149 Omanhene, 52 n. 3, 90 Apo rites at Wankyi and, 57, 59-63 Antelope-god rites and, 39, 40 Bono Kings and, 103-28 See also King death of, 37, 123 Opoku Ware, Asante King, 84, 126 deceased, male okra of, 53 Oracle (nbrn) , and consultation of, 55, divine king cult and, 85 56,74, 81, 140 fattening of Bono, 54 n. 1 Orchestra, seven royal horns of, 105, fire and epidemics and, 29 106-7 head-women of her council and their Os,fo-Okomfo (high priest), 56, 80 n. titles) 123 n. 2 2, 148 house of, 31 New Year festival and, 59, 67, 69- kra of, 28, 89 70, 71 male dress worn by, 29 Ntoa, of, 73, 74jJ. mbensoono of, 106 Twumpuduo of, 72 Moon Mother-goddess and, 23jJ., Osofo Pany in (High Priest), 54-5, 56 51-2, 89,148, 149 duties of, 55 daughter of, 77, 89-90 obmfo and, 56 daily routine of, 89-90 0500 (high priest), Antelope-god rites New Year festival rites and, 59-63, and, 41, 42 • 93,95-6 Osoro Ahemrnan (Upper Kingdom), Ntoa's rites and, 74, 76, 77, 81 51, 97 personification of deity by, 147 Owusu Aduam, King of Bono, 119-20 priestess, as, 28-30, 35 Owusu Akyempo, King of Bono, 122 kra of, 96 Owusuaa Aberefi, Bono Queenmother, rain-making of, 29 106-7 royal enclosure of, 106, 122 Oyene mma, customs concerning, 51 sacrifice of one of her kin by, 27 and nn.l , 2 , 30, 149 Palm-trees, 48, 134 n. 4, 135 n. 1 silver and, 89, 96, 107, 108, 126 Nyame and Tanit symbolized by, sovereign , as , 30-2 134 spinning basket for , 115, 116 . Parrot, the, 20, 152 triangular axe as emblem of, 132 Anana clan and, 86 Venus aspect of, 57, 59, 148 Ayoko clan and, 36 war-leader, as , 31- 2 Patrilineality, ntoro and, 14, 98, 99 white cloths given to Ntoa by, 38 See also Ntoro Patrilocal marriage. Rain and Rain-making rites, 29, 55, See under Marriage 83, 142 Penkye Otu , ,bosom, 42 Rams) 25, 136, 140 antelope and, 39, 40, 41 and n . 1 white, 91, 136 Pig, the, 143, 144 & n. 3 See also under Sacrifice Pitire, 91 R ebirth , or resurrection, Ne'w Year Planets, 149, 150 festivals and, 57, 58, 59-63, days of the week and, 46-7, 146 66-72, 73-81 fire supplied for kra from, 149 R eincarnation, theory of, 96-7, 149 obosom and, 48, 146, 147, 150 Right hand, emblem of deities, 131 and seven-clan state and, 27 n.l three-clan states and, 28 Royal Ancestors. See under Ancestral Priestesses, 72, 76 spirits and Nan.anorn descent and titl e of, 55 weapons of, 132 Sacred Grove, or, Kanianko, 29, 38, SeealsoOkomfo. 41 n. 1, 42, 49, 50, 57, 60, 63, Priests, 41, 69jJ., 76, 125 75,76, 81, 134, 135,147 Buruku's priests, 140 See also Trees, sacred. 162 INDEX Sacred marriage, the, king as Son of Silver, Bono queenmother and, 89, 96, Nyankopon and, 149 107,108, 126 New Year festival and, 51, 52, 57, Simpini (public dais of a king), 76, 77, 58,59,63, 147 78,79,80 Sacred water, 77, 93,& n. 1, 118, 125 n. Sky-Fertility-gods, 48-57, 98, 125, 2 141 , 143, 150 ntoro cult and, 99 Nyame cones, (fi g. 6),50 Sacrifice. 38, 143 Sodohemmaa (chief woman cook of l" anim.Js, of, 31, 102 Ntoa),80-1 antelopes, of, 41 Sodohene (chief royal cook), 80 & n . 2, Apo festival and, 35, 57, 104 87,88 bull , of, 102, 139 Sramakomma, 52 bullock, of, 60 Srane, or, sram (moon), 23,58 cocks, of, 41 n. 1, 64, 69, 76, 95 , 96 State-swords. See Nkerante dogs, of, 134 & n. 2 Stool-carriers, 75 .doves , of, 134 Stool-sons of the Divine King, 90, 91, human, 27 , 28, 30 n. 1, 52, 53, 57, 92-3 60, 88 n. 2, 129, 137, 138, 144, Stools , aduana, 152, 153 147, 149 adwa-pa, 33 prisoners, royal, of, 138 Ameyaa Ampromfi and,'34-5 Queenmother, and, 27 and nn. 1, 2, A:rete custom and, 109 30, 149 deceased king's, 84 rams, of, 60, 61, 69, 72, 94, 95, 136 Golden, 95 , 118, 122; 126, 135 sheep, of, 35, 77 , 94, 133 queenmother, of, 62, 113, 117 Sahara, the, Akan , the, and, 17, 18 ritual and, 85, 92 Sakrabundu, deity , 124--5, 125 nn. 1, 3 Royal Ancestors', 62, 63 , 75, 77 , 88 n. antelope mask of (fig. 3), 42 2 , 138 cult of, 125 n. 3 Silver , 91, 92, 93 Saman (shade), 56, 97, 123, 137, 138, symbols on , 135 147 Sudan, Eastern, Zaga and, 18 "komio and, 55 Summe leaves, ritual use of, 29- 30, 72, Sun-king, of, 148-9 74, 92, 95 Samandow (Netherworld), 56, 97, Sumun rite, 29 149 Sun, the Akan belief and, 23 Sun-king's saman and , 148-9 King, the , and , 52 Samanfo (departed spirits) . See Saman Sun cult (Type III), 82-97 Sanna a, 92, 93 , 107 Wia, or, owia, 23 Sannaahene (chief of the Treasury), Sun-god, King as Son of, 13, 84jf., 108, 92, 93 , 94 148-9 . Saturn, deities and, 48, 83, 135-6 functions of, 148 Scorpion and serpent, symbolism of, Moon Mother goddess and, 82, 83-4 134 See also Nyankopon Seseman-Nkoranza, New Year festival Sunsum (character, or personality) , 97, at, 57 , 59 98, 100, 147, 149, 150 Ntoa's death and rebirth ritual at, akragya and abosJ m and, 47 73-81 animals as emblems of, 48 Set, Sky-Fertility-god, 142-4, 144 n. 3 king's, 100, 101 , 148, 149 animal totem of, 143 kra contrasted with , 47 'Great Bear' constellation and, 143 Ntoa and, 49 Moon-god, as, 143 Nyankopon and, 82, 83 Seven-day week, 46-7 , 146 Odomankoma and, 146 Sewaa, Bono Queenmother, 107-8 Sheep, Nyame and Tanit incarnated in, 133 Taa KEOSe, 29 , 33 See also under Sacrifice Apo festival and , 58 Shrines, 29, 49-50, 71, 72, 78, 147, High Priest of, 33, 34, 35, 55 150 Taa Kofi , or Tano, god 48-9, high priest's ancestors, of, 75 50 ' Nyame K"se, of, 29 ani:nals personifying, 48 Sky-Fertility-gods, of, 49-50 shnnes of, 49 Taa Kuntun, of, 67,69 trees symbolizing, 48-9 . See also und er Ntoa T aa Kora, Antelope-god, 43 , 49 n. 2 165 I N DEX Taa Kuntun, bi-sexual deity, the Tuobo customt 50-1, 58, 59, 66, 75, Hyena, deity, death and rebirth 78,146 ritual of, 66-72 Tuobodom, founder of, 29 New Year festival of, 58 Naming ceremony at, 72-3 shrine of, 67, 69 shrine of, 72 Taboos, royal food, 54 T uobodomhene, 72 See also Akyiwade descent of, 55 Takyi Akwamo, King of Bono, 13, 14, Twemma (Queenmother's royal en ... 100, 108-10 , closure), 106, 122 Tak'yifiri, T akyiman founded by, 116 Twifo-Heman State, 20 Takyiman, city, 35, 57, 122, 124 Twumpllduo, Afahyia ceremony and, founding of, 116 72 god-goddess of, 33, 121 New Yea!' days, two, in, 58-9 Venus,28, 48, 49,52 rain-making in , 29 bi-sexual abosom and, 48 Takyiwaa, Bono Queenmother, 117, queenmother's Venus aspect, 57, 59, 118,119 148 Tanaa Tasie, priestess queenmother, Venus number, 74 35 Venus star, 48 , 146 Tanit-Pene-Baal, Moon iYIother-god- Venus Cult, 46-81 dess of Carthage, 130, 137. Nyame and, 136 bi-sexual aspect of, 130, 135 Vituperations, traditional, New Year Great Mother, as, 138 festival and, 61, 64 Nyame compared with , 131-5, 136ff. temple of, 137 Wankyi State, 59 Tano, sacred river, 48, 49, 116 Apo festival at, 57, 74 Tano , state god-goddess of Bono King- New Year festival for Ntoa and dom, 33, 42, 54, 117 queen mothers at, 59-63 New Year festival and, 57 State deity of, 49 rice-god, a, 147 Wansan. See antelope See also Taa KE:se Werempe ceremony, 84, 122-3 Tano Kese (,Tano the Great'), 122 Winneba (town), 38 Takyiman temple of, 121 New Year festival at, 39- 42 T",no Twumpuduo, Bono state god, 126 'Witches', 125 Naming ceremony and titles of, 72-3 Bono burning of, 137 Tanoboase, Mouse-god rites at, 43-5 Wives, royal . See under King Tanosu, foundation of, 32-5 Women, 35 priestess queenmothers and chiefs of, divine descent of, and birth of e 35 129 Tanosuhene (high priest), 55 fighting and, 32 Tebu, the, 17, 18 Libyan Amazons, 1 Three-fingered hand, 24 male dress and Thunderbolts, 83 Ntoa's rebj !" Tibulanguage, 18 patriloc 1 c Totemism , 15 Slu>- r _ _ ~ ';'hty of, See also Akyeneboa Trees, sacred, 26-7, 65, 147 ,bosom and , 37-8, 41, 49 sacrifice of akyeneboa under, +1 a .0 Queenmother, 114 145 -!o. ;1({a of Ejisu 1 Queenmother, Tano symbolized in, 48- "- .ar-leader, as, 32 thank-offerings and, 57--t.'" , ·,,,, 58, 72, 108, 126 See also Gya dua kra , _ ritual use of, 64, 67 , 72, 74, 77 , 94 Tuaregs, the, 17, 18 it. 1 Yaw Mensa, Tanosuhene Nana, 32, 35 L emta, 18-19 YeDoa Ananta, King of Bono, 115-16 Tuesday, 102 Zaga, the, 18 and nn. 4, 5 Bosummuru and, 100,.101 Zaga, or Zaghawa, Kingdom ,18