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GHANAIAN Traditional Names

 This blog will explore traditional names in Ghana, West Africa. . Both the Akan-speaking peoples and some Ewe tribes have  similar naming patterns.  Traditionally among the Akans, names are assigned to children , depending on the day they were born, and their gender. Only male and female genders are recognized.  If the child is baptized as a Christian, he or she will be given a Christian name. Catholics usually add a confirmation name. Finally, the child will add the last or surname to the mix.. For example Kofi David Amoabeng. Or Kofi Samuel David AMOABENG, if the child has been confirmed as a Catholic.  With this protocol in mind, one can easily categorize traditional Akan names as follows: Day of Birth                                 Gender                                         ...

Libation part 2 continues

 Nana Amponsah: “ We call upon our ancestors  long gone-Awo Amma OboAtaa, Nana Kofi Asare, Nana Ampem Darkoh, Awo Abena Obiyaa, and Awo Adwoa Oforiwaa- to protect this child.” Audience: “Wie, wie, wie”   Nana Amponsah: “ Let him be strong and healthy and wise and wealthy. “ Audience: “ Wie, wie, wie “ Nana Amponsah: “ Let all  his enemies perish. Let all his enemies be ashamed. Let all his enemies suffer.” Audience: “ Wie, wie, wie “ Nana Amponsah: Grant him a long life of peace, prosperity, and plenty.” Audience: “ Wie, wie, wie “ After each utterance, Nana Amponsah poured the schnapps unto the floor slowly, methodically, spiritually, and reverently until the glass was completely empty. The audience  responded in unison with: “ Thank you, Nana Kofi Amponsah, for your gracious and eloquent prayer.”          Bibliography: For further information about Libation, please consult the following books. NEHUSI, Kimani SK:  Libation: An Afri...

LIBATION: A Traditional African Prayer: Part 2.

 Below is an example of a libation, culled from my  complete, yet-to-published multicultural literary fiction, entitled THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER. Set in colonial Gold Coast of West Africa, the novel spans the years from the 1940s to the post independent Ghana of the 1960s. The story chronicles the life of Kwame Nyame,  the protagonist ,from his scandalous birth and early life among illiterate  friends and family to his dream of earning a Ph.D.in the United States. I am seeking literary agent representation for this novel, as well as a second novel about slavery in progress, entitled: Back To The Ancestral Motherland. The context for the libation pertains to a family event. One of the characters, an erudite elderly leader and patriarch Nana Kofi Amponsah has been summoned to pour libation before performing an “ outdooring”  ceremony for a  child born in the family.  Filling a glass with imported schnapps, Nana Kofi Amponsah concluded the outdooring cer...

LIBATION: A Traditional African Prayer Part 1

 LIBATION is a form of prayer. A traditional prayer rooted in African traditional religion. We believe In ancestral worship. We also believe that our dead ancestors are always looking out for our well-being and they are around spiritually to help us in times of need. And so before we engage in any special event, on any special occasion, such as a wedding, a funeral, an audience with the chief, during a durbar or an important festival that calls for our ancestors to protect us from harm or evil, libation will be poured.   You can use water to pour libation, but the preferred liquid is gin, schnapps or palm wine.Libation in Ghana, among the Twi-speaking people,  has its own protocol or formula. It follows a specific pattern or code.  First, The person performing the libation has to  acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being. Secondly, he calls on Mother Earth “Asare Yaa” to bless the occasion.  This is followed by summoning the lesser gods, usually the fam...

Memorial Tribute to Our Matriachal Ancestor Awo Amma OboAtaa (1701-1780) Part 2 The Reunion Continues

 i had the opportunity to meet all the elders in the family. I was Informed that the family had not forgotten Awo Oboataa, and that her migration to Akaa had been passed on orally from generation to generation, for the past 250 years. Interestingly, the folks at Akaa had kept the story alive. Awo,s children grew up and inter married with the citizens of Akaa and gave rise to a large family of over 200 descendants. Having successfully located the Abetifi branch of our family, a reunion was held in 1965, first at Abetifi and then at Akaa Buem. All the important personalities and elders were present. The Abetifi group was headed by Nana Kwame Fori. Awo Hannah Obiyaa, Driver Kwame Oppong, and his two sisters were  able to make the trip to Akaa.  The Akaa group led by Nana Amoyaw Ampem Darkoh went to Abetifi. The delegation included all the living descendants of Awo OboAtaa and her children, including my grandmother Elizabeth Adwoa Oforiwaa, my mother Rosina Adwoa AMOABENG Asa...

Memorial Tribute to Our Matriachal Ancestor, Awo Amma OboAtaa ( 1701-1780) Part 2: The Reunion.

 We worship our ancestors. We believe that our relatives who have gone before us are always around to see to our welfare, and give us help whenever necessary. We also call upon them regularly to come to our aid whenever we pour libation.      Though our Matriarchal ancestor died in 1780, we believe that  her spirit is still around. We also believe that she is ready  to help us. In 1965, after 250 years or so, there was a reunion between Awo’s modern relatives at Abetifi- Kwahu, and those of her descendants at Akaa-Buem. The  reunion couldn’t have happened without her spiritual intervention.     Here is how this reunion came about. In our village of Akaa-Buem, almost all of the boys applied to high schools at Kpando’ s Bishop Herman College. The smarter ones attended St. Augustine’s College at Cape Coast and Achimota School in Accra. But for some unknown reason, I decided to attend St. Peter’s College, an elite Catholic Boys Boarding School lo...

In Memorial Tribute to Our Matriarchal Ancestor Awo Amma OboAtaa (1701-1780)

, I would like to devote today’s blog to some unpleasant aspect of African culture. The piece also  pertains  to our family history and family’s origin. Our matriarchal ancestor, Awo Amma Oboataa was born in Abetifi-Kwahu  in the Eastern Region of Ghana in 1701. She was married to the paramount chief as his first wife. They had three children: Kofi Addo, Kofi Atia and Amma Agyeiwaa. In 1749, the chief became critically sick; it was obvious that he was going to die. In the olden days, when a chief died,  his first wife and some slaves were killed in a sacrificial ritual so they could accompany him to “asamando”- the underworld, because it was believed that the chief was still going to reign as a chief and help his subjects as he did on planet earth. The paramount chief hated the custom but he could not change it. He encouraged his wife and the three children to leave Abetifi  before his death. He also gave them a lot of gold dust and gold nuggets as inheritance f...

Ananse-The Spider and the family farm

 Once upon a time, there lived Kwaku Ananse and his wife Okonore Yaa, their children Ntikuma, the first born, big belly, the second child, and small legged, the third child, and the big headed fourth child.  Ananse was a very cunning man. He and his family cultivated a farm, but when the crops were ready to be harvested, he told his family that he was going to die and that they should add all cooking utensils such as bowls, mortar, pistils, salt ladle and put them in the tomb. Forty days after his burial, the family decided to visit the farm. To their surprise, they found out that someone has been harvesting their crops. They informed the chief of the village and they all set out to the grave side . The chief asked Ananse’s  wife to cry and cause some commotion. She even ended up singing a song lamenting the fact that their crops are being harvested illegally. Ananse responded by saying he had been harvesting the crops and making use of them himself.  There was a big...