Announcing the Death of a family member to a child: A peculiar village custom

 This blog is about an outmoded custom in the village Kasa in Ghana. My grandmother told me about this strange custom. 

 In modern Ghana. and across the world, families usually post obituary notices in newspapers, in online websites  devoted to death culture. When my cousin Mrs Esther Akoto Boateng, affectionately referred to in our family as Auntie Serwaa passed at Abetifi- Kwahu, a few years ago, I received an ornate obituary brochure from the family at home.  

My grandma told me of a peculiar custom. A little known custom or ancient practice about how to break the news of the death of a family member to a child in the family. Telling a child about the passing of a relative can be tricky and traumatic I guess we are probably thinking about the psychological effect of such a traumatic event in a traditional  African household.

In the village, people believe that a dead family member can reck havoc to the psyche of a child. And so a simple way of announcing the death of a relative Is through some form of bizarre practice or ritual,

Instead of just telling the child that your uncle has died, the child is given a boiled egg; the child is then instructed  to swallow the egg whole,  without biting into it. The person administering this ritual will then say to the child: “ My dear child, your uncle Okoto is dead, so if his ghost should appear to you and tell you anything, please ignore it. Know that the person is now a ghost”.

Thankfully, this custom is  no longer proctised.   It is good to know that customs like this was once implemented 

For more info on African culture please read: ; An introduction to African traditional religion by J Mbiti

Ayisi: An introduction to African culture.

Antuban, Kofi: Panoply of Ghana.