Ghana's Akan People

By Samuel Asiama

Traditional festivals in Ghana have roots that may be traced to the earliest ancestors we can think of. No wonder almost every ethnic group has its festival. The repository for these festivals is the older folk in our society. What follows below is a treatment of the Ohum festival of the Akyem Abuakwa as recounted by my grandfather Opanyin Owusu-Koranteng, popularly known as Teacher Owusu-Koranteng. It touches on why every year the Ohum festival is celebrated.
The aim for writing this account is modest. It is intended to arouse and satisfy the interest of readers to see the VALUE and SIGNIFICANCE of festivals in Ghanaian society, by using the Ohum as a typical one. Special apology however goes for anyone or group of persons who may in one way or the other be offended by this publication.
A factual history of Ohum better spelt “Ohunuu-mu” must to the author, be written because of some people’s worship of PREMPESUPREMPEH. This is the Biriem river god, whose shrines are at Akyem Tafo and Kyebi. Worshipping of gods is not peculiar to the Akyems, Ghanaians or Africans. The Romans worshipped and prayed to River Tiber in Italy, calling it, “Father Tiber.” (Refer Macaulay, C Days of Ancient Rome.) The Britons sing, and boast of being sons of the sea. (Refer the British patriotic song, “When Britons first at heaven’s command arose from out of the azure main etc. etc.) and several other citations that this narration has not enough space to portray.
The author is a Christian, and do not advocate the worship of gods, but JEHOVAH-GOD. He has implicit belief in Jesus Christ and respects JEHOVAH’s command to his people in abstaining from idol and image worship as found in Exodus 20:3 in the Holy Bible. Nevertheless, this work is mere history which needs to be written for posterity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664175624

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Ghana’s Akan People

Samuel Asiama

Copyright © 2021 by Samuel Asiama.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/15/2022

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CONTENTS

About the Book

Preface

How The Clan Groupings Of The Akans Came About

Etymology Of The Akan Names For The Week Days

Astrology Among The Akans

Momomme

Prempɛ

Brief Historical Narrative Of Kibi (Kyebiri)

Founding Of Osino, Samang, And Begoro Towns

Brief Historical Narrative Of The Akyem Abuakwa Ohunuu Mu (Ohum) Festival

Systematic Grouping Of The Narrative

Etymologies

Etymology Of The Name Ekyem (Akyem) Abuakwa

Nzemaas (Nzimmaas)

On Funerals

Objectified History Narrative Of The Akyem Abuakwa Town Kukurantumi, Populace, And Genealogy

Who Told You My Ancestors Did Not Know God?

About the Book

Ghana’s Akan people like most African natives have most of our history shrouded in oral narratives, and sometimes even in mystery. The depository of this oral history are the elders, especially those associated with the office of chieftaincy. This book tries to shed light on some of this oral history (or tradition), and in so doing also brings to the fore some aspects of our culture.

The early European missionaries and scholars who first came to the continent did document some of Africa’s history. Some of the natives who were educated by these European colonials, and the missionaries also did their best to codify some of these oral histories into books. Africa nevertheless have lost a lot about us through the passing of these elders – including of course, our matriarchs.

In this book, the author has tried and captured some of the oral histories about the Akan people of Ghana. Their language is called Twi. Whilst undertaking this project, he has simultaneously given etymons (i.e. the earlier forms and development of a word) of some Twi language words. This strategy serves as vehicle in tracing the source of the histories.

He also came to realize that oral history on say, one topic; from different sources tend to have semblances as well as slight opposing views and claims. Under such circumstances, the author structured conferences with the sources, in order to reach agreements. In contemporary Africa there are still regions where, for example, the history of the origin of some people or a locality is always an anathema, to say, a no-go area or greatly detested. The author has no intention to remind readers of some past pain. The purpose of this book is purely academic, and a service to posterity.

Preface

AKAN:

The word Khan is the title used by some rulers and officials in Central Asia: Afghanistan, Turkey, the Tartars and the Mongol (Mongrels) tribes. Khan (in the east) was used to express the idea of the word inn built round a courtyard where caravans may rest.

The prefix letter A which is the first letter of the English Alphabet, when added to the name Khan, to read Akhan (Akan) is generally used to express "belonging to a father’s issue; it has the idea of … one of a father’s friend or issue.

A as prefix to a name conveys the idea of a father’s issue, for example Akoranteng, Aasiama, Aowusu, and Akwasi. When the letter A is thus used it conveys the idea of one of Koranteng’s issue or one of Asiama’s issues; one belonging to Koranteng’s family or descendants. Akan" therefore conveys the meaning of … one belonging to Khan’s descendants; hence, the name Akan – connotes belonging to all the descendants of ancient Khan. Kublai Khan was one of the eminent descendants of the ancient Khan. They are hybrid descendants of a famous Khan of Asia.

… belonging to a father’s issue … may be one the testament to the fact that the Akan used to be a patriarchal society before the advent of the legendary Abu’s episode. Oral history has it that an Akan man, who went by the name Abu, once got himself entangled in a legal problem. The only way to free himself was if one of his sons was swapped for him to suffer the punishment of death. He then called on his wife to bring one of his sons to die in his place. His wife vehemently opposed this suggestion. Abu was therefore going to be beheaded.

Abu’s sister at that juncture stepped in. She was able to convince one of her sons to die instead. This freed Abu. He thereafter made a will. He stated that, at the time of his natural death; all his estate should be inherited by his nephew i.e. the remaining son of his sister. This outlier one incident turned the whole of the then Akan society to practice matriarchy; and desisted the hitherto patriarchy. Matriarchy or inheritance from one’s mother lineage, and not the father’s lineage became the norm.

Let us come back to the name Akan. kan or kane in the Twi language of the Akans means first or foremost. This may prompt the reader to entertain the idea that, Akan may after all literally mean belonging to the first or first people, or the ancients, forefathers. In fact, some of the oral narrations from some aged people suggested that the name Akan; did coalesced from the word Kanefo (literally meaning first people) and the addition of the prefix A to it. Following this it then transitioned into Akanefo and gradually settled on Akanfo; and then simply into Akan. Knowledge or adeptness in the Twi language of the Akan people leaves one prone to use the word Adikanfo or Tetefo to mean the ancients or forebearers. This tilts the needle to favor the name Akan to refer to issues of ancient Khan. This at the same tilt may also point the needle,to where it could mean that the name Akan came from one of our forebears who named his son after a friend who happened to be called Khan. This could be a possibility in view of the location of the original home of the Akans on this African continent, which this book is going to shed light on.

Have you ever paused to wonder how the Buddhists in Myanmar (Burma) and other Asia countries wear their cloths (usually crimson or brown in color)? Only the Akans in Ghana wear their cloths in similar style. Is this style depicting descendants from one source? Further research may be needed.

To look for the meaning of Ghana is nearly insurmountable, but it can be done. The volume of oral history surrounding this name Ghana is like the Pacific Ocean. Google has it that the etymology of the name Ghana means Warrior King, and was the title accorded to the kings of the medieval Ghana Empire in West Africa. This empire was further north than the modern nation of Ghana, in the region of Guinea.

Etymology, linguistics and semantics are very useful tools that may often lead us to the meaning, origin, relationships and formation of some pertinent words and names.

The migratory paths of the Akan to their present home in Ghana, show that they resided for a long time in what are now the areas of Guinea, Mali, and to the environs stretching to the east. It is established that Ga-na and Ya-na are titles for kings in Burkina Faso and today’s Northern Ghana. The Akan when they established their empire in these Northern West Africa, may have had their king being referred to as, Akan-na This later may have metamorphosed to Kanna The Arabs who were during these times the scholars ended up writing it as Ghana. This could also have meant king of the Akan. He was referred to as a warrior because he was able to wield the then various Akan groups into an empire: The Ghana Empire.

Ghana under the British colonial rule was called the Gold Coast. Before our independence from Great Britain on 6th March, 1957, Dr. J. B. Danquah, the doyen of this country’s politics had done a prolific research to establish that we were the descendants from the old Ghana Empire. Dr. Danquah in consultation with Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first of this nation’s presidents changed the nation’s name back to Ghana.

How The Clan Groupings Of

The Akans Came About

There may be remote causes why the ancient Akans emigrated from Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia area. The immediate cause, however, was their rejection of Muslim religion and armed opposition to Arabic colonialism and imperialism.

Islam was rejected by ancient Akans because the Muslim doctrine rejects the idea of God as the father, whereas in the traditional Akan view, the best attested and most creative essence of God is that he is our father. (Even Jesus Christ attested this.) The community of Akan and Christian views of God may be the reason why Christianity comes so naturally to them but not Islam, which takes God to be a sort of dictator, a sultan, not a father. A Muslim song says, God is God alone, He begets not, nor is begotten, but an Akan proverb says, All men are the offspring of God, none of the earth. (Nnipa nyinaa yɛ Nyame mma; obi nyɛ Asaase ba.)

There were likely to be groupings among the Akans before their migration; during which the clans evolved.

ASONA CLAN AND DWUMANNA CLAN

The ancient Asona clan, with sister Dwumanna clan, consisted of some of the aborigines of Southwest Miszraim (Egypt) and Northwest Sudan, where very large trees called doum palm grew in large numbers. (Doum is a dioecious palm and grows up to 17 meters or 56 feet high.) This clan is now called Asona. The Dums also lived with some of the Asona people in this area.

From Wikipedia, we found out that the present-day city of Aswan was initially called Swenett and later on came to be known as Syene. In antiquity, this was a frontier town of ancient Egypt facing the south. Could Asona been corrupted from addition of the prefix A to these two ancient towns to result into Aswenett or Asyene? Further research is needed. Aswan is now a town on the River Nile in Egypt.

For a long time, the Asona and the Dum sister clans lived peaceably and undisturbed in the shades of the giant doum palm trees in Aswan area. The Arab invasion for the spread of Mohammedanism came, so majority of the area aborigines migrated and went on self-imposed exile with other clans.

Some of the Aswan aborigines worshipped the red-colored snakes with white stripes. These abounded in the Nile at Aswan. During the migration, some of these people carried some of the snakes as their god in earthen wares. Gradually, their intermittent and sporadic migration brought them to Lake Chad area, thence to Northern Nigeria and to the old Ghana kingdom. At this time, these Aswan natives had identified themselves with the snakes to the extent that they began calling it as Aswan Ɔwɔ (now Asonawɔ), meaning Aswan snake. It became their totem. This was a common practice among Akan tribes and clans. It was not worshipping in the full sense of the word. They continued to revere this type of snake not without the Dums.

Later these two clans in coalition left to south of the Kong Mountains, carrying their snakes to wherever they settled. The Dums were later calling themselves Aswans (Asonafoɔ) but retained Dums as their appellation. The appellation Dum itself became Dwumanna—that is, when the Asona left their aboriginal home during the night, some of the Dums who never liked the Arabs left the same night with the Asona without sleeping. Dumanna, therefore, simply means the Dums who did not sleep. The caste belonging to the Dumanna came to be known as Dumannafoɔ (Dwumannafoɔ).

The Akyems are part of the Akans of today’s Ghana. River Biriem is their main river. In this river are some red snakes sometimes with black stripes. It is called Asonawɔ (Asona snake). They appear gliding on the water surface. It is said that they do not bite, but when they bump into a person, then one gets swollen up. This snake is not worshipped, but the author notices some reverence toward it. The Asona snake is identified with the royal