Akan people 5 lineage, the political unit and the abusua of ones mother, regardless of ones gender andor marriage. Culture of ghana history, people, clothing, traditions. By traditional akan religion, i mean the indigenous system of sacred beliefs, values, and practices of. However most akan were christian since the nineteenth century except the kings akan people believe that they are made up of three different spiritual and physical elements.
Queen of kwahuman connecticut go through the moments with the first queen of kwahuman connecticut. The high godknown as onyame, onyankopon, and by other namesis the creator, now otiose. Among its one billion inhabitants, more than 1,000 languages are spoken, and there is a massive variety of ethnic religions. The akans traditional worldview expresses belief in a supreme being referred to as. Though they are based, in general, on belief in the existence of a supreme being, a number of lesser deities associated with. The value of a person in akan traditional life and thought.
Among the akan of ghana, a chief is a sacred person. Although most akan people have identified as christians since the early 20th century, akan religion remains practiced by some, and is often syncretized with christianity. Influence of yoruba culture in christian religious worship by odejobi cecilia omobola institute of education, faculty of education, obafemi awolowo university, ileife, osun state, nigeria. This paper is an attempt to show how logically acceptable or rational belief in traditional akan religion is. It is one of the west african tribes or group of people that have maintained their indigenous languages and which has not been influenced so much by the west. Akan religion comprises the traditional beliefs and religious practices of the akan people of ghana and eastern ivory coast. Life after death according to several african traditions. The myths and the truths is a comprehensive and very informative book about the religious practices of the. Before we examine the role of women in african traditional religion, certain methodological issues have to be resolved. It consists of pictorial symbolism created by the ashanti craftsmen of ghana. And he al so admitted that there are people w ho re ject. The main aim is to evaluate the nature of the environmental problems in ghana, and to assess the. Doc the attribute of god in african tradition religion a.
A case of the akan traditional society of ghana scholarworks. Plurality of religion has presented a challenge to traditional views. This essay examines the relationship between traditional religiocultural beliefs and practices and environmental crisis in ghana using the akan traditional society as a case study. The akan primal religion and the search for salvation as one critically examines the prayers of the akan in the traditional religious setting, one cannot help but come to the conclusion that the overriding concern is the enjoyment of nkwa life. By joining the debate however, i am of the view that almost all ghanaian traditional societies including the akan societies thrive on religion 3. The term traditional religion shall be used to represent the fante traditional religion through most parts of the thesis. The rebirth of african moral traditions as key to the. The concept of god in the traditional religion of the akan. In practice, most of the rituals and day to day religious. The first thing to realize is the close bond that exists between religion and. More than onehalf of the population is christian, about onefifth is muslim, and a small segment adheres to the traditional indigenous religions. The average population of akan people is estimated to be about 20 million. Article pdf available in world views environment culture religion. Rethinking the akan christian concept of god in the light of.
Traditional african society remains a culture guided by religious norms. The religious beliefs and rituals of the akan have various origins and various elements. African traditional religion african studies oxford. The attribute of god in african tradition religion a term paper prepared by pst. It identifies and examines religious and cultural practices of the. The concept of person in an african culture and its implication for social order elvis imafidon. The sacred nature of the akan chief and its implications. The relevance of the akan indigenous ideas about nature will be discussed. The sacred nature of the akan chief and its implications for. Gelfand the medium in this article i would like to attempt an appraisal of the shona religion.
Joseph kofi antwi abstract as a contribution to the debate on african philosophy, this paper explores the value of a person in akan traditional life and thought. One is descriptive and the other normative onah, 2002. Like other longestablished cultures the world over, the akan have developed a rich conceptual system complete with metaphysical, moral, and epistemological aspects. The importance of women in african society is portrayed in a ghanaian proverb which says, a woman is a flower in a garden, her husband is the fence around. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in an amount of higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional.
African traditional religion is a thriving scholarly business, but a serious disconnect exists between contributions that celebrate a generalized african traditional religion and those that describe particular religions and aspects of religion on the basis of ethnographic and archival research. It is a wonderful treatise and introduction to the religious concepts and beleifs of the akan people. He has reexamined, analysed and reinterpreted this heritage from the akan point of view rather than as part of the colonial legacy in africa. On the rationality of traditional akan religion african journals. This traditional leaders ineffectiveness in arbitrationmediation could be attributed to inadequate public relations, mediation skills and knowledge on state laws. Akan religion comprises the traditional beliefs and religious practices of the akan people of. Other akan people either prac tice traditional african beliefs or other religions such as islam or none at all. Akan religion is referred to as akom from the twi word akom, meaning prophecy. Africa is the secondlargest continent in the world. Of particular interest is the akan conception of persons, a conception that informs a variety of. As such, in many akan traditional societies, such challengers.
The myths and the truth was extremely insightful as it offered answers to questions i didnt even know i had about why we participated in certain practices. Adrinkra is the writing system in the akan religion. The foundational religious practices in the traditional religions are. The origin of death is described in many african myths. In most african cultures, history and beliefs have been explained and passed on through oral traditions and storytelling. Akan a ghanaian ethnic group chief and international human rights laws. The ancestors form an important part of the traditional akan religion. The impact of african traditional religious beliefs and. European missionaries from early in the nineteenth century have preached not only the gospel, but tried very hard to change the akan culture so as to more resemble european social organisation.
On the terms ethics and morality the term ethics is technically used by philosophers to mean a philosophical study of moralitymorality understood as a set of social rules, principles, norms that guide or are intended to guide the conduct of people in a society, and as beliefs about right and wrong conduct as well as good or bad character. He has reexamined, analysed and reinterpreted this heritage from the akan point of view rather than as part of the colonial legacy in. Akan people, language, religion, culture, and other facts. Carothers 1940, a much quoted authority on the african mind, when speaking of the religion of the. Influence of yoruba culture in christian religious worship. Abstract the concept of god in the traditional religion of akan and ewe ethnic groups compare to the bible by godwin kwame ofosuhene i am going to focus this writing, on how the akan and ewe ethnic groups of ghana, understood god in their traditional.
He sits on a throne or stool that has been used by previous chiefs. One of such elements is the asante traditional buildings, whose intricate designs and decorations caught the attention of visitors especially europeans to the asante kingdom from the late eighteen century to the early part of the twentieth century. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. The traditional african religions or traditional beliefs and practices of african people are a set of highly diverse beliefs that includes various ethnic religions. It is a matter of perspective, whether one lays emphasis on the supreme being or on the many. Ghanas stratification system follows both precolonial and modern patterns. They have a prominent place in the thinking and religious practices of our people. For those of you tired of the nonblack dominated prostituted religions and spirits of the yoruba, voodoo and santeria religions, and are seeking to link blood wise with people and spirits your actually descended from as a african american, this is the book to get. The west african finds it quite natural to approach the gods and believes that the gods will listen and help because, with few exceptions such as the yoruba and igbo sky gods olorun and amadioha, they are believed to have once been humans or at least in familiar and close contact with humans and to have at one point inhabited the earth. Most traditional kingdoms were divided into three hereditary classes. This is a difficult task because in the literature the subject of the africans religion is clouded by many diverse opinions.
African philosophy can be found in the various traditional and cultural schemes of the people. The asante culture is an ancient culture, containing many mysterious elements whose origins remain obscure. In most, death is conceived as something that came as a result of some mistake. The ancestors are also known as the nsamanfo or old people or ancient people. Specifically, the traditional akan use their conception of land, taboos, totemism, sacred. The royals maintained exclusive rights to fill the central offices of king and, for akan groups, queen mother. The place of african traditional religion in interreligious encounters in sierra leone since the advent of islam and christianity is my own work and that all the sources that i have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. The culture of the akan people of west africa dates from before the th century. A critical study of christianmuslim relations in the. Indigenous religions, while widespread and deeprooted, lack a systematic body of doctrines. African religions do not have sacred texts, but have symbolic language and written symbols. A significant category of akan traditional religion is the place of the ancestors. This is why akans readily accept any name, such as allah, jesus, krishna, the father, etc. In akan traditional religion, the author has revisited the native religion of the sophisticated akans who built the vast asante empire even before the british dreamt of an empire.
Akan philosophy of the person stanford encyclopedia of. Pdf god, divinities and spirits in african traditional. The attempt is necessitated by the tendency by some scholars to mistreat all religions in a generic sense. The role of traditional leadership in conflict resolution. In other words, it espouses the doctrine of unity in diversity. Overall 69 percent of are christians and 16 percent are muslims.
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