Roots of Ghana’s psychology: Akan tradition
Origins of the Akan people of Ghana are believed, by tradition, to have begun in areas such as Israel, Egypt, Sudan, and the ancient Ghana Empire that flourished around the 11th Century.
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Akan people are deemed to have migrated from those areas and moved southwards to their present-day locations between the 11th and 12th Centuries.
In his research, Dr JB Danquah, doyen of Ghanaian politics and author of Akan Doctrine of God (1968), found that Akan people and other Ghanaian tribes were citizens of the ancient Ghana Empire.
Hence, his adopted suggestion that the name, Gold Coast, should be changed to Ghana.
When they arrived in what became the Gold Coast, a notable area that the Akan people had settled was Bono in the former Brong-Ahafo Region.
From Bono, it is believed that the Akan tribes separated and spread southward and eastward to establish what have become Akuapem, Asante, Abron, Kwahu, Akwamu, Fante and Nzema kingdoms.
The Asante and Brong-Ahafo peoples settled in the West-Central parts of the country and the Nzema and Fante tribes moved towards the coastal south.
Other tribes, including the Akuapem, Kwahu, and Akwamu moved up to the Akuapem hills and settled there until today.
As in earlier articles of the Roots of Ghana’s Psychology series, my intention in this article is to use the history of the Akan people to determine what their psychology is.
Historical accounts of a people, their behaviours, tradition and religion can give a clue as to what the mindset of the people is.
History is said to be ‘’a branch of knowledge dealing with past events – political, social and economic -- of a country, continent or the world.”
Tradition is “a belief, custom or a way of doing something that has existed for a long time among a particular group of a people; a set of these beliefs and customs.”
Psychology is ‘’the scientific study of the mind and how it influences behaviour; and a kind of mind that somebody has that makes them think and behave in a particular way.”
A people’s religion is the fountainhead of their tradition, customs, beliefs and their psychology.
Religion, according to Prof John S Mbiti, is the belief in the existence of a God and gods and the activities that are connected with the worship of them”.
In his book, An introduction to African religion (1975), Prof Mbiti, who was a former Professor of Religious Studies at Makarere University in Uganda, wrote that African religion exists in five parts – beliefs; practices; ceremonies and festivals; religious objects and places; values and morals, and religious officials or leaders.
On beliefs, he stated that “these are essential parts of any religion. They show how people think about the universe and their attitude towards life itself”.
“African religious beliefs are concerned with topics such as God, spirits, human life, magic, the hereafter and so on.”
On morals, Prof Mbiti wrote, “this is the part of religion which deals with the ideas that safeguard or uphold the life of the people in their relationship with one another in the world around them.
“Values and morals cover topics such as truth, justice, love, right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and decency, respect for people and property, the keeping of promises and agreement, praise and blame, crime and punishment, the rights and responsibilities of both the individual and the community, character, integrity and so on.”
What has religion to do with psychology?
Why do people study and practise religion?
A people adopt and practice religion by submitting to a supernatural power or spirit for protection from their spiritual or material enemies.
Practice of a religion can help to elevate a people’s consciousness, upgrade their thinking and mindset and improve their physical wellbeing.
Invariably, deities from whom the spiritual, mental and physical help are sought demand that their adherents bind themselves to, and observe a set of moral or ethical rules or code of conduct as a condition.
Persons with high spirits do not love to do business with persons with poor or low intelligence and emotional quotients. Why? Those spirits occupy very high electro-magnetic regions of creation, with God Omnipotent, as the spirit with highest force or energy.
Like the Ewe and Ga-Dangme tribes of Ghana, the Akan tribes believe in the Omnipotent God, variously known as Onyame, Nyame, or Odomakoma.
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They also believe in the lesser gods, the elemental spirits, such as gods of the sun, sea, sky, wind, fire, iron, rain and thunder.
The Akan people also believe in and worship spirits of rivers, mountains, hills and big or historical trees and sacred places.
They know and use many attributes of Onyame, also known as Twereduapon (Seat of Wisdom).
He is known as Amosu (Giver of Rain); Amowia (Giver of Sun), and Amomee (Giver of Plenty).
Almighty God, Odomakoma, is also regarded as the creator, preserver, protector, renovator and the one who sustains the universe.
Some of the attributes or characters of God are Aboadi-Nyankopong (Creator of the universe), Ananse Kokroko; Nyame Kese; Onyakropon Kwame; Osagyefo-Nyame Kese; Otumfuo-Nyame; Okatakyi-Nyame; Nyame Bonsu; Nyame Okropon and Nyame Kukrudu.
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Akan traditional beliefs hold that Nyame is the supreme sky God who is the creator of the universe.
They perceive the Earth Planet as the wife of Nyame, known as Asase Yaa, the Earth Mother; the mother of other earthly gods and abosom; and she is believed to be responsible for agriculture, fertility and death.
It is typical for the Akan people to name a child born on a particular day after the god of the planet of that day.
A child born on Sunday is named after the Sun god; Saturday after Saturn; Friday after Venus; Thursday after Jupiter; Wednesday after Mercury; Tuesday after Mars and Monday after the Moon.
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Names of those planets are names of Roman gods adapted by the Anglo-Saxons of Great Britain.
Like the Ga-Dangme and Ewe peoples, the Akan people regard their children as the off-springs of the gods of the days they are born and do name their children after those gods.
Invariably, the Ga-Dangme and Ewe names for girl-children born on the days of the week are Esi or Asi for Sunday; Ameh for Saturday; Afi for Friday; Awo for Thursday; Aku for Wednesday; Ablah for Tuesday and Adwo for Monday, – with variants.
For the Akan people, the names for a girl born on a Monday is Adwoa; Tuesday is Abena; Wednesday, Akua; Thursday, Yaa; Friday, Afua; Saturday, Ama or Ameh; and Sunday, Esi or Asi , -- with variants.
For the names of male babies, the Ga-Dangme, Ewe and the Akan peoples simply add the prefix, “kwa” to the traditional names of the gods of the days of the week.
For example, a Sunday born male-child is called Kwasi or Kwesi.
From where did the Ga-Dangme, Ewe and Akan peoples of Southern Ghana get the idea of naming their children after gods of the planets?
Their ancestors believed that they had settled in Israel, Egypt and other places before migrating to their present locations.
If that is true, then it is proof that they had lived in faraway places before, and had probably shared in the historical experiences of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and others.
Another proof is the wearing of a piece of long and broad cloth around the body by Ghanaians. It was a practice that was common among the ancient Hindus, Greeks, Romans and Egyptians.
On naming of Ghanaian children after the gods, the Greek god of Sunday is Apollo; god of Saturday is Saturn, Roman god of Agriculture; Friday, Venus, Roman goddess of love and natural productivity; Thursday is Jupiter, Roman god of wealth, rain and prosperity; Wednesday, Mercury, Roman god of information, medicine, commerce, war and is a messenger of the gods; Tuesday, Mars, Roman god of war and justice; and Roman and Greek goddess of the Moon is known as Selene and Lunar, respectively.
Astrological studies and practice have proved that the planetary gods do exert their influences on human life – materially and spiritually.
In Akan psychology, the Adinkra symbols do provide clues with regard to the thinking or the mindset of the Akan people.
Adinkra symbols have been described as “visual symbols that represent concepts, proverbs and aphorisms of the Akan people’’.
Popular among the Adinkra symbols are those that symbolise a strong belief in the Almighty God.
One of such symbols is Gye Nyame which expresses strong faith in the Omnipotent God.
In their worship and adoration of the Almighty God, the Akan believe that a believer must get closer to Him by taking his/her ‘’onipadua’’ (human body) to ‘’Nyamedua’’ (Tree of God) that exists in the Forest of “Odomakoma.’’
By that sacred tree, hangs a chain which the adherent must climb to reach the abode of the Great God. On the way up, the adherent would encounter Odomakoma-Okyerema (Drummer of God) and his enchanting, ecstatic heavenly music.
In modern times, how many Akan persons have made the sacred journey to the Nyamedua and tried to climb it? I believe only a few or none.
It is an indication that practice of Akan traditional religion has been on a decline and the drop in the higher consciousness of the Akan people can be attributed to spiritual and material invasion of alien cultures and the advent and spread of Christianity, Islam and Asiatic religions.
Email: therson.cofie@yahoo.com