The Asantes (Ashantis) are traditional strict observers of Akan culture and as they are noted for "they don`t do things by halves." When Asantes do things they do it to the fullest, hate it or like it, that who they are! They are truly a people of culture and they are worthy ambassadors of rich Akan culture and traditions.
One of the Akan culture that Asantes do not joke with with is their funerals. They are well known for their strict observance and cooperation during funeral to commemorate the deceased and they unique event that takes place after the burial.
Wife displaying items she has brought to celebrate the death of her mother-in-law at a funeral in Kumasi. The items are what the women are carrying their heads
Like every culture, Asantes celebrate the transition of the soul of the deceased, into the ancestral world where it becomes a protective spirit for the clan, as a result the dead person is highly venerated through funeral celebrations. Family, friends and acquaintances, sometimes in their hundreds, take part in the celebrations. The participants dress in accordance with tradition, the dress worn by relatives is in red while the others wear black cloth and every piece of gold jewelry their bodies can support. There are many rituals: giving offerings to the spirits of the ancestors, food, drinks, traditional dances accompany him in the world of the ancestors in a flurry of drumming and wild dancing.
Asante traditional rulers greeting at a funeral in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana. Courtesy
Anthony Pappone
To the Asantes, funeral is like a festival of a sort to them. They hardly have festival except their Odwira festival of the Asantehene. Funeral ceremonies are not only a time of mourning to them but also a festive occasion and an avenue for meeting long lost friends and family. As a result of these funerals has become a serious business and social gathering that no Asante wish to miss at the weekends. Every amount of money is spend to celebrate a funerals in Ashanti Region.
Guests at funeral greeting one another at a funeral in Kumasi. Courtesy Anthony Pappone
Professor Kwabena Nketia, the great Ghanaian and international musicologist and living African traditional scholar par excellence writing in the 1950 concerning the unchanging lavish display at Akans funerals averred: "The celebration of funeral is regarded as duty and no pains are spared to make it a memorable event. `Was it well attended?` (Ayie no nkrofuo bae?), `Was it exciting?` (Ayie no soe?) Those are the questions that may be asked as a test of successful funeral (Nketia, 1954: 48)
Funeral celebration in Kumasi
A few years later Field (1960:48) stressed the same point:"A funeral must always be grand and expensive." But Dr J Danquah, the the celebrated "doyen of Gold Coast Politics," the first African to gain doctorate degree from British University and one of the first Western educated Ghanaian scholars, sounded a critical note when writing when describing Akan funeral customs. Here he in his 1927 writing he added a footnote to apologize to the reader:
"There is no concealing fact that the account of customs as here
presented would seem repulsive, perhaps objectionable, to the
sympathetic student of Akan customs, whereas to the more
sophisticated, civilized man, it may seem possible entertaining.
Reading this chapter in 1927, I feel strongly inclined to omit it from this book..."
Funerals still cause ambivalence. Their high cost and extravagance are frequently criticized in articles and letters in newspapers and in recent times the new media, the speeches of politicians, and in sermons of pastors. In fact some traditional rulers have condemned it. A brief notice in the Ghanaian State-owned newspaper Daily Graphic of June 3, 1994, speaks of "expensive coffins, psychedelic funeral parlous, elaborate banquets, and display of extravagant items." Such funerals "are not meant to express grief but rather to show off." A related criticism is that family often spend more money on funerals than they did on the care of the elderly. In other words, they take better care of the dead than of the living. They seem interested more in post-mortem than pre-moterm care. As Akan proverb goes: "Abusua do funu (The family loves the corpse)
Wife displaying items she has brought to celebrate the death of her mother-in-law at a funeral in Kumasi. The items are what the women are carrying their heads
Whatever may be the criticism, Asantes still perform their funerals in the manner they deem fit per what their pockets determines. Buses and domestic air-line travels to Kumasi on the weekends is a sight to behold! According April 20, 2014 edition of Daily Graphic when Asantehene put a temporary ban on funeral in Kumasi, Ashanti Regional capital, the patronage of domestic airline services dropped over 'the past two months" thereby affecting "revenues of the domestic air traffic of the six airlines operating domestic air services in and out of the region." Kumasi is the biggest market for the operators and currently accounts for about 50 per cent of their passengers.
The Chief Executive Officer of Starbow, Mr James Eric Antwi, confirmed in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on April 20 that the ban had led to a reduction in the number of people his outfit flies on a weekly basis. “The numbers in our weekend flights have dropped. Mostly, the funeral travellers go on Friday and return on Monday or Sunday but that is no longer the case because of that ban on funerals in Kumasi,” he said in an exclusive interview.
Concerning the Asante funeral rites, authors like Forde and Jones (1950), Rattray (1927), Mbiti (1975) have written that the rites which intend to assist the deceased in his life after death often imply the generally conceived intention of getting rid of him and to prevent his return either in body or as a ghost. Elderly Asantes opines that in the Asante society people are very sensitive to what is done when there is a death in the family. Death marks a physical separation of the individual from other human beings. This is radical changes, and the funeral rites are intended to draw attention to that permanent separation. As a result of the above elucidation, meticulous care is taken to fulfill the funeral rites, and to avoid causing any offence to the departed. By so doing, the body is subjected to all forms of body art in many ways.Among traditional Asantes, when everything pointed to the imminent death of a person, there would always be some relatives around and when his condition worsened, they would give him his last gulp of water to quench his death thirst. Right from the preparation of the corpse to final funeral rites, art is employed.
In the event of the death of a husband, the widow is expected to provide (artefacts) sponge, soap, towel, cloth, blanket, pillow and a long piece of hand-woven cloth called ‘Danta’ which was used in the olden days as underwear. These items are used for the bathing and lying in state of the dead husband. Upon death, the corpse may be washed, shrouded, dressed up, or laid on the ground or in a state with ritual objects or funerary artefacts near it. Religious Obsequies may be observed at the
house, at a place of worship or at the place of disposal with funerary arts. The actual disposal of the body may include the provision of the dead person’s necessities such as amulets, food, weapons and treasures.
Before the burial is mourning this varies from different mourners and relatives. Some of the various ways in which this is expressed are funerary banquet, the wearing of distinctive colours, or special hairdo. Libation is pouring and its associated artistic performance, offering, abstention from certain aspects of social life, purification and the like form part of mourning activities. Society at large also participates with the immediate mourners through response to graphic arts of obituaries, notices (a relatively modern trend), verbal arts of speeches, as well as visits and attendance at various ceremonies.
The mode of disposal of the body in Asante culture is usually dictated by cultural, religious, economic, political and social differences or factors. Butt-Thompson (1929) also asserts that in
some cases it may be determined by membership of a particular social group, clan association, degree of initiation into a secret or ritual society, rank or status such as chief, sex, age, achievements, ethico-social status like criminal, hero, villain, and manner of death such as suicide or accident. It is no gainsaying that the above factors also determine the extent to which art is used. The bottom line, however, remains that funerary art permeates anything associated with death.
Asante Chief arriving at a funeral in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana with his retinue leading the way to ensure his safe passage. Courtesy Anthony Pappone
Funeral Songs
Africans express themselves at various occasions through songs. The Akan of Ghana use songs and dance to express emotions including thankfulness, seek explanations and convey messages of condolences to the bereaved family. They spend time and huge sums of money to perform funerals. Akans especially the Asantes attach great seriousness to funeral ceremonies.
During funerals, different songs are sung irrespective of the type of music, be it Hi-Life, Adowa, Sikyi, Bosoe or Christian. At the various stages of the funeral, different songs are sung to convey different messages directed at different audiences or issues. The messages may be directed to God, the dead person, the bereaved family or to death itself. The stages can be when the person is laid in state, moving towards the graveyard, saying the final goodbye, after the burial, at the thanksgiving service or during the final funeral rites.
Funeral drums
The singing of dirges is not an organized performance. Bereaved mourners friends and sympathizers can join in the wail by singing a dirge of one sort or another. Singers are supposed to sing well and use appropriate gestures and steps where necessary. Regarding performance. Nketia (1969:9) offers the following observation:
"A good singer wins in emotional appeal: She moves her audience.
Nevertheless, a funeral is the Kind of occasion for mere display,
though the temptation is great and many succumb to it. One of the
requirements of a performer is that she ,should really feel the pathos
of the occasion and the sentiments embodied in the dirge.
Pretense is condemned and mock-sadness is discouraged.
A tear should fall, lest you are branded a witch and a callous person.
If a tear is physiologically difficult to shed, you must induce it by some
means; but if it is physiologically impossible for you, it would be better
to have the marks of tears on your face than nothing at all.
The singers of the dirge rarely sit down: they pace up and down the
place of the funeral, flanked on all sides by members of the lineage,
friends and sympathizers seated on stalls, raised planks, chairs or on
the ground. Each circuit brings them in front of the corpse or where
the lineage head or the bereaved father, mother, husband or wife sits.
Some walk out then come in again."
In specific forms, popular culture is reflected not only in the dirges and odes sung to praise the deceased, but more importantly in music and dance. During the public funeral celebrations traditional singing and drumming groups may provide entertainment for those present. The most popular of these traditional dance ensembles are adowa, nwonkoro, adenkum, kete, asaadua, and bosoe, in most of which women are the lead singers. Some of the accompanying musical instruments, such as the firikyiwa or nnawuruta (bells) and donno (gong), are played by experienced women. Many of the women singers learn the art of singing early in their youth and
an accomplished performer is very pleasing to listeners' ears. A person will be roused to join a singing group or dance if the song reminds him or her of a series of events in his or her life. As in the case of the dirges, the lead singers learn to be adept at manipulating people present by drawing on the direct and indirect experiences of people in the community and by being acutely sensitive to the reactions of the sympathizers and celebrants of the funeral. In this regard, a mutually supportive
relationship between the traditional singer and the dancer is established. The singer can work the dancer to high frenzy and the dancer can do the obverse. Both depend on each other for the desired outcome. Until recently, the traditional dance ensembles were rarely paid for their performance at funerals.
An effective combination of excellent choice of text, poetic recital, and appropriate gestures is sure to captivate the audience and the bereaved lineage.The dirges themselves cover the whole spectrum of social life, including kinship, marital and familial relations, economics, political activities, and societal values. Below are selected examples of dirges usually sung in praise of the deceased. The selections are taken from Nketia (1969) and McCaskie (1989)
(I) An Expression of the Extent of Loss
Ahunu mu nni me dua bi na maso mu There is no branch above which I could grasp
Asuo ayisi me oo, na Otwafoo ne hwan? I am in flooded waters. Who will rescue me?
Agycl hehu mefi na onhu me yie bi When father meets me, he will hardly recognize me.
Obehu me, na meso ketego ne nwansena For he will meet me carrying all I have: a lorn sleeping mat and a horde of flies.
Mene womma bewe unanse oo, Your children and I will feed on the spider;
Na akura dee} obopou The mouse is too long a game
Praa e, mene wo mma oo Your children and I (what will become of us!)
Ena e, me nko m'anim I am done for
Ayya e, ahia me I am destitute
Praa e, ahia me Your children are poor
Wo mma rehwe w'ano Your children are looking for you
Onwunu redwo oo} dee awisiaa afe ne nca" The night is fast approaching where the orphan is dying to see its mother" (Nketia 1969:47-48)
(II) An Expression of Desire for Continued Fellowship and Love
"Obi reba a, mane me Send me something when someone is coming
Mane me na mene wo di mane Send me something for you and I exchange gifts
Eye a, mane me denkyemmoo na Send me parched corn so that I can eat it raw if I am
mannya gya a, mawe no mono unable to find fire to cook it on
Wore mane me a mane me When you are sending me something, I would like a
sen kese a egye ahohoo" "a big pot that receives strangers" (Nketia 1969:49)
(III) For a Deceased Mother/Father
"Eno, nko nnya me akyire oo 0, mother do not leave me behind
Eno, nko nnya me akyire oo, Osiantan 0, mother, please do not leave me behind
Ena awu agya me oo: Mother has died and left me alone:
Na mene hwan na ewo ha yi?" With whom am I now here?"
OR
"Agya e, aka me nko "Father, I am here alone
Mene wo beko I shall go with you
Agya e, befa me ko Father, come and take me away
Eye a, ma yenko yen dee mu Let us go back together to the place where we came from Na enye yen tenabere ne ha" We do not belong here" (Nketia 1969:45-46)
(IV) For a Deceased Priest
Obosomfoo Kosekose oo: Farewell, thou priest
Ohene ni, nkumankuma brebre Fare thee well, mother of the king
Woko a, duom oo, ohene ba When you start, do not tarry, Prince
Gye due na duom oo! Receive condolences and proceed on
Wo duru Kurotia a, ho wodin ma ahrane When you reach the outskirt,s of the town,
mma wo so nu wodi amantire nu mention your name so that strong men carry you shoulder high for you rule two worlds. (Nketia 1969:44-45)
(V) For a Deceased Asantehene (Asante King)
Nana atu ne kyinie Nana (the Asantehene) has removed his umbrella
Awia na ebeku yen. We shall be scorched to death by the sun.
Womim dee wo gyaa me You know the condition in which you have left me
Ya ma nsuo nto na ma so bi anom. See to it that there is rain so that I can collect some of it to drink.
Se womane me a mane me denkyembrebo If you are sending me parcel,send me a crocodile's liver
Mannya gya a mawe no mono. Which I can eat raw failing to get fire with which to
cook. (McCaskie 1989:424-25)
Singing a dirge in the past usually signaled the commencement of the funeral ceremony and remained its mainstay for a long time, until it was reinforced and eventually overshadowed by music and dance (Nketia 1969: 17). The very enactment surrounding singing dirges is a clear testimony to the artistic endowment of Akan women
The use of coffin
Osei (2002) agrees that coffins are quite common in Asante culture. They were used in olden times. They are said to have been fashioned out of the great flat buttress roots of the onyina (silk tree). Rattray (1927), asserts that when a coffin was used, the body was wrapped in mats.The current study revealed that modernisation has influenced, to a greater extent, the arts associated with funerals in Kumasi.
Oral tradition suggests that in ancient times, hollowed-out tree trunks or barks of trees were the commonest objects within which dead Ashanti bodies, wrapped up cotton wool, were placed before burial. The current practice is that expensive locally made coffin and even in the case of wealthy individuals, coffins made of silver, brass or glass and like media are sometimes
imported to befit the position and status of the deceased or to display the wealth of the living relatives.
Customarily, it is the children of the deceased who purchase coffins in Asante. Sometimes, too, it is some organisation to which the deceased belonged which provides the coffin. A most recently emerging trend in the Asante region is that neighborhood welfare groups Koroye- kuo, as part of members’ show of love and unity to a departed colleague; offer to provide the coffin for the burial, among other things.
Body art of the corpse
Before narrowing down the discussion on this to Asante, it would be appropriate to look at the universality of this practice based on available literature.“The body is not only depicted in art. It is used in making art, or is transformed to become art itself. The human body is material for art making. It can be painted or sculpted, or can be part of a performance or spectacle.” Lazzari & Schlesier (2002) Asantes cannot agree with the above assertions more and have therefore adopted the human body (both dead and living) and incorporated it in their funerary arts to convey ideas and beliefs at the expense of words. As a result, they have a repertoire of funerary body art
comprising painting of the skin, coiffure or hairdressing costume including footwear, wearing of amulets, bracelets, necklaces, anklets and general body adornment to portray certain beliefs in connection with the death. Asantes can also be identified with burying artefacts together with the dead. However, this practice is not the preserve of only the Asantes, rather, a custom in many parts of Africa. Mbiti (1975) identifies some of the works of art as spears, bows and arrows, stools, snuff, ornaments, tools, and domestic utensils. The greatest treasures ever discovered in a burial place were those of King Tutankhamen of Egypt who died in B.C. 1352. These were discovered in his tomb in Upper Egypt nearly 3,300 years later in 1922. They comprised jewels, furniture, shrines, and portrait masks all covered with gold, worth an inestimable amount of money.
In Asante, there are variations in the body art of the dead. These are dictated by factors such as the circumstances of the death, age, social position, and status of the deceased. Various forms of ‘ghost’ or ‘soul’ currency (Saman-Sika or Kra-Sika), in the form of ornaments of a certain shape and design, are bound round the wrists of the corpse. Gold dust is often put into its ears and into the hollow above the zygomatic area, known as sikagubea (the place for pouring gold dust). Gold dust is also bound up in a small packet and tied to the loin cloth; hair is sometimes placed in the mouth. The research revealed that the hair is a form of money or has some value in the world of ghosts (Rattray 1927). The current researchers recognized that sometimes, the head of the corpse is
shaved and marked with alternate red, white, and black stripes, made with sono (red dye), white clay, and bidie (charcoal). Benenneh, 1999 (unpublished thesis), however, gives a different interpretation of these colours as follows: “Invariably, the red represented the blood of the living relatives, the black, death and the white the ancestors. The motive behind this was also to subject the dead person to easy recognition should he or she walk as a saman (ghost).
Also in the indigenous presentation and the preparation of the corpse, the Study revealed that Asantes occasionally placed a brass pan beneath the head and later this is buried in this position, in order toreceive the head when it drops off and instead of the hands being folded, they are sometimes allowed to rest with the fingers on one of the metal vessels called Kudoͻ which contain gold dust.
The bottom line still remains that the dead body was dressed and adorned far more opulently than it might ever have done when alive. Highly polished brass beds were in common use. These were covered with several layers of blanket and multi-coloured expensive and good quality Kentecloths. Generally, the body was laid in a supine position with the hands either folded across the chest or lying parallel to the trunk. It was covered with a very expensive εfununtoma (shroud) which was usually a Kentecloth and adorned with every available form of “ghost or soul currency” in the form of golden or silver ornaments of various shapes, sizes and designs. This has also been confirmed by Benneh (1999).
Funeral donations
As result of using cotton wool for burial practices, it became scarce and consequently treasured. Relatives then began to experience difficulty in getting the required quantity and due to this; they called on sympathizers, friends and well-wishers to donate some cotton for wrapping the corpse. This practice brought about the concept of nsaabodeε a corrupted form of asaawa (cotton) and aboadeε (helper).This also brings into focus the concept of asiedeε (funeral goods). This is a practice where a widow or widower of a deceased as well as his or her loved ones give items ranging from mats, pillows, pieces of cloth to handkerchiefs and rings. A western dimension of
wreath presentation has also become a common practice. Another school of thought among Asantes opines that the term nsaabodeε has been derived from the practice of offering small quantities of palm-wine nsafufuo as donations to assist the bereaved family to enable it offer drinks to the sympathizers during the funeral. Thus, nsaaboadeε, literally means wine assistance. Whatever the etymology of nsaabodeε, all contributions in this regard either directly to the bereaved family or indirectly to the deceased was termed thus.
Foreign religion and westernization have suppressed the use of certain traditional requirements of money and the other numerous items which used to accompany the dead to the spirit world. The dress code of the corpse, apart from traditional rulers, is also yielding to pressure from westernisation. This is partly attributed to the scorn with which Christianity, Islam and western culture look at this practice, as it is considered idol worship. The marginalization of these traditional requirements is also blamed on the activities of grave looters, who, it is alleged, spy on the proceedings at funeral grounds and later loot graves containing such wealth. This second assertion is buttressed by the fact that grave looting is prevalent in urban centres where extravagance is displayed during funeral ceremonies. The application of art in the funeral ceremonies of Asante has brought about some cultural conflicts. There were situations when the researchers came across a dead Asante chief adorned in typical Asante regalia but was mounted in a sitting posture.
The Funeral Scene
Traditionally, Asante funeral days are Mondays and Thursdays if they happen not to be nnabͻne (bad days), days especially reserved for the deities to descend and partake of men’s affairs. This situation has changed over the years and nowadays most funeral ceremonies in in the region are held on Saturdays when government and other workers are free to attend. Thus, the complexity of modernization has influenced all facets of life including funeral ceremonies.
It used to be sheds constructed of sticks and covered with palm fronds that provided shade for funeral ceremonies.
Socio-technological advancement has however brought in its wake a more convenient environmental art piece for funeral ceremonies in Kumasi as well as in many other parts of the country. Hired canopies are the order of the day. It must be stated that this new practice has led to the proliferation of canopy-hiring commercial ventures in the region. Close relatives of the deceased sit upon mats provided for that purpose in front of the sheds or canopies while the rest, well-wishers, sympathizers and friends, are provided with benches and or foldable wooden chairs. Plastic chairs are now largely in use at funeral grounds in Asante region.
Opportunities are provided for well-wishers, sympathizers and friends to express their sympathy in monetary. In this regard, male relatives take their positions at strategic points behind tables to receive donations for which receipts are issued. It is an almost obligatory practice to announce such donations at the funeral grounds for all present to hear. No tangible reasons have been assigned to these announcements as the donor is given a receipt to show acknowledgement of the donation. It is now a common phenomenon to see donors crowding at public address systems at funeral grounds waiting impatiently for their donations to be announced. Formerly, only drinks were provided but now food is served to participants in the family house, or in cases where there are huge numbers of people to be served, other places, apart from the family houses, are sought within the vicinity to them. Sometimes, a catering service enterprise is contracted to prepare and serve the food.
The Adoa procession in Asante culture has not given way to modernity. Instead, this has been
magnified to reflect a show of wealth. At certain funerals, especially those of elderly people, one may notice that a procession of women and girls dressed in Dansinkran outfits led by a group of others carrying well-polished brass bowls containing well-arranged items depicting an almost infinite aesthetic appeal. This procession would suddenly appear at a corner amidst chanting of appellations by onlookers. They will then proceed in a retinue, characterized by an uncompelling majestic walk, round the funeral grounds. Thus, Adͻsoa appears to exhibit almost all the art forms in the funeral rites of Asantes. The Adͻsoa bundles trace their origins to the funerals of kings.
Traditionally, the grand children of the deceased are not left out in the body art as well as the performing art
associated with funeral ceremonies. These children, who are not expected to fast, move from one end of the community to the other stamping the ground with old pestles and chanting, “Nana awuoo!”, “Yεmmuannaoo!” It is said that by so doing, they are insisting on a demand for money to purchase food, implying that if the demand was not met, they would disrupt proceedings at the funeral grounds (Nketia, J.H.K. 1955). This performance has however ceased in Asante due to acculturation. The grand children are no longer identified by this performance, rather by arranged black and white cloths.
Widowhood rites are still observed today in Asante. One must however be quick to state that aspects of these rites considered to be idol worship by foreign religions are left out. The widow contributes to the adesiediε (funeral goods) that are used to wash and prepare the corpse. Asantesbelieve that it is important to wash off the earthly pollution of the body so that the spirit can be transmitted into the spirit world. The items constituting a widow’s funeral goods may include a blanket, bed sheet, pillow, mat, ahenemma (native sandals), bucket, assorted soaps, sponge, cloth, perfume and power, danta (loin cloth). Identifying the widow by smearing of the widow with
ntwima (red clay) on the face and shoulders on the day of burial is no longer a common practice except in the case of a dead chief. Again, at the funeral grounds, instead of traditional leaves held by the widow, specially designed synthetic flowers are used. The dress code of the widow still remains kuntunkuni (black) and kͻbene (red).
However, the red cloth is now worn over the black, a reversal of her dressing when the death occurs initially. Sackey (2001), confirms that even in the face of modernity, a widow cannot put on any form of jewellery until after a year.
Significance of Color in Asante funeral dress and body art
Apart from the shaving of the hair, the people smear their bodies with white clay, a sign of death and mourning, the first striking thing about an Ashanti funeral is the clear colour distinctions in the clothing of mourners. As Rattray observed it, "The blood relations smear three lines of red clay (ntwuma) or odame, from left to right on the forehead (known as kotobirigya). A similar one called ntwomampaemu (division of red clay) is made from the back of the shaven head to the forehead and the same pattern referred to as "asafe" are made on the upper arms. Ameyaw-Benneh (1994), observes that, these patterns portray the particular mourner as very close or dear to the deceased. The three lines are probably related to the three principles which feature quite prominently in Akan culture: first, Onyame (God), the giver of the Okra and to whom it returns upon death; second, AsaseYaa (mother earth goddess) which would accept the body and third, the ancestors who would
welcome (or reject) the Saman (ghost) of the deceased into their fold.
Asante women wearing Adinkra cloths at a funeral of an elderly person
Mourning bands (abotiri) are fastened round the head, into which red peppers are sometimesplaced; the russet-brown mourning cloths are put on; these are sometimes marked with Adinkra stamped designs" (1929, p. 150). Clay symbolizes the dirt or filth which death has brought upon the family and it is dumped on the bodies of only the blood relations and the widow or widower.
The sons of the deceased wear net caps with miniature ladders, red pepper and egg shells attached to it. The net symbolizes the helplessness of the wearer - Nsuoayiri me, na -hwan-naͻbε to atenaayi me? (I am drowning in the flood waters, and who would rescue me with a net)?The red pepper indicates the seriousness of the occasion, M’aniaberesεmako (My eyes are as red as pepper). Pepper is red as well as hot, therefore, it symbolises grief, sudden calamity, violent pain and an act of war. The egg shells portray the saying, Atome ne nkosuahono (I am left with only egg shells). Had the father or mother been alive, it would not have been egg shells, rather a whole fowl. The miniature ladder on its part indicates the saying, owuoatwedeε, baako mforo (the ladder of death is not mounted by only one person). This is a clear manifestation of Asantes’ belief that death is universal.
The mourners who are not blood relations (and these would include non-matrilineal relations, affines and personal friends) put on black. Thus at this level black and red refer to opposite categories and relationships. But all "the outward and visible signs of mourning, the red ochre and the funeral clothes affected by the ordinary mourners, are taboo to a priest" (1929, p.175). So that
a matrikin of the dead in the priesthood "must wear white and sprinkle himself with white clay (hyere), as if as far as he is concerned, death and mourning and sorrow do not exist. The corpse of a dead priest is draped in white and sprinkled with white clay, symbolizing the antithesis of ordinary funerary customs, which possibly mark out the wearers as being in a state of sorrow or defilement"
(1929, p.175).
In respect of the corpse In terms of whose connections these categories are distinguished, Rattray remarks that "Sometimes the head of the corpse is shaved and marked with alternate, red, white, and black stripes, made with esono (red dye), white clay, and bidie (charcoal). This, I am informed, is done so that the dead person may be readily recognized if he or she walks as a saman (ghost), (Rattray 1929, p.152).
We see another use of colours in the ritual which terminates Kunaye, the ritual which among Akans a person performs to mourn the death of a spouse. According to Kofi Antubam, "After a year's period of wearing black cloth, a married person who has lost his or her partner closes the Kunayq rites at the end of the year, and In the morning of the first day of the second year she or he throws
off the black and puts on Kobene (red cloth) for the ceremony, weeping in memory of the dead. Towards noon on that day, he sheds the red too and puts on white cloth tinted with green" (1963, p.85).
In Battray's description of funeral costumes, it is clear that the different colours worn by mourners serve as labels to differentiate groups in terms of their relationships to the dead. Red marks out the matrilineal relatives of the dead, black, non-matrilineal relatives and the principal group in this class of relations is the affines of the dead. For the priestly class however, none of these labels Is used. Those in priestly office can only use white. A shorf comment on this is necessary.
The use of colour in denoting the specific classes and therefore the role of individuals in funerary ritual here employs two distinct levels of classificatory categories. In the one case a distinction is made between those who belong to the abusua (clan/family)of the dead and those who are outside it. Red for the former and black for the latter. But at another level, a contrast is implicit between those in the aforementioned statuses together and those in the sacred office of priesthood This distinction rests at a deeper level of classification, on the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. And this level of analysis is supervenient to the former, hence the fact that a priest, be he a maternal relative or not must use white, the colour of purity and sacredness.
Rat tray makes this antithesis clearer in his observation that while the head of any ordinary dead may be "marked with alternate, red, white, and black stripes", the corpse of a dead priest "is draped in white and sprinkled with white clay", as if even in death, the priest is undefiled by death. This also shows the dominance of the sacred/profane categories over all other modes of classification.
I have personally been curious to find out what the combination of red, white and black stands for. Here one observes that another use of this tricolour is in the decoration of the funeral vessel "abusua kuruwa" (the clan or lineage pot vessel). The "abusua kuruwa" is usually of burnt clay pot and it "has a lid or cover which has been fashioned to represent the dead; it has frequently also red and white and black stripes. All the blood relations of the deceased now shave their heads; this hair is placed in the pot", (Rattray 1929, 169, 165) which the women in the maternal line of the dead carry to and leave at the place of the pots (esenso) in the cemetery where their relation was buried. I should like to suggest that the symbolism here is the same as the symbolism of the alternate red, white and black painted on the head of the dead; and that the idea that the colours should make it possible for the dead to be identified in the nether world rests on the fact that every individual, or his status, can be identified in terms of three things: his relations with his maternal relatives (red), his connections with non-maternal relatives (black) and finally, his relationship with the spiritual world (white). If the dead must be identified in the afterworld It is in terms of his social status that he must be identified which is meaningful in the light of Akan belief that the place the spirit
of the dead occupies in the next world depends on the social status he attains before death.
Coming as it is at the end of the funeral observances of a bereaved spouse, the ritual of which Antubam gives a description serves to move the bereaved spouse from the profane to the sacred.
And it is the stations in the process of transition which the distinct colours specify: black, the symbol of death, red a sign that she is in transition from the profane to the sacred; and, white, a sign that she is purified, and sacred, and the tinge of green is a clear indication of the assumption of new life.
In the contexts above, the emotions which the colours used express are explicit enough. Those who put on red and smear themselves with red ochre to indicate they are the blood relatives of the deceased are in an extreme traumatic state, and every effort is made to dramatize this fact. Those who put on black because they are not related to the dead by blood only share in the sorrow of the kinsmen of the dead; their grief does not approximate to that of the kinsmen of the dead. The third category of people is the category of priests, who, whether as blood relatives or other, express, as is due to their office, their complete disassociatlon from death, suffering and sorrow. In the midst of grief, the office of a priest stands for the spiritual joy of which the living are assured.
In looking at the ritual which terminates Kunaye (widowhood rites) as a ritual of transition one would see beyond these two levels - first transition from an old disrupted status to a new one in the society and second a transition from the sacred to profane — a third, the transition from sorrow to joy. The black colour which the widow wears to show she has lost a loved one gives way to red, which might here express extreme sorrow caused by the memory of the death or the sorrow and danger felt in the crisis of transition.
When she sheds the red and puts on white she puts away sorrow. She also moves from the state of danger inherent in transition and arrives in a state of joy. One interesting point here is that the emotional states which are prescribed for individuals or groups particular ritual roles and stations in a ceremony as indicated by the colour in use might not correspond to the actual emotional state of the person performing the ritual. And what strikes me as an important aspect of this conflict between actual emotions and prescribed affection is that the latter might be used as a means of controlling the former to bring about the emotional adjustment one has to. make in situations of crises. This is what might be at the bottom of the traditional practice that when a sudden death occurs, death through accident, childbirth or other (Atofowu), relatives do not put on black or red. They must, like the dead himself, be in white. On such occasions Akans who are given to much emotional wailing at funerals are forbidden to weep. By this device the suden surge of emotion is dammed and the excessive sorrowing which might stimulate the desire to revenge and lead some people to behave in ways which might be anti-social are allowed to peter out. Also, when a very old person dies, white is the colour tradition prescribed for use. In this instance, people are not only required to control their emotions, but are also asked to rejoice. It is a common belief that when the aged die they bring the blessings of many children to the lineage. In this hope sorrow is banished.
Source: http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/Institue%20of%20African%20Studies%20Research%20Review/1970v7n1/asrv007001003.pdf
http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_16_Special_Issue_August_2013/12.pdf
Clothed in symbols: wearing proverbs
BY DANIEL MATO
Much of Akan ritual practice, religious activity, social life, and art is directed towards funerary ceremonies and observances. Death and life are acknowledged and celebrated through ritualized behavior, stylized art forms, and full community participation. Funerals are occasions for deep sorrow and celebration as they recognize that the death was not only the ending of an individual's life but a reaffirmation of the life of the family and continuity of the community. This prominence of funerals was noted by the first European visitors and continued to be recorded by subsequent observers up to the present. Intriguingly, a number of these early comments on Akan funerals could serve today to describe aspects of present funerary activities (deMarees 1604, Bosman 1705, Atkins 1735, Bowdich 1819, Cruickshank 1853, MacDonald 1898). Descriptions of more recent Akan funerals and burial practices have been recorded by a number of authors and need not be given here in detail (see Rattray 1927, Nketia 1955, Antubam 1963, Denteh 1975, Bellis 1982, Mato 1987 et al.).
Dormaahene Osadeayo Agyeman Badu at a funeral
Families will acknowledge the recently deceased during ceremonies of remembrance held on the eighth day (nawotwe da) after death with dancing and wearing of "funeral cloths." Other rituals take place forty (adaduanan) and eighty (adadutwe) days after death with an important ceremony one year later (afehyia da). Important ceremonies of remembrance are also regularly held in the community to celebrate not only those recently deceased but to honor all those who have died (owuofo). These take place every forty days (adae or kwasidae) with a major country-wide ceremony (odwira) held yearly.
Funerals and later ceremonies of remembrance (ayie pa) are prescribed to follow established protocols of behavior and conduct in order to insure their success as a rite of passage and as a "social event." Funerals among the Akan have considerable communal prestige so that they are not only measured as ritual process but also as public display. The proper conduct of a funeral acknowledges established social and ritual protocols and must reflect appropriate artistic and aesthetic concerns so that ceremonies will not only be measured by their content, but could be equally compromised by not being well done. As was stated at a funeral: Se fun nya asoayia a, nna ototo no kon, or "A decent funeral procession is in itself a tribute to the success of the funeral of the deceased" (collected in Kumasi 1988, see also Rattray 1916: No. 452). The social component is acknowledged by people who will ask when discussing a funeral: "Were there many in attendance, was there much to drink, was there much singing and music for dancing? Were the funerary gifts for the deceased sufficient and did the family receive donations to defray the cost of the funeral?" A family's prestige was at risk if the local community did not think that appropriate efforts had been made to "send the dead off in style" or if those attending were not "treated properly." Attendance at a funeral is a matter of paying respect to the deceased and their family as well as being a major social occasion. People attending will wear appropriate funerary cloths and contribute to help the family pay for the funeral, for which they are publicly acknowledged and given receipts. Those attending will also expect to be entertained with music, dancing, and refreshments to lighten the day.
Funerals serve to recognize the fact that the deceased was not only a member of a complex structure of lineage relationships but also a member of the local community. Much of Akan ritual and ceremonial life is open to public demonstration and communal participation; their highly visible funerals are occasions not only for the expression of sorrow but equally opportunities for socializing with family and friends. It is an occasion of celebration as well as sadness and is aptly summed up by Field in her observation that: "At no time in a person's life is he as sociable as at death" (1948: 138). The funeral of an Akan adult sets into motion ceremonial and ritual activities which express personal and communal loss and allow the common sharing of grief while celebrating the advancement of a new ancestor through a collective feeling of community.
Akan funerals are not only a rite of passage during which the deceased is mourned through highly ritualized displays of grief and loss, but are also the occasion for the appearance of a number of different art forms which state and confirm relationships among the living while honoring the dead. These specialized funerary arts are the instruments whereby contact is established with the new ancestor(s) (saman(fo)) and through which people can express their familial and lineage relationships to the deceased. One's rank and status within one's lineage and concurrently one's position within the political and social structure of the community will be reflected in the arts displayed during funerals and subsequent ceremonies of remembrance. Akan funerary arts are closely associated to cosmological and religious beliefs and are shaped to reflect views of life and the afterlife, as literal and symbolic references are made to principles and deities.
The public proclamation of a death initiates a period of mourning and concurrently the first appearance of funerary arts. Funerals are publicly active and communally experienced; they continue from the announcement of the death through the burial (detie yie) and during later ceremonies of remembrance. It is a complex period of activity which may appear to be tumultuous and unorganized to "European" eyes (deMarees 1600: 343; Bosman 1705: 364; Atkins 1735: 105; Bowdich 1819: 284 et al.). However seemingly disjointed, each of the funerary activities has its place in a coordinated and traditional scheme of appearance which allows and encourages spontaneous demonstration of grief and sorrow
. Drumming and dancing, the presentation of symbolic gestures by individuals, the singing of dirges and laments are art forms which incorporate social participation on the broadest scale. These active and transitory art forms known as anigyedee have their "existence" while they are performed by family and friends. The materially permanent funerary arts of the Akan are well known; they include ritual pottery (abusua kuruwa), terracotta figures (nsodia or sempon), figurative smoking pipes (ebua) and the various cloths worn especially during this time. Personal objects of everyday use such as stools, toilet articles, family heirlooms, and possessions of the deceased may also be included as funerary goods and presented at the time of burial. The recitation of proverbs (ebe or mmebusem) and aphorisms appropriate to Akan ideas regarding life, death, and the afterlife are often stated during funerals and subsequent ceremonies of remembrance. They will be voiced by individuals who may spontaneously declaim a proverb with related gestures or be sung by a group of mourning women. They are now even worn as T-shirts and head bands at funerals. Proverbs and aphorisms will often have as subject matter themes which refer to human mortality and the universality of death:
Owuo see fie—"Death spoils the house"
Owuo begya hwan—"Whom will death spare"
Owu adare nna fako—"Death's sickle does not reap in one place alone"
Obi nim nea owu wo a, anka onsi ho ara da—"If one knew where death resided one would never stop there"
Closely allied to the verbally stated proverbs, physically displayed symbolic gestures depict proverbial statements in visual form. Proverbs and aphorisms take on added weight of meaning reinforced through body movement, expressive stance or gesture. The physical gesture is closely allied to its verbal component by restating the expressed sentiment or proverb in tangible, physical form. As McLeod has noted, what occurs is "... conjunction of, or an interaction between, two different modes of communication: the verbal and the physical" (1976:92). A simple gesture or body position may have a number of proverbial analogues to it. For example at the time of the funeral or lying-in-state, one will often see individuals, with their hands clasped on the top of their heads, declaiming: Ahia me o, aka menko o!—"I am left alone, I am cast away thirsty and hungry!" Others may stretch their arms towards the deceased and state: San bra—"Do come back!"; or they may simply extend arms and show fingers in a 'V' towards the deceased (collected in Kumasi 1988 and Assamang 1992). There is a direct connection between proverb and gesture in these two cases while other symbolic gestures will be more open-ended. For example the gesture of the arms crossed over the chest with the hands resting on the shoulders may have any of the following proverbial associations:
Mafo ma awo ade me—"I am wet and feeling cold"
Osu kese bi ato aboro me—"A great rain has fallen and soaked me"
Mennya gya na m'ato bio—"I am forever deprived of the fire that warmed me"
There are a number of symbolic gestures in common use which are also found sculpted in clay as individual figures or attached to funerary clay pots known as abusua kuruwa. These pots are often embellished with symbolic motifs which have cognates in the stamped motifs found on the various funerary cloths. Other objects demonstrate this tendency towards the visualization of proverb in material form. The well known goldweights, linguist's staffs, umbrella finials, as well as figural embellishments of swords and stools act as carriers of symbolic form with associated proverbs or statements. As has been often noted, proverb and visual symbol are ubiquitous in Akan art. They are the means whereby a statement of fact or principle or a comment upon the human condition is given visual form and context. It is through this unique alliance of verbal-visual elements that the Akan state the "concrete and abstract" (McLeod 1976:9, see also Cole and Ross 1977).
The idea of a verbal/visual/symbolic literacy emerges from the cultural nexus of Akan society in which all are to some degree versed in the proverbs, symbols, and traditional lore of the society. Among the Akan, one's wisdom and the ability to present an argument, debate in public or at court, or to give opinion upon any issue is gauged by the ability to draw upon proverbs to support or make a case. This is often done by literally stacking individual and different proverbs to make a point. The importance of the spoken word in a non-literate society allied to an ability to draw upon the traditional wisdom of proverbial lore raises ordinary discourse to an elegant art form of poetic dimension and metaphorical subtlety.
When a proverb is supported by a visual image its metaphorical meaning is reinforced and literally raised to another level of subtlety and discourse. Inasmuch as the visual symbol can only be identified through its associated proverb or verbal element, it assumes the ability to apply the appropriate proverb to the particular situation. This process of interrelationship and dependence is to bring the weight of traditional wisdom, law, and precedent—characterized through an allusive structure of parallel metaphors—to address situations or circumstances which may not be addressed directly or are of too sensitive a nature for direct comment. Akans will also seek to address sensitive issues obliquely through the use of parables in speech or by some mode of symbolic display, rather than confront them directly.
For example when referring to the death of a king one might say: "The king has gone to his village," or "a mighty tree has fallen," or "he has fallen asleep" rather than state the fact directly (interviews with Okyeame Bafour Osei Akoto and Okyeame Bafour Boasiako). Many adinkra stamps work with the same process inasmuch as they will present the viewer with a symbol and it is left to the viewer's knowledge and sophistication to apply it to any number of possible circumstances. Visual symbols, as proverbs, are contextually directed inasmuch as they are perceived as a single motif with the potential for interpretation on a number of levels. Therefore, when looking at an adinkra symbol one may be interpreting only the most obvious proverbial association and missing a number of other symbolic allusions. This, however, also allows the opportunity for the viewer to interact with the stamped symbol and to choose the proverb or parable he thinks appropriate.
It is an everyday experience in Akan towns and villages to see individuals going to or returning from a funeral wearing some form of funerary cloth. The wearing of special raiment or funerary attire by mourners during funeral ceremonies is an extension of the idea of communal participation through public display. Traditionally the wearing of colored funerary cloths known as ayitoma (funeral cloth) or akonini ntoma ("clot