The twins cult of the people of Teshie in Greater Accra

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
1983-09-09
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This thesis is introduced by defining the term ‘twine’ according to the tradition of the Ga people of the Greater Accra Region. The study of the twin’s cult of Teshie people has brought to light the reason why our parents have maintained its celebrations. However, the cult is not celebrated by many people today as done many years ago. This is because families have refrained from taking part whilst others have embraced foreign religion such as Islam and Christianity. The celebration in held in homes where the ageing fetish priest and priestess have their shrines and gods. The thesis is made up of seven chapters. Chapter one deals with the location of Teshie and the origin of its people. Chapter two discuses twin birth. It examines various attributes of twin’s birth including its related superstitious beliefs. In the chapter three, the spirit connected with twin’s cult is briefly discussed. A number of rites such as ‘shitoo’, ‘tsemo’ and ‘awroke hamo’ are also examined. It would be realized that most of these rites are done purposely to protect the twins against evil spirits. Chapter tour describes the outdooring of twin and the significant of it. This Chapter also shows how presents are donated to the mother and twins during the naming ceremony as required by tradition. Chapter five gives an account on how twins’ horns are bathed with consecrated water. It also outlines the decoration of the horns with ‘tun’, ‘ayilo’ and ‘krobo’ pigment from trees. In addition to this the dressing and decoration of twins with beads and other ornaments are elaborately described. The ornaments include wristlets made up of black and white beads. Some of the rites for twins involve feasting. An attempt has been made in chapter five to examine some of the feasts such as ‘oto’ which is prepared for an annual twin festival. The chapter ends by showing how some of the festivals are observed. Lastly, chapter six and seven discuss twins’ social life and funeral customs. It will be observed that Ga expressions in the form of songs, and supplications accompanying some of the rites are used during various performances; as a result the author has made an effort to give their meaning in English
Description
A thesis submitted to the College of Art of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology,Kumasi, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master Degree in African Art, 1983.
Keywords
Citation
Collections