Browsing by Author "Asare-Tettey, Joseph Kofi"

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    The relationship between the spiritual and material life of the people of Nkonya, Central Volta Region
    (1982) Asare-Tettey, Joseph Kofi
    Belief is one of the factors that help shape the life pattern of a people. Beliefs are linked with the spiritual and material life of each culture. Therefore there are beliefs and spiritual activities which are associated with every stage of each individual‘s life span, and so it is with the Nkonya of Central Volta Region. The thesis is aimed at orin4 the relationship between, the spiritual and the material life of the people of Nkonya. This involves an investigation of the influence of those beliefs upon their culture. It also covers the changes in religious worship, the causes and relationship between art and the beliefs. The beliefs and spiritual activities that are associated with early life that is pregnancy, infancy and adolescence are discussed in Chapter One. Rites for the barren, the sexually impotent, the baby and the adolescent are carried out because of the beliefs which must be observed. In Chapter No beliefs surrounding marriage, adult life and death are looked at. Marriages of people such as chiefs and medicne-4aen are contracted differently because of the beliefs of the people. Adult life is controlled by beliefs that have spelled out va4oms rites and activities. Beliefs about death are many and varied, as are the rites and activities connected with death. However, these activities become complex and elaborate when chiefs die for they become ancestors of the first degree. Other spiritual activities and beliefs having to do with everyday life such as farming, hunting, trading and. other occupations are discussed in Chapter three. Festivals and taboos, which follow as a result of certain beliefs, are treated in Chapter Four. Many taboos run through life and have become part of the people’s daily routine to the extent that no one asks why this or that should not be done. The festivals occur annually or quarterly for the people to renew their beliefs, feed the gods and the ancestors and generally to make merry. Discussions and comments on changing religious and customary beliefs and the impact of these changes on the people are dealt with in the concluding Chapter.