1.2.1.5.3.

The Asantes: Ancestors and the Social Meaning

of Life
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Patrick A. Twumasi, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

1. INTRODUCTION

The Asantes are part of the Akan people who live on the West coast of Africa. In a wider
context, they are part of the Akan-Anyi tribes and the Baule Tribe which form the Kwa
linguistic group. Apart from the Anyi and the Baule peoples who live in the Ivory Coast,
the majority of the Akan peoples live in Ghana. They are: The Asantes, Brongs, and
Ahafo peoples, the Fantis, Kwahus, Akims, Akwapims, Wassaw, Guangs and
Kyerepon peoples. The Asantes are the most numerous of the Akan people and they live
in the central part of Ghana in the forest belt area, known as the Asante Region.
According to one oral tradition the Asantes came from Adansi in the Southern part of
the region. According to another they emerged from a hole in Techiman, an area which
was part of the Northern Section of Asante region before independence. Techiman is
now part of the Brong Ahafo region. The other Akan people are believed to have
migrated from Adansi during the Asante wars to find a peaceful land to inhabit.
Statistics show that about 49 per cent of the people in Ghana today are Akans; and that
the Asantes constitute about a third of the Akan population. In other words the Akans are
about 6 million of Ghana's population of 12 million of which the Asantes are about 2
million.
The culture of the Asante people has had a tremendous influence on the other Akan
people. It is believed that all the Akan people hail from the same stock. This is probably
true because there are common institutional systems, a common language - except for a
few variations in dialect - a common belief system, similar festivals and a centralized
political system for each of the Akan groups.
The chief occupies a central place in the socio-political and economic life of the
people. He is also the head of ritual activities, in fact, the custodian of what is deemed
proper in the society.

2. HISTORY OF RESEARCH IN ASANTE

Earlier writers in Asante have drawn attention to the importance of kinship in social
organization. In discussing the social life of the people in Asante, Rattray (1923), Busia
(1951) and Fortes (1951) have mentioned the place of kinship in defining social

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 relationships. In their accounts they suggested that for the proper understanding of any
aspects of the Asante people's way of life kinship principles must be understood as an
important referent variable.
Rattray for example was so fascinated with the social organization of the people that, it
seems, he overemphasized the positive and the affective relationships. He did not
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elaborate on the instrumental and problematic nature of kinship relationship. The

intricacies of kinship relationship is based not only on affectivity but on instrumental
arrangements. Kinship should not be taken for granted. Relatives must actively
contribute to it for the good of the kingroup. It is an active contribution that enables a
person to benefit from the collective good of the group. A person who has money and
refuses to contribute is looked down upon. Evidently relations among relatives have not
always been characterized by spontaneous coordiality. When relatives meet at festivals,
they usually express good wishes and cordiality but underlying these may be hostility
and jealousy. A kinsman is good if he makes specific contributions. A woman must
produce rriany children to serve the group, and a woman who brings forth no child is
ridiculed and called many bad names. A man who has resources is expected to share it
with relatives who call on him. Otherwise he is given a bad name.
Busia ( 1950) also discussed the intimate cordial relationship among kinsmen. He
described a situation where on the mere mention of the clan of a visitor the visitor was
accorded with an excellent hospitality if he hailed from the same clan as the host. In
recent years, though kinship ties exist, yet the extent and nature of such relationships
have dwindled at least in urban towns.
Meyer Fortes (1971) had argued in an open lecture delivered at the University of
Ghana on March 3, 1971, that kinsmen perform crucial social functions. He maintained
that with rapid urbanization, industrialization and world communication kinsmen may in
fact strengthen kinship ties. A person may, indeed, put a premium on the value to him of
his circles of close and intimate family, kin and friendly relations.

3. SURVEY AND DATA ANALYSIS

To study the social life of the people in this area and to see whether the ancestral
principles are still crucial four principal towns and thirteen small towns and villages in
the area were surveyed. Interviews were conducted and panel discussions were held with
stool elders and spokesmen oflineages. The main focus of the interviews and discussions
were centered on social relationship. Respondents were asked to comment on social
factors giving meaning to life styles, and to determine the ways in which kinship
solidarity were maintained in the face of rapid factors of change. The survey was carried
out in Juaso area in the Asante Akim district in Asante Region in Ghana. It is inhabited
predominately by Asantes and covers a radius of about thirty kilometers and has scores of
towns and villages accessible by trunk and feeder roads. The inhabitants' main
occupation is farming. There are other non-farming occupations, teaching, clerical
work, mining industry, hospital work and other technical support services. Gold mining,
farming and the timber industry tend to attract people from other parts of the country to
the area. The principal towns are Juaso, Konongo, Bompata and Agogo. The main small

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 towns and villages are Obenimase, Nsia-Krom, Nyaboe, Obogu, Patriensa, Akyekyeb-
iase, Kwakoko, Juansa, Domiabra, Pekyerekye, Asankae, Adiemmera and Hwidiem.
The towns and villages have common features which underlie their social organiza-
tion. The people live on the land which is obtained freely from kinsmen. A series of
norms regulate the land tenure system. Kinship plays an important part in the social life
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of the people. The pervasive force of kinship obligations and relationships are in
evidence everywhere it is the key to the understanding of social relationships.
Matrilineal descent is the foundation of the kinship principle. Every person is by birth a
member of his mother's lineage and member of the chiefdom in which the lineage is
located. There is a deep seated respect for lineage elders and other stool bearers. The
head of a lineage is usually an elder person, who wields considerable power in
controlling and dispensing lineage properties. Traditional religion, the worship of the
ancestors, has a place in the social life of the people. The spiritual world consists of the
omnipotent God, lesser gods and ancestral spirits. Though modem influences have
emerged yet the people have held on to kinship principles.
In discussing the social life of the people in this area, these unifying themes stand out.

1 the place of kinship in understanding the nature of social organization and symbolic
interaction;
2 the place of primary agriculture as the main occupation;
3 the place of spiritual agencies which offer the people a model for social action and
social relationship, and
4 the co-existence of modem and traditional ideas.

4. THE SOCIAL MEANING OF LIFE: ANCESTRAL PRINCIPLES

The result of the survey indicates that the ancestral principles are working like
metaphysical principles in the mind of the people. The basis of their social organization
and social interaction revolves around belief in ancestral spirits.
In the rural areas, the people interact in face to face· situations and they depend on
kinsmen in meeting almost all their needs. For these reasons it is necessary for those who
remain in rural villages and towns as well as urbanite relatives who frequently visit rural
folks to share a similar world view. The difference, if any, found among the two groups
of people, rural and urban dwellers, is not one of kind but of degree.
Those people who tend to flout kinship and ancestral principles are those who have
acquired independent existence and do not need kinship help, psychologically, socially
and economically. As a result of their new found freedom and individual acquisition of
resources, they can afford, if they wish, to be individualistic in choosing life-styles and
in cultivating independent casts of mind. But for those who still depend on the good will
of kinsmen there is a deep seated belief in ancestral principles.
Belief in ancestral principles holds the people together in kinship interactive activities.
It is believed that ancestral relatives watch with keen interest a kinsman who helps
another kinsman. For those who flout kinship principles it is believed they will not be
protected by their ancestors.

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 From birth the individual is closely attached to members of his matrilineal clan.
Though it takes two to produce a child, the mother's contribution is particularly valued.
This is not to say that the patrician is of no importance. It is important, for the child is
known to inherit from his father ntoro 'spirit'; accordingly, he is expected to obey the
wishes and commands of his father because his father's spirit guides him in warding off
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illness and disaster. People from the ntoro group are expected to perform certain rituals
in common and are regarded as paternal relatives. This is not a question of physiological
theories but a way of expressing kinship and other social relational responsibilities in
pure and simple terms. But it must be emphasized that the real basis of clan membership
is reckoned through the mother's line, because the child inherits the blood, mogya, from
his mother, and the continuance of the blood is the continuance of the community.
Kinship is defined by the people as social relations based on connection through birth.
It also holds for relationships by affinity as well as for those by consanguinity, for
although husband and wife may have no recognized common ancestry, they are
nonetheless related by marriage ties and through their common offspring.
Kinship in this usage touches on two important factors. It refers to a relatively fixed
biological structure; and it refers also to a relatively variable social pattern based on
biological structure. It refers to a relationship by blood as well as a relationship which is
brought by marriage. The basic categories of biological relationship and marriage
identify social relations. The fact of parenthood and the bonds of mutual dependency and
support that it implies are acknowledged. This leads one to recognize other links such as
those between siblings, children of the same parents, and between grandparents and their
grandchildren. Beattie (1958) rightly observed that apart from sex and age, which are in
themselves of prime social importance, there is no other way of classifying people which
is so built into the human condition as kinship.
Biologically not only human beings but all animals have kinship but it is a vital point
that unlike other animals, human beings consciously and explicitly use the categories of
kinship to define social relationships. It provides a guide to many social groupings in
which a person is likely to be involved in the course of his life. When a person dies, e.g.,
he leaves something behind, whether this is property or status; and after death the
property passes to someone else. There are rules and regulations regarding conduct of
inheritance and for the transmission of property. Kinship is used, in this sense, to
establish and define distinct corporate social units.
Modem forces such as education, industries and urban living have not changed the
basic core of kinship relationship. Rural dwellers and urban migrants interact with
kinsmen. They refer to their original homes as natal homes. There is a strong religious
commitment and attachment to natal homes. The causes of these attachments and
commitments, as the present writer will show, have strong origins in the worship of
lineage ancestors. Rural folk must cooperate to survive. The urbanite must depend on
his relatives for psychological and socio-economic reasons. To the urbanite too the
village remains the real home. Periodically he visits his relatives to help with a harvest,
to take part in ceremonies or to find a woman to marry.
A man even while actually in the town can switch back and forth between urban and
rural behaviour according to the immediate situation. The individual selects behaviour
patterns appropriate to the sets of relations in which a situation involes him at a given

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 moment. Some voluntarily incapsulate themselves in something as nearly as possible
like rural situations from which their migration could have liberated them.
It is essential to the general happiness of the people, especially women, to have a
family of many children and many more grandchildren and still more great-grand
children; to have countless progeny is to have countless blessings, boundless respect and
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security.
Religious beliefs expressed in the cult of the ancestors act as a vigilant guardian of the
customs of which one of the most important precepts is that nothing must be omitted
from tradition. Lineage elders are the custodians of what is deemed proper and it is their
responsibility to hold a lineage together constantly referring to ancestral notions .
It is believed that a person is constantly in relationship with the world of ancestors and
that good life is granted by them. A person's life style must conform to tradition and in all
core events of one's life a person must conform to the spiritual order of things as
established by the world of the invisible . The attainment of a long life assures the people
that they have the goodwill of the gods and ancestors .
When an elderly person dies one who has contributed very well to his kingroup, he
gains a funeral celebration at which the affections and obligations of his own family or
his father's family and of all others bound to him through ties of marriage , kinship or
friendship are generously demonstrated.
On the sad day of his death, a word is carried quickly to other people calling relatives
and interested parties to pay homage to the departed . If a relative fails to come , it is a sign
of falling out of the favour of a kingroup .
Throughout the night relatives and friends gather in the home of the dead to honour the
departing soul. As the night passes amidst crying and singing and with low cries of
sorrow, family members bathe the body and place it tenderly in its final bed. When the
next day arrives amidst mourning, the relatives place the dead into a coffin. The
mourners accompany the coffin to the cemetery and it is lowered into the grave, after
which ceremony the coffin is covered with soil. 'You are leaving us today; we have
performed your funeral. Do not let any ofus fall ill . Let us get money to pay the expenses
of your funeral. Let the women bear children . Life to all of us. ' (Rattray, 1923, p. 41) .
The ancestors are believed to be constantly watching over their living relations . Illness
is believed to be the consequence of deviant behaviour; and it follows from this line of
thought that the ancestors, when they are displeased with a living member may punish
the person with an illness. In other words, they punish those who break customs or fail to
fulfil their obligations to their kinsfolk . To such people, the ancestors are believed to
send misfortune and illness or even death .
Stories are constantly told in the villages of deaths which are caused by the
intervention of ancestors; and priests of the gods and/or medicine men may declare that a
sickness is caused or has been caused by an ancestor because of some misconduct on the
part of the sufferer. On the other hand, it is told without questioning that those who obey
the norms and customs and do fulfil their obligations receive the help and the blessing of
their ancestors. They see to it that the crops of such people are plentiful during harvest
season, that healthy children are born to them , and that they prosper in their
undertakings.
Clarke's observation (Clarke 1930) about 50 years ago, is still relevant when she

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 observed that the religion of the people in Asante is ancestor worship. It is the basic core
of traditional religion. It finds its most concrete expression in ancestral practices. Its
relevance consists in the influence it has upon conduct. All the elements of this belief and
practices arise out of and influence some form of social relationship. Thus the most
important aspect in the system is that it controls social behaviour.
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These facts are relevant, not because they embody a lofty metaphysical or ethical
concept, but because they modify the individual's conduct and his relationship with
others. The people continually refer to the place of ancestral spirits in training the young,
in naming the new born child after a good person, alive or dead and in hard times they call
for ancestral guidance.
It is the spiritual agencies associated with the clan which is responsible for the
punishment of wrong actions and commendation for good acts. When we penetrate
deeply into the complex ramifications of the thought system, the more strongly a view is
held that it is the belief in ancestral spirits which provides the sanctions for customs
among the people.
Thus the cult of the ancestors is by far the most important cult in the whole system. It is
limited to matrilineal ancestors. It is the conception of the people that the dead do not die
at least spiritually. It means that they return in a mystic duality of blood and spirit to the
clan, by a dogmatically controlled process of reincarnation. This belief has far reaching
sociological implications in allocating and fixing forms of social relationship. It helps to
regulate the tone of social morality and ethics.
A man driven to mortgage his land and a man who is ill, may pour rum over his
ancestral stool, or it may be done for him. People go to farm without taking adequate
protection against disasters. They are exposed to all types of environmental hazards.
When a disaster occurs people refer to the work of an evil spirit or that the person has
done something wrong against the social group.
Among the people a successful man stands at a disadvantage when he fails to share his
riches with his kinsmen. It goes without saying that one's lineage is one's blood (abusua
baako mogya baako), therefore riches must be shared. The lineage ancestors are
assumed to have blessed the group through the rich or the successful individual, thus he
must conform to their tradition.

5. KINSHIP RELATIONSHIP AS INSTRUMENTAL AND PROBLEM SOLVING

ULTIMATE PRINCIPLE

From the research conducted by the present writer it is clear that kinship relationship is
still crucial. And the reason is that the people strongly believe in the ancestors and this
belief commends social relationships. Kinship is not just a principle of affective
relationship but an instrumental one which commends actions and solves problems
encountered in life. It is not axiomatic that once a person belongs to a kingroup he is
automatically expected to receive social largess from his relatives. He is expected to live
in harmony with his people. If there are social conflicts he is expected to use established
institutional pathways to settle such conflicts. He is expected to abide by norms of the
group and to contribute effectively to the well-being of the group.

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 This observation explains the relationship among kinsmen. Wherever they are they
must not take kinship obligations for granted. The effects of urbanization and
industrialization have not significantly altered the pattern of kinship relationship. Urban
men and women must continually nurse their matriclan (kinsmen) if they wish to benefit
from social, economic and psychosocial support.
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In order to receive psychological and economic support from kinsmen relatives must
reciprocate kinship relationship. They must remit their relatives and they must abide by
the norms of kinship reciprocity.
Kinship relationship, in this day and age, is not only affective but instrumental. It
should not be taken for granted that kinsmen will be good with any individual who flouts
kinship traditions with impunity. If a person does not learn to give and take he will be
frustrated and at times embarrassed when confronted by kinsmen.
Ancestral worship supplies not only a theory for kinship interaction but also wider
principles of order in the whole social fabric. It gives an organizing medium for ideas of
social structure. It gives a frame of reference for attitudes toward nature. For example,
the position of man vis a vis other living things and the manner in which he proceeds to
exploit natural phenomena. It promotes the establishment and maintenance of social
patterns outside its own immediate field. It has the function of expression of human
existence for the people. It does not only guide them in their social actions but it serves
them in symbolic interaction. They say it is abusua asem 'family or kinship problem' and
thus must be handled differently and properly. In abusua asem the degree of
emotionality is high because blood is thicker than water.
Ancestral experience stimulates the development of characteristic attitudes, which in
tum are put in concrete form in thought and action by the people. Norms are set which
define social relationship.
It is precisely in this context that relationships among kinsmen must be understood. As
a club it is expected that kinsmen should be favored by other kinsmen in a position of
trust and power. In the work situation and in decision making wrong decisions may be
taken and unqualified people may be considered for positions simply because of this
world view. It brings about favoritism and nepotism when it is placed in the context of
the industrial work force. Ancestral ideas and practices form the connecting link of
kinship relations. This form of relationship finds its most concrete expression in the
belief in supernatural forces, the lineage ancestors. People must please their ancestors.
This is their ultimate reality. For an understanding of their world view it is important to
view belief in ancestral practices as the main motivating force. In social acts, public
behaviour and symbolic interaction, it is precisely this belief which reinforces their
significance. It helps in an understanding of kinship affiliation. It helps in explaining
why rural-urban migrants do not necessarily cut themselves off from kinship ties. It also
explains the conducts of deviants who refuse to obey ancestral principles.
This form of social relationship is functional in rural environment and in any
environment where kinship affiliation acts as an insurance agency. As a collective
insurance policy, a kinsman must be educated to understand its working and he must
actually contribute to it. The crucial motivating force which acts as the pulling force is
the belief in ancestral principles. This is the reality for the Asantes in their quest for

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 explanation of human existance. This is their problem-solving paradigm in the question
of ultimate reality. Even the supreme God is worshipped as the great ancestor (Danquah,
1947, p. 28). The idea of God is understood from the idea of kinship.
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