Category Archives: TRADITIONAL RELIGION

Research on African Traditional Religion

The Story of Zulu Mystic Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa

Mutwa was a storyteller (historian), painter, sculptor and author. In his personal narratives, he wove African mythology, Zulu folklore and professed to have encounter meta-humans and extraterrestrial beings. When he was alive he devoted most of his energy towards preserving African culture and challenging the tendency (by extension the status quo) to relegate African cultural […]

The Winneba Fancy Dress Festival: A Colonial Tradition That Has Become an Indigenous Culture

The Halloween-like fancy dress New Year Festival that began over a century ago in Ghana as a mocking satire of colonial life is still thriving today, with hundreds of people dressing up and wearing bizarre expressive masks!  According to African-research.com Ghanaians in Winneba began forming masquerade groups in the 1920’s to Poke Fun at the Life and […]

Origin of The Akonedi Shrine: The Story of Akua Oparebea

She is believed to be the greatest Akonedi priestess who ever lived. Okomfohemmaa (priestess) Akua Oparebea was born in 1900. Both her father and mother were from distinquished royal families. While she was yet a suckling, her aunt professed under fetish influence proclaimed that she would be a fetish priestess who would one day be […]

Origin of The Akonedi Shrine (Bloodline of Female Priestesses)

The Shrine had its ancient roots from a lady called Nedi who was the daughter of a man called Akon from Kubease. Nedi is said to have become pregnant and to have died (perhaps during childbirth) in the bush on the outskirts of Kubease. A search for her body revealed only an Anthill. According to […]

Powerful Stools of The Asante Kingdom

Among the Asante and other Akan peoples, stools play an important role in each person’s life milestones. When children learn to crawl, they receive stools as their first gift from their father. For young women, puberty rites entail sitting on their stools. A husband presents his wife with a stool when they marry. A deceased […]

Unbelievable Ritual Killings in Ghana

Traditional religion in Ghana has been linked to human rights abuse on account of the widely-held belief that through the use of human parts, rituals could be performed to affect the material circumstances of the individual making the request. Consequently, some individuals were killed for purposes that must have been related to the performance of […]

The Church of Methodist and The Ancestral Forest of Mankessim

The exact date the Methodist Church came to Mankessim, the heartland of the Mfantsepeople is not certain. Arkaifie states, for instance, that the Methodist Church in Mankessim was established in 1838. This is countered by the church‟s souvenir programme, which indicates that it was founded in 1836, immediately, after that of the Enyan Abassa society […]

The Witch Camps in Northern Ghana is a Refuge For Shielding Aged Women From a Century Old Tradition!

In Ghana, there are at least six Witch Camps, housing a total of around 1000 women! Contrary to the popular view that the camps are a place of torture, it is rather a place of refuge for those neglected due to them being branded as witches and excommunicated from their families.   Such camps can […]

History of Some Popular Shrines in Ghana (In-depth) Part 2

Akonedi Shrine This is a shrine located at Larteh Kubeasi, very popular and believed to be one of the most powerful shrine among the Akuapims. Major spirits worshiped at the Akonnedi shrine in Larteh include: Akonnedi, Esi Ketewa, Adade Kofi, Asuo Gyebi and Tegare. Okomfoo Ejo is referenced as the first okomfoo (priest) of Akonnedi […]

History of Some Popular Shrines in Ghana (In-depth)

There are thousands of shrines and sacred spaces in Ghana, commemorating ancestors, gods, historical events, and everyday life. According to oral tradition these shrines which host deities helped our ancestors over hundreds of years to overcome their enemies. Because of this, attachment to these gods and ancestors is held in high esteem in Ghanaian traditional […]

The Lost Identify of Africans – An Academic Discourse by Archbishop Emeritus Peter kwesi Sarpong

Emeritus Archbishop Peter Sarpong who is the current head of the Kumasi Archdiocese of the Catholic Church was born on 6th February 1933 in Offinso, Ashanti. He was ordained Catholic priest on the 11th of December 1959. Approximately 10 years after his ordination to the priesthood, he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Kumasi […]

One of the Champions of The 1990s Holy Spirit Prophetic Baptism in Ghana Archbishop (Prophet) Elisha Salifu Amoako

Salifu Amoako was born in 1966 and raised in Kumasi by a Muslim family who could not afford to send him to school during his infancy, Prophet Elisha Salifu Amoako went to school at a rather mature age. He suffered embarrassment as a result, and abandoned schooling after one year and became wayward – he […]

The Pentecostal Wave of Africa: The Beginnings

Pentecostalism in Africa began in Nigeria during the early twentieth century as a renewal movement to the prominent mission churches in Africa. Nigeriahas the largest population of Pentecostals in Africa and, in a study from 2006, three out of ten Nigerians identify as either Pentecostal of Charismatic. Around 1910, an Anglican deacon launches an indigenous […]