Human Sacrifice and the Supernatural in African History

Chapter 2. Human sacrifice and the supernatural in the Asante Empire and modern-day Ghana

Chapter 2 Human sacrifice and the supernatural in the Asante Empire and modern-day Ghana Introduction The name and geographical position of modern-day Ghana should not be confused with that of the legendary Empire of Ghana that was situated much further to the north in the Sahel region of West Africa. At its zenith toward the end of the nineteenth century the Asante (aka Ashanti) Empire’s territorial size was much larger than the modern-day state of Ghana. V. S. Naipaul notes that an old English map he has seen shows the area of “Ashanti authority” as about four hundred miles wide and two hundred miles high.1 The Empire’s extent included part of what is today the Ivory Coast. It is partly for this reason that today you find Akan people in the Ivory Coast who migrated and settled there during the imperial heyday of the Asante Empire. The Asante are a subgroup of the Akan people whose language is Twi. The Akan have a large body of beliefs which concern three powerful agents of supernatural influence in the world, namely, spirits (which are of human and nonhuman origin), ghosts, and witches. Some acknowledge also the power of the “little people” of the forest; these are “tiny imps or elves who can help the gods with their work, combat harmful spirits responsible for illness… and perform a wide range of pleasant, funny, or annoying tricks.”2 The Asante attribute illness and other misfortunes to the machinations of malevolent spirits and witches. In order to find out what one’s misfortune's cause is one has to consult a diviner. First and foremost, beliefs in supernatural influence are deeply embedded in the Asante psyche because of the Asante’s fear of the unknown, especially death and the afterlife as well as their anxiety about being harmed by invisible powers. The fear of death has led to what McCaskie refers to as “numerous instances of 1 Naipaul, Masque of Africa, 115. 2 Lystad, Robert A. The Ashanti: A Proud People (New York: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1968): 178. 24 Human Sacrifice and the Supernatural in African History complex stratagems to prolong physical existence” in which the Asante priesthood plays a central role.3 The Asante also fear misfortune. This fear of misfortune is reflected in many of the Asante’s prayers to their ancestral spirits. The following prayer in which the spirits are propitiated with “wine” is a good example: “Grandfather Eguayeboafo, your wine, life to the people of B----; for one who would wish evil on this town, let misfortune fall upon his own neck… . Grandfather So-and-so, do not permit any bad matter to come upon this town… .”4 Secondly, there is a strong connection between the world of nature and the Asante’s belief in the supernatural and anxiety about harm from unseen powers . To begin with, there were certain natural occurrences which were taken by the Asante to be signs of supernatural/divine power. Shooting stars were believed to be a sign that some very important person had died. In The Healers , Ghanaian novelist Ayi Kwei Armah describes nine omens that are rumored to have heralded the impending fall of the Asante Empire. These included a hailstorm at a time when it was not supposed to rain and unusual births of a six legged goat and a child whose gestation lasted eleven months. If these omens had failed to catch the attention of the Asante, then certainly what happened to the sacred tree at Kumasi would command the attention of the populace. Armah writes: Finally, there was an omen of the last days, coming after all the stories and all the other omens. Even if all the stories of omens and portents reaching Kumase were false, what happened at Kumase itself, the capital of Asanteman founded under the kum tree by the great priest Anoche and named by him, what happened at Kumase was true. It happened plainly for all to see, so that there was not the slightest possibility of doubt. The kum tree, planted at the nation’s birth, a tree supposed unshakable, huge giant of trees, the kum tree fell. There had been no warning. No branches had dried up. No disease of bark or branch or root had given a single signal of impending decay. They (sic0 great simply fell of a sudden. It was as if a hand, enormous yet unseen, had plucked it whole from the earth and...