The name given to both the primordial, or first, woman and a powerful earth goddess, also called Asaase Yaa. Aberewa features in a myth that explains why the sky god, Nyame, withdrew from Earth and returned to the heavens. As Aberewa prepared food for her children, she pounded palm nuts in a mortar with her pestle.
Every time she hammered the mortar, she hit Nyame with her pestle. Annoyed, Nyame moved away from Earth. In a slightly different version of this myth, every time the pestle hit Nyame, it bounced a little higher. Arriving in heaven, he decided to stay there.
Abosom, the name of the pantheon
Abosom is the name of the pantheon of gods and goddesses of the Ashanti and other members of the Akan language group. The head of the pantheon is the Supreme God, Nyame. Nyame was the father of the abosom, the gods and goddesses of the pantheon. He sent his four sons to Earth, where they identified with bodies of water.
Below the abosom are minor deities called asuman; and beneath the asuman are spirits who animate trees, animals and hornbeams. Lower still are the nsamanfo, the spirits of the ancestors. The abosom drew their power from Nyame and were said to come from him and be part of him. They served as intermediaries and messengers between Nyame and other beings.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Adu Ogyinae
Adu Ogyinae In African mythology (Ashanti of Ghana), the first man. The Ashanti relate several myths concerning the origin of man. One states that on Monday evening the first man, Adu Ogyinae, came to the surface of the earth through holes made in the ground by a worm.
Adu Ogyinae was the leader of a small group of seven men and a few women, as well as a leopard and a dog. Of the whole group, only Adu Ogyinae was not frightened by the new things he saw on the surface of the earth. On Tuesday he managed to calm the others down, but they only started building houses on Wednesday.
Adu was killed when a tree fell on him. Then the dog was sent to search for the fire. The meat was cooked with the flame he brought back and given to him to test if it was safe. When the dog showed no signs of illness, everyone else started eating. The god of creation then came across one of the group and made him his assistant. Every year, the Ashanti people hold ceremonies in the woods to commemorate the first human beings.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Amokye
The woman who welcomed the souls of women who died in Asamando, the Land of the Dead. (See also underworld.) Traditionally, Ashanti women were dressed for burial in amoasie (loincloths) and beads, which they gave to Amokye as payment for admitting them to Asamando.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Anansi
The spider, trickster and culture hero. Anansi is one of the most popular characters in West African mythology. He is often called Kwaku (father) Anansi. As a trickster character, Anansi was renowned for his intelligence and resourcefulness. In some stories, Anansi served as an intermediary to the sky god Nyame, his father. (In other tales, Nyame was Anansi's friend rather than his father.)
As a culture hero, Anansi was considered the creator of the Sun, Moon and stars and therefore responsible for day and night. He also brought rain and taught humans how to sow grain. anansasem A story tells how Anansi came to own all the tales that are told.
In the beginning, all the tales belonged to Nyame. Anansi wanted to own the stories himself, so he offered to buy them. Nyame told Anansi he was willing to sell the stories, but the price was high. He wanted three things: Mmoboro, the hornets; Onini, the great python; and Osebo, the leopard.
Anansi was confident that he was smart enough to accomplish these tasks. First he cut a gourd and made a small hole in it. He then poured water over himself and the tree where the hornets lived. Anansi then told the hornets that they were stupid for staying in the rain, and he offered the gourd as shelter. When the hornets flew into the gourd, Anansi plugged the hole and took the hornets to Nyame.
Then Anansi cut a bamboo stalk and went to visit Onini, the python. He told Onini that he and his wife had argued over whether Onini was shorter or longer than the pole.
Onini suggested Anansi measure him against the pole, and he lay down along it. Anansi convinced Onini to let him tie the python to the post to keep it upright. He then carried the python bound to Nyame. To capture Osebo, the leopard, Anansi first dug a pit and covered it with branches and leaves. When Osebo fell into the pit, Anansi offered to save him. He bent a large tree to the ground and tied it in place. Then he tied a rope to the top of the tree and dropped the other end of the rope into the hole.
He told Osebo to tie his tail to the rope. When Anansi released the rope holding the tree, the tree leapt upward, leaving Osebo suspended in the air. Anansi had no trouble capturing the helpless leopard. When Anansi presented Osebo to Nyame, the sky god agreed that the price had been paid. From that day on, all stories belonged to Anansi. Another Anansi story explains why some people are wiser than others. In the beginning, Anansi was renowned for his wisdom, as he possessed all the wisdom in the world. No one did anything without first asking Anansi's opinion.
However, not everyone seemed grateful for Anansi's wise counsel. To punish people for their lack of gratitude, Anansi decided to stop giving advice and take back all the wisdom he had given. He went from house to house, gathering all the pieces of wisdom. He stored wisdom in a large pot (or gourd), which he planned to hide at the top of a large tree. Anansi tied a rope around the pot and hung it on his chest. When he tried to climb the tree, however, the hanging pot prevented him from getting a good hold.
After Anansi made several failed attempts to climb the tree, his son, Ntikuma, shouted that he might have an easier time if he hung the pot on his back. Anansi responded angrily that he must not have gathered all the wisdom in the world, since Ntikuma still seemed to have some. With the pot on his back, Anansi quickly reaches the top of the tree, but his anger makes him clumsy. As he tried to tie the pot to the tree, it slipped from his hands.
The pot fell to the ground and crashed on a rock, releasing all the pieces of wisdom. People came from everywhere to grab as much wisdom as they could. The early arrivals were able to gather a lot of wisdom, but the latecomers found very little to gather. (In a slightly different version of the tale, Anansi ignored his son's advice and fell to the ground, scattering his collection of wisdom.) See anansasem for a story explaining why Anansi is the oldest animal.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Anansasem
Stories about spiders, named after the trickster hero Ashanti Anansi; a class of folk tales told by the Akan speaking people of Ghana. These are stories told for entertainment and are distinct from myths. The following example is a tale in which Anansi proved to the other animals that he was older than any other creature.
The animals had argued over which of them was older. They went to Anansi and asked him to be the judge. In turn, each animal told why it was the oldest. The guinea fowl said that when he was born there was a big grass fire. Since there was no one else in the world but him, he put out the fire. The fire had burned his legs, and they were still red.
The parrot claimed that when he was born, there were no tools or weapons. He made the first iron tool with his beak, which is why parrots' beaks are curved. The elephant claimed that when he was created, the Supreme God gave him such a big nose that very little material was left. This is why other animals have short noses.
The rabbit said that day and night didn't exist when he was born. The porcupine said that when he came into the world he was still soft. When all the animals had finished, Anansi announced that he was in fact the oldest creature. When he was born, Earth itself did not exist. When Anansi's father died, there was no ground to bury him, so Anansi had buried his father in his head. The animals had to agree that Anansi was indeed the oldest of them all.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Asamando
The land of the dead (see also underworld). A woman named Amokye welcomed the souls of the dead women to the river that the souls crossed to reach Asamando. In payment, she received from them their amoasie (loincloths) and their pearls. The Ashanti women prepared for burial were dressed in amoasia and beads so that they could give them to Amokye when crossing the river.
In a well-known Ashanti tale, a young man made a journey to Asamando in search of the spirits of his deceased wives (see Kwasi Benefo). Ashanti Pantheon See abosom.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Asase Yaa
In the West, Asase Yaa is best known as the mother of Anansi, the famous Ashanti trickster spirit. However, she is the spirit of the Earth, the Great Mother of Ghana, and an extremely important spirit in her own right. Although she is very powerful, there is no shrine or temple dedicated to her. Instead, she is worshiped in the fields.
Asase Yaa accompanied enslaved devotees to the Western Hemisphere. She is venerated in Guyana and by the Maroons of Jamaica.
Asase Yaa must be appeased, usually with libations, before the Earth is disturbed for any reason, whether planting, digging a grave, or otherwise. It is traditional to lift a coffin up and down three times before placing it on Earth in order to give Asase Yaa advance notice and time to prepare.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Nyame
The all-knowing and all-powerful Supreme God, creator of the universe and head of the Ashanti pantheon of gods and goddesses (known as the abosom). Like many African gods, Nyame was distant from humans and indifferent to their daily activities. In some traditions, Nyame was considered a man, in others as a woman, and in still others as androgynous, both male and female.
Nyame was a part of a triune deity, or triad, which consisted of Nyame, Nyankopon and Odomankoma. Nyame represented the natural universe; Nyankopon represented his kra, or life-giving power; and Odomankoma represented the creative force that created the visible world.
Not all Akan-speaking people make these distinctions between the three names of the deity. Those who distinguish between Nyame and Nyankopon identify Nyame as the feminine element, symbolized by the Moon, and Nyankopon as the masculine element, symbolized by the Sun.
In some traditions, after Nyame created Earth and populated it with humans, he lived on Earth among people. In one tale, this situation ended when a woman hit Nyame with her pestle while she was pounding grain in her mortar. In anger, the god went towards the sky.
In a different version of the myth, Nyame watched a group of women pounding grain. The women asked him to leave. When he did not move, they rushed at him and beat him with their pestles until he left the Earth for the sky.
According to a myth, in the beginning, people could not reproduce. Nyame sent a python to Earth to teach people how to mate. After that, children were born.
In a tale about the origin of death, Nyame sent his servant – a goat – to give humans the message that even if death came to them, they would not stay dead. They would come to live with Nyame in the heavens. On the way, the goat stopped to eat some grass. Annoyed by the delay, Nyame sent a sheep with the same message. Unfortunately, the sheep got the wrong message; he told people that death would be the end.
When the goat finally arrived, the people told him that they had accepted the sheep's message. This is how death came into the world. In a different myth, the people were tired of dying, so they sent a sheep to bring a message to Nyame asking him to let them continue living. To ensure the message reached Nyame, they also sent a dog. Faster than the sheep, which had stopped to eat grass, the dog arrived first at Nyame.
However, he gave the wrong message. He told Nyame that people wished to stay dead rather than join Nyame in the heavens. Nyame agreed to this, and when the sheep arrived with the right message, Nyame could not change his decision.
Nyame's goat was also responsible for thwarting Nyame's plans regarding his sons, Bia and tano. Nyame planned to give Bia, his favorite, the most fertile and beautiful parts of the land of Ashanti (present-day Ghana). Tano would receive the arid coastal lands (present-day Ivory Coast). Nyame sent the goat to tell his sons to come the next day for their inheritance.
The goat preferred Tano over Bia, so she ordered Tano to disguise himself as Bia and go to Nyame very early in the morning. Deceived, Nyame gave Tano the land intended for Bia. When Bia arrived, Nyame realized what had happened, but it was too late to correct the mistake.
In some myths, Nyame appears as the father of the trickster hero Anansi the Spider.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Nyankopon
Nyame represented the natural universe; Nyankopon, his kra, or invigorating power; and Odomankoma, the creative force that created the visible world. Not all Akan-speaking people make these distinctions between the three names of the deity. Those who distinguish between Nyame and Nyankopon identify Nyame as the feminine element, symbolized by the Moon, and Nyankopon as the masculine element, symbolized by the Sun.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Obayifo
A type of living vampire found among the Ashanti people on the Gold Coast in West Africa. The obayifo is said to be a man or woman, capable of leaving their body at night to move around and cause harm of all kinds. The vampire's main pleasure is drinking the blood of children, causing their slow and painful death. It also attacks crops, sucking out the sap and vital juices, thus causing terrible plagues, particularly in cocoa crops.
Anyone can be an obayifo, although some clues to their identity are available – an obsession with food, meat in particular, and constantly changing eyes. When flying at night, the vampire is phosphorescent. The name is derived from the Ashanti word bayi, meaning “witchcraft”. The obayifo is similar to the West Indian loogaroo.
Akan Ashanti Pantheon: Odomankoma
Odomankoma is an aspect of the triple god Nyame. (The third aspect was Nyankopon.) Nyame represented the natural universe; Nyankopon, his kra, or invigorating power; and Odomankoma, the creative force that created the visible world. However, not all Akan-speaking people make these distinctions between the three names of the deity.
Odomankoma was worshiped as god of the Earth and its physical characteristics. Some Akan said that Odomankoma created the Earth by carving it from an inert substance devoid of kra.
In other traditions, Odomankoma is said to have first created the ocean; he then created the Earth and the sky by pressing down on the Earth and raising the sky. After that, he created all things in the world, animals and humans.
In some traditions, Odomankoma created death and death killed him.
After Odomankoma's death, he either lived on in a different form or was resurrected, according to the traditional account.
