The Ga Tribe In Ghana
The Ga Tribe In Ghana are a small group of people who live in the south of Ghana. There are about 700,000 of them.The Ga are divided into six different states: Accra, Nugua, La, Osu, Teshi, and Tema. Accra was named after the old Ga kingdom, Nkran. Ga Mantse monarchs, who ruled in the early 16th century, expanded their realm to include the area around modern-day Accra.
Because the Ga laugh and hoot at hunger, the expression “hooting at hunger” (homowo) implies that hunger has no victims among them. In the 17th century, a catastrophic famine nearly wiped out the population, and this celebration honors those who perished.
Since then, the Ga have appreciated their good fortune in preserving their culture intact. Every year, they celebrate Homowo to remember how they overcame adversity and made it through another year. The Ga Mantse is in charge of the Homowo Festival, but he seldom addresses the crowd.
Like the Akan, the Ga have a linguist who acts as the Ga Mantse’s official spokesperson. The Otsame, the king’s representative, is always seen with a distinctively adorned stick. The little may wield power over the great, as represented by the coat of arms of the staff, which has a deer perched on an elephant.
The Ga have universal traits shared by other African cultures. Kids are taught to treat strangers like guests and to refer to other people as “brothers” and “sisters.” The Ga place a premium on honoring their ancestors and treating them with dignity. For this reason, Ga culture places a premium on the utilization of ancient adages.
They are huge fans of oratory, public speaking, and poetry. The Ga believe that they symbolize the people who made a huge migration from the ocean to the land one day and were given the name gaga because they resembled ants. The Ga people think everything around them has a soul.
People say that the Supreme God Nyomo breathed life into people, plants, mountains, and rivers with his divine power. Dzema Wagin are a kind of priest, priestess, or oracle, who are called upon by the spirits when they wish to interact with humans.
The religion’s top priests, known as wulomo, are revered for their selfless devotion to the community and the dead. The wulomo confer with the Ga Mantse and conduct herbal medicine and ceremonial rites to keep the social order maintained.
Funerals are a big deal for the Ga. They are highly talented artisans who create caskets to meet the specific demands of each family. They think a person’s most treasured possessions should follow them into the afterlife so they can continue to enjoy them there. Hence, a pilot could find it fitting to have an aeronautically themed casket.
Some cabbies may even choose to be buried in their vehicles. A person’s white shoes or red-dress preference could be used to draw attention to a certain aspect of their character. In that instance, the Ga coffin builder would fashion a casket to resemble either a white shoe or a scarlet garment.
The Ga Tribe in Ghana believe that a person’s spirit (or Susuma) continues to exist after their physical body dies. The family and priests execute ceremonies all year to honor the dead and ease their transition into the next world.
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