Although sources did not specify whether the following widowhood rites apply to the akan people, this additional information regarding widowhood rites in ghana is of interest. Although african rites of passage appear similar, there is notable difference in the style of celebration. Widows population and the challenges of widowhood rites. Agonies of widows hit by harsh nigerian traditions vanguard. Generally, girls become women and are now ready to marry, while boys evolve into. In africa, human rights and religion often go together. The issue of widowhood rites, which has been described as one of the most dehumanising, uncivilised and negative cultural practices in the world, due to its associated violation of the rights of women, is still rife in some parts of the three northern regions of ghana. Many places all over the world will experience agonizing rites of passage in order to prove their faith, dexterity, and maturity, even at the risk of extreme pain. Sandee lamotte, cnn, widowhood increases risk of alzheimers, study says, 26 feb. Ghana, the succession amended act, uganda, the administrator generals act, cap 140, uganda, to. They are kept out of the sight of the men in the community for a month, then for about a week before the ceremony, the girls wait in an isolated hut, dressed in colourful beaded headdresses and animal skin.
The word akyum is used to describe a group of three states. First, widowed status is often combined with divorced and separated status, making it difficult to determine the independent effects of widowhood. Jan, 2015 before they can get married the girls must go through a rite of passage to mark their coming of age. On the same day, she perform the semipurification rites by taking her bath around 4. Outmoded cultural practices and its effects on victims. The constitutional arrangements mentioned earlier have proven beyond doubt to be inadequate in protecting widows in ghana because the practice persists and is on the ascendancy. It also sought to find out why widowhood rites persist in spite of ghana being a signatory to many human rights instruments. The effects of widowhood on physical and mental health. The widowhood ritual safeguarded and guaranteed the entrance and acceptance of the deceased spouse into the world of the ancestors.
Working through womens groups in ghana s churches, moreover, social activists drew attention to the cruel aspects of widowhood rites, pushing for reform and even abolition. Here it made mention of the different ways, of how pregnant woman are subjected to. The present study was conducted to find out the effect of widowhood rites on the psychosocial wellbeing of widows in nadowli district of the upper west region ghana. It must be pointed out that, the practice of widowhood rite is not only. The third category are those scholars who hold vehemently that widowhood rites in africa are barbarous, cruel. Contemporary social problems in ghana in searchworks catalog. It is noteworthy that ghana is the only country in the world that has attempted to eliminate degrading and harmful widows mourning rites by legislation. As soon as the woman becomes a half widow, her status in the family is reduced to a maid and in most cases, she. After the child naming ceremony, puberty rites are the next set of rituals of social status transformation which children undergo in ghanaian culture. Reasons for identifying puberty rites as harmful or good reasons for identifying fostering as harmful or good reasons for identifying widowhood rites as either harmfulor good preference for mp preference for assembly member knowledge of areas of work of institutions 23 28 36 39 90 90 99 cultural practices affecting womens rights in ghana 7. Consider also ghana s abolition of many cruel aspects of widowhood and puberty rites. Paul kyalo school of humanities and social sciences mount kenya university p. These rites of passages are quite unique and interesting to know, and they are a crucial aspect of the culture of africans. Widowhood in african society and its effects on womens health.
Pdf effects of widowhood rites on the psychosocial wellbeing. Unique ways different african cultures celebrate rites of passage. Jumia travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 4 unique african rites of passage. Changes of this sort take time, but this is also true in the global north, where many religious groups still hold attitudes, and engage in behaviours, that cause real harm. He played for hearts of oak in ghana, except for the 199495 season at sportul studen. Tasie department of religious and cultural studies university of port harcourt nigeria abstract studies on widowhood rites in africa generally bemoan what scholars consider as unpleasant treatment of. Africa is home to innumerable tribes, ethnic and social groups, some representing very large populations consisting of millions of people, others are smaller groups of. Effects of widowhood rites on the psychosocial wellbeing of women in nadowli district upperwest region ghana article pdf available january 2014 with 5,082 reads how we measure reads. Until the early 19th century it was considered honourable in some parts of india for a hindu widow to immolate herself on her late husbands funeral pyre. Policy response to widowhood rites among the awori of ogun. The rite of mourning the demise of a husband in nigeria has for a very long time been taken to the extreme by the relatives of the dearly departed either because they have plans of punishing the. The paper examines the situational analysis of the awori widow, conceptualsocial construction of widowhood, economic and psychological challenges associated.
There are 823,562 widowed persons in ghana out of a population of about 24,000,000. The ewe speaking people of west africa inhabit the areas between the river volta in modern ghana and the river mono on the western borders of the ancient kingdom of benin dahomey see map 1. Published to promote the goals of the beijing declaration and the platform for action asdf. The widow must talk, if possible write herself into being. The article describes the situation of the widows as silent victims who suffer cruel and dehumanising cultural and ritual practices as a mourning process for their dead spouses. The inhuman treatment put on the widows varies per culture.
Widowhood definition of widowhood by merriamwebster. Child marriage in this sample was associated with increased odds of poorer health, as measured by difficulties in daily activities or 2. A widowhood rite is a period when one undergoes rites rituls or creameries upon the death of the spouse as part of the process of ritually separating him. Unfortunately, most studies on widowhood rites in africa generally bemoan the. The research on the yoruba women and by extension, the nigerian wid ow, is an attempt to draw attention to the travails of widows. Widowhood practices and impacts on women in subsaharan. Widowhood practices of the gbi northern ewe of ghana african. The case of the awori of ogun state, southwestern nigeria. Here, when a woman loses her husband, she is made to undergo the cruel rite of sleeping next to her husbands dead body for a night. A widow is a woman whose husband has died and who has not married again. In the case of widows, this fact is often ignored or forgotten. Pdf facts from fiction, myths from reality, widowhood rites in an. There are several limitations in this body of literature to note.
Initiation rites and rituals in african cosmology prof. By so doing, she must carve out a space for herself by not allowing anyone tell her story but have it told herself. Widowhood practices in subsaharan africa ssa have been detrimental to womens general wellbeing and as such considered a serious social problem. Widowhood rites and womens fundamental human rights in ekiti state, nigeria corresponding author. Sat foundation urges widows to say no to widowhood rights. Most ghanaians speak two or more african languages. Ghanaian youth challenged to stand against widowhood rites. O box 3420, thika kenya abstract this essay is an analysis of the rituals in african cosmology. Hausa, a nigerian language introduced into ghana nearly 200 years ago, has become a lingua franca common language throughout the country.
The department of international environment and development studies, noragric, is the international gateway for the norwegian university of life sciences umb. African traditional widowhood rites and their benefits andor. Wicked widowhood practices that must be abolished in nigeria. One must however be quick to state that aspects of these rites considered to be idol worship by foreign religions are left out. Ghanaian widows are routinely accused by the community of having caused the death of their husband, or even of literally. Women groups call for the abolishment of cruel widowhood rites. The second stage of mourning begins at the end of the seventh day. Ensuring that the rights of women are protected needs to first recognise this fact. Van gennep, 19062010 yet when femalespecific rites of passage are examined, lincoln 1981 observes a distinctly. Widowhood rituals and widow inheritance in the balikumbat. Ghanaians introduction, location, language, folklore.
Widowhood rites have often been described as being cruel, archaic, dehumanizing and. I see the widowhood rites as an infringement on the womani see the widowhood rites as an infringement on the woman ss rights, reducing rights, reducing. May 25, 2018 ms patricia ayichuru, programme officer at wom indicated that her ngo was not against all widowhood rites but those such as bathing the widow in public, forcing the widow to take concoction. Here it made mention of the different ways, of how pregnant woman are subjected to one taboos or the other in various towns in.
The gadangmes are one ethnic group that lives primarily in the greater accra of ghana. Recent examples on the web alzheimers strikes many more women than men, and the study authors suggest widowhood may explain some of that discrepancy between the sexes. The widows and orphans ministry wom was founded in 1993 by betty ayagiba or ayageba public agenda 19 june 2006. These widows find themselves in 75 different ethnic groups, most of which discriminate against widows. The description is based on research conducted by pauw, published in 1990, and confirmed by other researchers in some other african contexts. Rites of passage as could be seen in this work dealt with the various ritual which an individual undergo from one stage to another. African societies are known for marking the different transitions of a persons life cycle with different ritual or rites of passage. The ewes use a system of giving the first name of a child as the day of the week that the child was born. The main objective of these scholars is to advocate. This is one of the most archaic and barbaric cultural practices still performed in certain places around the world. The ghana news agency gna was established on march 5, 1957, i.
Eighty six percent 86% of these are women, which means there are over 700,000 widows statsghana. Pdf effects of widowhood rites on the psychosocial well. Widowhood rites performed by the akan people, particularly for chiefs and subchiefs. The body of my husband was yet to be put in the mortuary when the brother took me to another room and asked about the documents of the house, insisting that i had to leave. She has to dismantle images constructed around her and reveal her true self. The reasons for sexual cleansing death is one of the most feared and most universal. These are nations located in the eastern region of modern day ghana. The impact of widowhood rite on the ghanaian woman in the new. The case of widowhood rituals amongst the people of balungu community, ghana. They vary greatly according to religions, ethnicities and tribe affiliation, but as a common feature they include degrading, humiliating, discriminating and inhumane practices. The department of psychology and education practicum two group two of the university of education, winneba, has called for the abolition of cruel aspects of widowhood rites in society. Oluwatusin 3 page on the fortieth day, the widow does not sleep, she sings along with other people who are women. The victims of this type of outmoded custom are always women widows. Mortuary rites within ghana are held in high esteem and ones success in life, moral life, age, status and nature of death determine the kind of mortuary rites performed in ones honour.
The third category are those scholars who hold vehemently that widowhood rites in africa are barbarous, cruel and uncivilized, and need christianity and western civilization to purge them of these impurities. This assertion that the practice of widowhood rites is on the increase in ghana is neither a fabrication nor an exaggeration. Widowhood definition is the fact or state of being a widow. Eight departments, associated research institutions and the norwegian college of veterinary medicine in oslo. The impact of widowhood rite on the ghanaian woman in the new millennium. Gone are those days when a widow cannot contest for an equal right in the inheritance of her husbands property. Augustine abbey, also known as idikoko, is a ghanaian actor and movie maker known for comedy. This paper, therefore, investigated widowhood practices among the gbiewes of northern volta region in ghana, so as to ascertain whether these rites and practices are only targeted at dehumanising and oppressing african womanhood, or in spite of its criminalisation in recent times, it still has certain embedded cultural values that ensure the. Pdf outmoded cultural practices and its effects on victims. Widowhood practices cross borders, please dont think it only happens in nigeria or just africa for the matter.
Most of these rites are meant to cleanse the widow. The observance of widowhood rites has been with the akans. The 1989 amendment to the penal code criminalises the acts of any person who compels a widow to undergo any custom or practice that is cruel, immoral, or grossly indecent. Traditional widowhood rites are a widespread phenomenon in cameroon. Child marriage and associated outcomes in northern ghana. She called on ghana and africa to support widows and widowers who suffer from economic hardships, the difficulties of single parenthood and loneliness. The dreadful sensation is worth it considering the perks that come with passing an initiation.
This paper is an ethnographic study of the plight of widowed women in nigeria especially in the. Theological reflections on sex as a cleansing ritual for african widows 205 cover the widow in a long cloth called a chitenge so that there is no nudity when the widow slides or thighbrushes against the man enveloped in the same cloth mulango 2001. Cruel widowhood rites in africa exposed joynews akumaa. This article discusses the plight and suffering of widows in terms of their social, economic, psychological and human rights violations in three west african societies. The widow must discard the policy of silence and voice out her feelings in whatever way she can. It will deal with a comprehensive interpretation of ritual and their meaning or meanings. The underlying motivations for widowhood rites are linked to cultural belief and local cosmology that the widow is a prime suspect of her spouses death and that the widow would therefore need to prove her innocence to the family through these rituals. Arnold van gennep coined the term rites of passage, in 1906, identifying three stages to initiate adolescents into adulthood separation, liminality, and reincorporation. The article widowhood in african society and its effects on womans health is focused on the practices that are oppressive and humiliating to women as a result of the death of the husband. The widowhood rites and practices are found in many parts of nigeria, including anambra, imo, abia, enugu and ebonyi states. To be supplied and extends from the atlantic coast inland up to about latitude 7. The widow was given a pair of split calabash in which she was to eat and drink from and was not to wash hands before or after meals.
A religious viewpoint introduction africa is one continent with several worlds. In other words, a widow is a married woman who has been deprived of her legal husband as a result of death. The impact of widowhood rite on the ghanaian woman in the. Ghana needs to help its widows and widowers grow in self confidence and lead normal lives. Cohabitation, marriage and remarriage patterns in africa. The ga and dangbe people are grouped respectively as part of the gadangme ethnolinguistic group.
Some of these rites include cruel and degrading treatment. Some african widowhood rites in the phokwane area this section describes some of the widowhood rites in the phokwane area of limpopo. Theological reflections on sex as a cleansing ritual for. Hausa is a second language for more ghanaians, but can be used to communicate with people from other groups. In chapter one, pregnancy rites was one of the rites of passage. Ethnic ga family names surnames such as lartey, nortey, aryee, poku, lamptey, tetteh, ankrah, tetteyfio, laryea. It is against this premise therefore that this paper examines the policy response to widowhood rites among the awori of ogun state, south west, nigeria. Widowhood rites are still observed today in asante. In subsaharan region of africa in which ghana is located, prejudices against. Ancestorhood was to be achieved only if all the norms associated to widowhood were rigidly respected ohale 2009. He was also capped for ghana, and was a squad member in the 1992 african cup of nations and the 1997 korea cup. The evidence relating widowhood to poor health status and negative health behaviors is inconsistent. Journal of the of population assciation of nigeria, 4 2. The african woman remains victims of harmful traditional rites that are associated with the passing away of their beloved spouses.
The widow smears herself and her clothing with black charcoal and remains so for three months. The department of international environment and development. These practices are dehumanizing, degrading, barbaric. African rites of passage by andrew potawsky on prezi. No further information regarding widowhood rites of widows of chiefs or subchiefs could be found among the sources consulted by the research directorate. Usually, the communities see mortuary rites and associated observances as a social. Widow inheritance also known as bride inheritance is a cultural and social practice whereby a widow is required to marry a male relative of her late husband, often his brother. Agonies of widows hit by harsh nigerian traditions. The harmful nature of these widowhood practices on the woman as an individual with rights is the focus of this. Widowhood practices of the gbi northern ewe of ghana. The widows alliance network wane project for sustainable economic development of widows aims at emancipating ghanaian widows from the social, cultural and economic difficulties brought about by. Widowhood rites still rife in northern regions modern ghana. Nigerian widow, in the course of fulfilling funeral rites, is subjected to a greater agony than the grief of the loss of her husband. What is taboo for one culture is tradition for another.