Beliefs About Ghosts in Ghana: What the Living Say About the Dead

Widespread Beliefs in GhostsAlthough no large-scale self-report study has been conducted on belief in ghosts in Ghana, it is fair to say that belief in ghosts or apparitions is widespread across the country. These beliefs are especially strong among the Akan of southern Ghana, where ideas about death, spirits, and the afterlife are deeply embedded…

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Akan Deities and Their Day Names: Onyankopɔn Kwame, Asaase Yaa, Po Abenaa and Kofi Yesu

Among the Akan of Ghana, naming is never a casual act. Names locate a person in time, history, morality, and the spiritual universe. One of the most distinctive Akan naming practices is the giving of day names (kradin), assigned according to the day of the week on which a child is born. These names are…

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