Evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy a palace and Christ a cross, but one day the same Christ will rise up and split history into AD and BC, so that even the life of Caesar must be dated by His name – Dr Martin Luther King.
In October last year, I tried to focus attention on how many of us, as Ghanaians, have virtually forgotten our roots in terms of norms, mores, customs, practices and behaviours. The issue stemmed from the inability of a junior high school student to mention the names of the months of the year in Twi in response to a question posed by the father.
We are indeed a lost generation. This is seen sometimes on the airwaves, where those who could string together local proverbs become instant celebrities, even where they make mistakes. One such unmerited celebrity emerged at the funeral of the late Lucy Adoma Yeboah, where he served as Master of Ceremonies and was showered with monetary gifts.
Despite the fact that some of the claims he made were baseless and wrong, the man who claimed to be called “Doctor”, advertised himself. He could, however, not distinguish between abusua and ntoro (nton).
Under Akan custom, the human being is made up of three elements, honam, sunsum and okra. These translate into body, spirit and soul. The child is supposed to take the body from the mother or family (abusua), the spirit from the father (nton) and the soul from God. These represent the Christian faith of the Holy Trinity of God the Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost.
The cultural belief is that the honam provides the individual the basis for wealth and position, while the sunsum derived from the father, defines the integrity and character of the person. It is the expectation that to be fit enough to inherit the uncle, the child must demonstrate traits of the father that he or she has been properly brought up by the father. Correspondingly, it is an obligation for the father to ensure the proper upbringing of the children, such that when they inherit their uncles, they will bring honour to his good name.
It is imperative for people to appreciate the difference between abusua and ntoro (nton). Each of the ntoro, like the abusua, have their appellations, greetings and responses as well as totems.
In his book, Obi Kyere, A. A. Opoku maintains that there are twelve ntoro namely Bosompra, Bosomtwe, Bosommuru, Bosom-Nketeaa or Bosompo, Bosom-Dwerebe, Bosom-Akom, Bosomafi, Bosomayesu, Bosomkonsi, Bosom-Sika, Bosomafram and Bosomkrete. He notes further that these could be sub-divided, such as Aboadee, Atweree, Adifudee and Ankamadwa, which are derived from Bosomtwe or Dwerebehene, Dwerebe Brafo and Dwerebe Taotao or Antoamfom from Bosom-Dwerebe.
He also points out that “ntoro biara wo ne da a wode som no, n’akyeneboa ne n’akyiwade”, and points out that there are some characteristics which make members of each ntoro unique, such as “ntoro b i ye den anaase eye adoe”.
In pointing out some of the characteristics of the ntoro groups, A. A. Opoku states that for the Bosompra: Adenfo, their day is Wednesday and their totem is the crocodile. Some of the names associated with Bosompra are Agyeman, Akyeampon, Amoako, Asare, Boaten, Boakye, Okyere, Kwakye, Kyeretwie, Ofori, Owusu and Oti. Their river is River Pra.
For the Bosomtwe, they are noted to have fellow feeling and are generous to others. Their totem is the monkey. The Bosomofo are seen to command respect and their totem is the panther. The Bosom-Nketea are known to be proud and arrogant and their totem is the hippopotamus. Some of the names are Poakwa, Ayim, Anyimadu, Dakwa, Boadu, Antwi and Okurofa. When they greet you, the response should be “amen, opeafo or osua”.
The Bosom-Awerebofo are noted to be unstable while the Bosomakomfo want everybody to know that they are around. Their totem is the dog. Some of names are Asuman Adu, Akomaa, Oben, Anim Ado and Ankomahene.
The Bosomafifo are noted to be neat and clean. Their totem is the goat. Bomayesufo are noted to be showy while the Bosomkonsifo are well-natured and good mannered and their totem is the tortoise.
They do not like mixing up easily with others or poking their noses into other people’s matters. On the other hand, the Bosomafifo are noted to demonstrate a pride, a desire to do things big and they are noted for transparency and openness.
For the Bosomafram, some of the names are Afram, Peasa, Dame, Amponsa, Awua and Anokye, while the Bosomkretefo are seen to be haughty, hawkish.
From all these, it must be clear that abusua and ntoro are never the same, since the eight main abusuakuo in Akan are – Asakyiri (Pone), Agona, Asona, Aduana, Oyoko, Ekuona, Bretuo and Asenee.
It is said that “se wowere firi wo kuromhene aben a, woyera adwabo ase” to wit, if you fail to recognise the horn of your chief, you feel lost at the durbar grounds.
That is why we need to know these.