| Marcel Desailly, Ike Quartey, George Ayittey, Joseph Arthur Ankrah |
| Total population |
|---|
| 2 million people 8% of Ghana's population |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Predominantly in Greater Accra Region, Eastern Region of Ghana and Togo, as well as the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States of America, and Canada |
| Languages |
| Religion |
The Ga-Adangbe are an ethnic group in the West African nation of Ghana. It is part of the Dangme ethnic group. The Ga people are grouped as part of the Ga–Dangme ethnolinguistic group. They speak Kwa languages[1]
The Ga-Adangbe people inhabit mostly the Greater Accra Plains. Some are found in the Eastern Region at Akuse, Somaya, Dodowa, Akwapim, Akwamu and surrounding areas in Ghana. Others live in the Anecho area in Togo. The modern day Adangbe include the people of Osu, Shai, La, Ningo, Kpone, Osudoku, Krobo, Gbugbla(Prampram), Ada and Agotime who speak similar dialects.
The Ga also include the Ga-Mashie groups occupying neighborhoods in the central part of Accra, and other Ga speakers who migrated from Akwamu, Anecho in Togo, Akwapim, and surrounding areas.
There are about 2,000,000 Ga-Adangbe speakers, making up about 8% of Ghana's population. Most Ga live in the southeastern coastal region of the country, around the capital of Accra, which the Ga founded in the 16th century as a trading port. The traditional Ga kingdom of Nkran gives Accra its name. Nkran state has been ruled by a succession of kings known as Ga Mantse since its founding in 1510.In more recent times, Teteh-Quarshie is given credit for bringing the Cocoa to Ghana in the 19th century. Today Cocoa is one of Ghana's main exports and Ghana is the second leading exporter of the crop in the world.
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The Ga people celebrate the Homowo festival, which literally means "hooting at hunger." This festival originated several centuries ago after a great famine in Ga land. The passing of this terrible period was marked by celebrating this festival. It takes place every year and is celebrated by all the Ga clans, but in stages by the various groups and "quarters," beginning with the Ga Mashie and ending with the La.
The Ada people celebrate Asafotu which is also called 'Asafotufotufiam',an annual warrior's festival celebrated by the people of Ada in the Greater Accra Region from the last Thursday of July to the first weekend of August. It commemorates the victories of the warriors in battle and those who fell on the battlefield. To re-enact these historic events, the warrior dresses in traditional battle dress and stage a mock battle. This is also a time when the young men are introduced to warfare. The festival also ushers in the harvest cycle for this special customs and ceremonies are performed. These include purification ceremonies. The celebration reaches its climax in a durbar of chiefs, a colourful procession of the Chiefs in palanquins with their retinue. They are accompanied by traditional military groups called 'Asafo Companies' amidst drumming, singing and dancing through the streets and on the durbar grounds. At the durbar, greetings are exchanged between the chiefs, libations are poured and declarations of allegiance made.
The Ga-Adangbe are no different from the other ethnic groups in Ghana in their love for music, drumming and dancing. One of their best known traditional music and dance styles (albeit a fairly modern one) is kpanlogo, a modernized traditional dance and music form developed around 1960. Obo Addy, and Mustapha Tettey Addy are Ga drummers who have achieved international fame.
The Ga people are known for their funeral celebrations and processions. The Ga believe that when someone dies, they move to another life. Therefore, special coffins are often crafted by highly skilled carpenters since this tradition spread in the 50's. Pioneers were master craftsmen like Paa Joe, Paa Willy and Seth Kane Kwei[2] from Teshie.
The coffins can be anything wanted by relatives of the deceased from a pencil to any animal such as an elephant. Coffins are usually crafted to reflect an essence of the deceased, in forms such as a character trait, an occupation, or a symbol of one's standing in the community.[3] For example, a taxicab driver is most likely to be buried in a coffin shaped as a car. Many families spend excessive amounts on coffins because they often feel that they have to pay their last respects to the deceased and being buried in a coffin of cultural, symbolic as well expensive taste is seen as fitting. Prices of coffins can vary depending on what is being ordered. It is not unusual for a single coffin to cost $600. This is expensive for local families considering that it is not unusual to meet people with an income of only $50 a month. This means that funerals are often paid for by wealthier members of the family, if such a member exists, with smaller contributions coming from other working members of the family. This is needed as the coffin is only a portion of the total funeral cost that will be incurred. Some people foreign to Ghana are known to have been buried in Ga-styled coffins.[4]
The use of these fantasy coffins is explained by the religious beliefs of the Ga people regarding their afterlife. They believe that death is not the end and that life continues in the next world in the same way it did on earth. Ancestors are also thought to be much more powerful than the living and able to influence their relatives who are still living (lucky as they are). This is why families do everything they can to ensure that a dead person is sympathetic towards them as early as possible. The social status of the deceased depends primarily on the size and the success of the burial service and of course the usage of an exclusive coffin. Design coffins are only seen on the day of the burials when they are buried with the deceased. They often symbolise the dead people’s professions, the purpose being to help them continue with their earthly profession in the afterlife. Certain shapes, such as a sword or chair coffin, represent royal or priestly insignia with a magical and religious function. Only people with the appropriate status are allowed to be buried in these types of coffins. Various creatures, such as lions, cockerels and crabs represent clan totems. Similarly, only the heads of the families concerned are permitted to be buried in coffins such as these. Many coffin shapes also evoke proverbs, which are interpreted in different ways by the Ga. Design coffins have been used in the Greater Accra region since around the 1950s, especially in rural groups with traditional beliefs, and have now become an integral part of local burial culture.
Today, figural coffins are made in several workshops across the whole Greater Accra region. Successful coffinmakers are for example Cedi and Eric Adjetey Anang of Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop and Kudjoe Affutu. Most of the figural coffins are used for funerals, only a few are exported for international art exhibitions.
Some scholars believe the Ga-Adangbe people originated to the east of their current location on the Accra plains. The Ga language,a Kwa Language, suggest the Origin of the people is much the same as their Akan neighbors. Kwa Language speakers are believed to have Originated in East/Central Africa.[5]
Due to the Geopolitical significance of the Land the Ga occupy it was part of the Empire of Akwamu, Akyem, Ashanti and later part of the Gold Coast (British colony)[6][7]
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