Abele Azani -The Spiritual Grain That Sustained Ahanta Throughout The Ages

The traditional food for the people of Ahanta is "Foomfoom" and the best of it is the one prepared with RED MAIZE also known as "Abele Azani" in Ahanta language. Preparing "Foomfoom" is a bit hectic and time-consuming but it is actually what a traditional Ahanta man or woman would want to have as his or her last meal of the day. Why? Our forefathers said it cures and heal us of our diseases, sicknesses and grant us long life with good health.

Aside being their traditional food, Ahantas believe in the spirituality of "Abele Azani". For them, "Abele Azani" is a source of long life and good health. They believe it has spiritual connotations and ancestral connections which tightens the bond between the living and the dead. They consider it as a weapon to drive away demons and evil forces their homes. It fortifies them against dark powers and misfortunes but bring them good luck and fortunes during planting and harvesting seasons. Today, Ahantas especially those in Sekondi-Takoradi have lost touch of "Abele Azani" and it spirituality. That is very sad and it tells our true state as people and reasons why meaningful Ahantas should be worried.

In 1700s, Wellin Bosman the Dutch explorer toured Gold Coast and on reaching Ahanta, he noticed that they were the only people in then known Gold Coast and other places he had toured in Africa who had the "Abele Azani" which he described as SWEET. He further described how Ahantas were religiously, spiritually and customarily attached to these red grains apart from using as a staple food. They performed almost all their customs and practices with it and in fact, their whole lives as people centered on it.

How Ahantas came to possess this maize remains a mystery but our oral traditions and myths say that it is the exact maize that Dwarfs handed over to Akpoley when he chanced on them dancing while he was on a hunting expedition. There other accounts which say that maize in general was introduced to Africa by Portuguese from South America but Bossman's account indicates that the RED MAIZE was unique to only Ahantas. If this is true, then Akpoley's account certainly predates the arrival of Europeans in Africa though one should admits inaccuracies in oral traditions and myths. In as much as we should admit inaccuracies in oral traditions and myths, we should also admit the fact not everything good came from Europe to Africa.

Our oral traditions and myths narrate that Ahanta had been hit with intense famine as soon as they settled at their present locations after long years of migration from Bono. Akpoley being one of Ahanta's chief hunters was on a hunting expedition to find food or possibly another suitable area for settlement considering the intensity of the famine. In the course of his expedition, he chanced on Dwarfs dancing under a certain palm tree. He hid himself and studied how they danced for several days and in one of days, the Dwarfs noticed his presence and caught him. He pleaded with them to spare his life and also narrated how hunger was killing his people. Out of pity and mercies, the Dwarfs spared his life. They also gave him some red grains and asked him to go and grow it to feed his people and that was how the Kundum festival celebrated by Ahantas and Nzemas begun. The Dwarfs also taught him how to dance the ABISA which eventually became the traditional dance of Ahanta and Nzema people and the official dance for the Kundum festival.

Today in Ahanta, Kundum is gradually fading away with the Abisa dance. It is only celebrated in villages around Agona Nkwanta. Kwesimintsim has also been celebrating it and that is really commendable by the chief of Kwesimintsim, Nana Egozi Esoun VII and his people. They are probably the only people in Sekondi-Takoradi who are keeping alive traditions and spirituality of Ahanta in Sekondi-Takoradi. It saddens some of us how we are throwing away such dignified cultural heritage bequeath to us by our forefathers. We are greatly losing touch with our spirituality as people and the very reasons why many Ahantas especially the youths shy away from their identity.

Indeed, Wellin Bosman is on record to have been the first European to witness the Kundum festival in Ahanta and he gave a vivid account on how it is celebrated with "Abele Azani" featuring prominently in all activities as far as Kundum is concerned. He spoke about how they used it to prepare all their meals as well as performing other practices including spiritual fortifications with it. On the Kundum festival, Bosman spoke about how Ahantas danced at nights in circular forms around fires with bangles tied to their legs. They would stamp their feet hard on the ground with the bangles making noise. They also used the same formations when they are going to war.

While growing up with my grandmother at Apemenyim, she held certain spiritual and traditional beliefs about "Abele Azani" that wondered me. She treated it with some kind of reverence and specialty. She always made me feel that our whole lives as people depended on it. I never understood her until I started researching on Ahanta and red maize. In fact, I never believed my grandmother in those and felt she was being overly superstitious with her beliefs in "Abele Azani" but she kept on telling me that I would understand it someday and I guess I have understood it now.

Even though we lived on subsistence, we sometimes had enough maize and sold some of them for cash for household needs and my grandmother would sell most of her farm produce but certainly not "Abele Azani". No matter how she is in need of money, she would never sell it but would rather give it out freely to anybody who needs it. If I ask her, she would tell me "Abele Azani" is not for sale. She would never trade "Abele Azani" for anything that bring money. According to her, their forefathers cautioned them not to trade it for money and wealth but rather they should give it out freely to anybody who is in it need of it.

She recounted to me how in the olden days, Badu Bonso would call all his sub-chiefs in the kingdom to gather at his palace in Owusua (Busua) and share among them grains of "Abele Azani" . He would then charge them to grow it into larger folds and return some to his palace after harvesting so that he does not ran out of stock. The chiefs would return to their various communities and share the grains to heads of various families and households and also charge them to produce them in folds just as Badu Bonso charged them. Tthis is done every year to religiously ensure the sustainability of "Abele Azani" in the Ahanta kingdom. Sharing of the "Abele Azani" signifies the beginning of the planting season for Ahantas and after harvesting, the first yield must be sent to Badu Bonso at Owusua and failure to do that can result in your death based on the orders of Badu Bonso. To those who were faithful to this ancestral tradition, rewarded with dusts of gold and elevated some chiefs for keeping faithful to this tradition to ensure that Ahanta does not go back to the days of famine as it happened in Akpoley's days.

She further narrated how "Abele Azani" signified the passage between life and death in the Ahanta beliefs and customs. She recounted in the olden days in Ahanta and how Abele Azani was considered the most important family inheritance that must be shared equally among members of a family before one's death. It is the reason why she always had some grains of "Abele Azani" hidden somewhere and ready to share before her death.

If an elderly person in the family calls family members together and shares his or her stock of "Abele Azani" among them, it signifies that he or she is prepared to leave the world of the living and join the ancestors. Soon after sharing "Abele Azani" among family members, that person may not live beyond one week. It is for this reason that every Ahanta must have some stock of "Abele Azani" and pass it on to the family members before dying else it is believed that the ancestors will not welcome such a fellow in their midst.

Today Ahanta has lost in touch with "Abele Azani". I personally don't remember the last time I set my eyes on Abele Azani and let alone to taste it. How sad when we cherish the culture and practice of others and spite our own which gives our identity and spirituality as people.

Things are not the same anymore in Ahanta and I am very worried.

Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III

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