Kumawuman is Reviving the Puberty Ceremony for Girls

Kumawuhemaa with Dr Yaw Sarfo who styles himself as Kumawuhene going by the stool name Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua, is on course to revive the puberty ceremony for girls in Kumawuman. She has caused an official on air announcement to be made in Ghana to that effect as latest as Wednesday, 6^th March 2019.

Her timing of the announcement was so perfect to coincide with the memorable celebration date of Ghana’s independence. However, as Ghana has nothing to be actually proud of to justify the celebration of her independence, so shall the initiative by Kumawuhemaa be. It will be much ado about nothing!

What is the puberty ceremony for girls as pertained in some third world countries especially, in Africa, one may ask? “Most cultures mark the rites of passage in life with special ceremonies, observations or events”. The celebration of puberty rite for girls is usually to mark the transition of a girl to adulthood. Customs vary throughout Africa according to region, nation and tribe.

When a girl gets her first period, it is an indication of her natural transition to adulthood. Therefore, in time past, a customary ceremony would be performed for such a girl by her family, friends and the village folk. There are some procedural traditional rites to go through and finally, the girl will be brought outdoor on an appointed day, lavishly dressed in traditional gear and nearly naked. Traditional drums will be beaten and the girl or if they are many, the girls being celebrated will dance to the tune of the traditional ritual songs, in public.

Many people would come to watch them. It was during such ceremonies that again, some men came looking for women to marry from among the girls being celebrated. The girls were to be virgins unlike today that some girls before having their first period will have had sexual intercourse with a man and broken their virginity already.

This tradition has become defunct among many tribes and regions, especially in the Ashanti region. Therefore, it comes as a surprise that for no apparent reason, the Kumawuhemaa Nana Abenaa Serwaah Amponsah, the most disrespectful and most wicked queen among queens in Ghana, has announced that she is going to revive the puberty ceremony in Kumawuman. She claims to have two hundred young virgins that she will start the ceremony with. Although the Krobos in the Eastern region still proudly celebrate their puberty rites called Dipo, despite the influences of education and modernisation.

Anyway, puberty rites ceremony has been dead in Kumawuman for the past several decades so it comes as a surprise to many its sudden intended revival by Kumawuhemaa. There could be more to it than it meets the eye. Kumawuhemaa may have a hidden malicious agenda to her initiative. Subsequently, a secret investigation must be conducted to find out why.

She claims to be ready to give the two hundred participating girls various gifts after the ceremony. I shall only advise any young girl ready to take part in the ceremony not to. Nana Abenaa Serwaah Amponsah has never been up to anything good but evil, since she ascended to the queen’s stool in Kumawu.

Is what she plans doing not in conformity with a direction probably secretly given to her by a fetish or jujuman she has visited, but all for malicious reasons? She is not a queen to be trusted one bit as wicked and myopic as she is.

Trust ye not Abenaa Serwaah Amponsah and her intended puberty celebration of the two hundred young virgin girls. I have warned you all so should you be that obstinate to allow your daughter to participate in it and later something happens to her, do not blame anyone but yourselves. “Obstinacy is the cause of the horns of the hornbill” –“Se wo antie enne owan atiko po”

Why has she out of the blue decided to revive the ceremony that is defunct, if not outmoded? She has a secret plan. She had better plan and initiate the economic development of Kumawuman than to embark on meaningless ceremony that will not put bread/food on one’s table.

Rockson Adofo