Naming Ceremony Among The Akan Tribe

HOW NAMING CEREMONY IS DONE IN THE AKAN TRIBE

STORY FILE BY STEPHEN MARVIN COBBINAH DCS 20701


Naming ceremony is an occasion at which a new born baby or babies are assigned or given names. It is also a celebration of family and life, which offers the chance to celebrate a new addition to the family. Various tribes and ethnic groups engage in this practice with their process differing over religion and culture.

The naming ceremony among the AKAN TRIBE is called Dzinto or Abadinto. This ceremony is performed early in the morning on the eighth day according to research. The person chosen to perform the rite according to the Akan tribe must be of a good moral standard, the culture underpinning is that, if the person chosen has a low moral character by performing at the rite, he can affect the baby with such low character.

The person officiating the rite puts the child on his lap, he then asks for the name of the child and announces it. Libation is then poured by the person performing the rite during which he prays for prosperity for the child and ask he is blessed with many children.

He then dips his right forefinger into a water and wet the child's lips with the water 3 times. During this moment, he mention the child's name each time saying for instance, "Yaw Preko, wose nsu a, nsu a" meaning Yaw Preko, when you say water, it must be water. The person performing the rite does same with palm wine or schnapps and says, "Yaw Preko wose nsa a, nsa a" meaning when you say palm wine, it must be palm wine and then adds, "wose tuntum a tuntum, wose fitaa a fitaa" meaning when you say it black, it must be black and if you say white, it must be white.

The significance and belief of the saying is the child should be truthful or should know the difference between good and evil. Gifts are then offered to the child and the mother by the father or husband, relatives and friends at the ceremony. The person the child is also named after present a gift to the child. This ceremony in Akan is also seen as a honoring day where the father names his child after his relative or someone the father want to honor. For example Grandma or Grandpa, father-in-law or mother-in-law.

The Akan tribe have various ways of giving a name to a child. The child is given the name of the day in which he or she was born. This becomes his first name. For example, if a person is born on Thursday, he will be called Yaw or Ekow, if he is a boy and Yaa or Aba, if she is a girl. Another way is the order in which the children are born. For instance, if the person is the first born of the family, they will be called Opiesie or Baakan. If second born, Manu, if he is a boy and Manubea, if she is a girl. If third born, Mensa, if he is a boy and Mansa, if she is a girl. If fourth born, Anan or Anane, if he is a boy and Maanan, if she is a girl.

Another culture importance of a naming ceremony in Akan tribe is  a child who is born in answer to a request made from the gods or shrine. During the ceremony, the child is named after the gods or shrine. Example, Tano, Densu, Pra etc. Other names shows the circumstances in which the child is born. For instance, Afrieyie, meaning someone born at a good time. Antobam,  meaning a child whose father died before he or she was born. For twins of different sexes, the elder is called Ata for male and Ataa for female. In the case of male twins, the elder is called Ata Panyin and the younger is Ata Kakra. For female twins, the elder is called Ataa Panyin and the younger is Ataa Kakra.