Ga people
Encyclopedia
The Ga-Adangbe are an ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

 in the West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

n nation of Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

. It is part of the Dangme ethnic group. The Ga people are grouped as part of the
Ga–Dangme ethnolinguistic
Ethnolinguistics
Ethnolinguistics is a field of linguistics which studies the relationship between language and culture, and the way different ethnic groups perceive the world. It is the combination between ethnology and linguistics. The former refers to the way of life of an entire community i.e...

 group. They speak Kwa languages
Kwa languages
The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Côte d'Ivoire, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo...



The Ga-Adangbe people inhabit mostly the Greater Accra Plains. Some are found in the Eastern Region at Akuse, Somaya, Dodowa, Akwapim, Akwamu
Akwamu
The Akwamu was a state set up by the Akan people in Ghana which existed in the 17th century and 18th century. Originally immigrating from Bono state, the founders settled in Twifo-Heman. The Akwamu created an expansionist empire in the 16th and 17th century...

 and surrounding areas in Ghana. Others live in the Anecho area in Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...

. The modern day Adangbe include the people of Osu
Osu, Ghana
Located about 3 km east of the CBD, Osu is a district in central Accra, Ghana, known for its busy commercial, restaurant and nightlife activity. It is locally known as the 'West End' of Accra. Bounded to the south by the Gulf of Guinea, Osu's western boundary is the Independence Avenue...

, 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
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...

, 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
Rulers of Gã (Nkran)
-List of Rulers of Gã :Gã Mantse = Rulers-See also:*Ghana*Accra*Gold Coast*Lists of Incumbents...

 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.

Culture

The Ga people celebrate the Homowo
Homowo
Homowo is a festival celebrated by Ga people of Ghana. The festival starts in the month of May with the planting of crops before the rainy season starts. During the festival, they perform a dance called Kpanlogo...

 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
Kpanlogo
Kpanlogo is a recreational dance and music form from Ghana, West Africa. It was first played by the Ga ethnic group, most of whom live in and around the capital city, Accra, but is now performed and enjoyed throughout the country...

, a modernized traditional dance and music form developed around 1960. Obo Addy
Obo Addy
Obo Addy is an Ghanaian drummer and dancer who was one of the first native African musicians to bring the fusion of traditional folk music and Western pop music known as worldbeat to Europe and then to the Pacific Northwest of the United States in the late 1970s...

, and Mustapha Tettey Addy
Mustapha Tettey Addy
Mustapha Tettey Addy is a renowned Ghanaian drummer and ethnomusicologist. Addy, a practicing Muslim, is a member of the Ga ethnic group and is the founder of The Obonu Drummers, which performs creative drumming composed by Addy that is based upon the royal Obonu drumming of the Ga people and...

 are Ga drummers who have achieved international fame.

Funerals and paying last respects

The Ga people are known for their funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...

 celebrations and procession
Procession
A procession is an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner.-Procession elements:...

s. The Ga believe that when someone dies, they move to another life. Therefore, special coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...

s are often crafted by highly skilled carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....

s since this tradition spread in the 50's. Pioneers were master craftsmen like Paa Joe, Paa Willy and Seth Kane Kwei 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
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...

 of one's standing in the community.
For example, a taxicab driver is most likely to be buried in a coffin shaped as a car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...

. 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 $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

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.

Symbolic coffins of the Ga

The use of these fantasy coffins
Fantasy coffin
The fantasy or figurative coffins from Ghana, in Europe also called custom, fantastic or proverbial coffins , are made by some talented carpenters in the Greater Accra Region in Ghana...

 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 coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...

s are only seen on the day of the burial
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...

s 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
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...

. 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 totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...

s. 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
Eric Adjetey Anang
Eric Adjetey Anang is a Ghanaian sculptor born in Teshie, Ghana, where he lives and works.-Biography:In 2001, he introduced Ghana design coffins at Gidan Makama Museum Kano, Nigeria, under the auspices of Alliance française in Kano....

 of Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop
Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop
The Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop is a studio established in Teshie, Ghana, since the Fifties. It is known for its Design Coffins that became symbolic of African artistic creativity.- History :...

 and Kudjoe Affutu
Kudjoe Affutu
thumb|Kudjoe Affutu Kudjoe Affutu is a Ghanaian coffin artist. He was born and still lives in Awutu Bawyiase, Central Region, Ghana...

. Most of the figural coffins are used for funerals, only a few are exported for international art exhibitions.

Origin

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.

History of land

Due to the Geopolitical significance of the Land the Ga occupy it was part of the Empire of Akwamu
Akwamu
The Akwamu was a state set up by the Akan people in Ghana which existed in the 17th century and 18th century. Originally immigrating from Bono state, the founders settled in Twifo-Heman. The Akwamu created an expansionist empire in the 16th and 17th century...

, Akyem
Akyem
The Akyem are an Akan people. The term Akyem is used to describe a group of three states: Akyem Abuakwa, Akyem Kotoku and Akyem Bosome. These nations are located primarily in the eastern regions of modern-day Ghana. The term is also used to describe the general area where the Akyem ethnic group...

, Ashanti and later part of the Gold Coast (British colony)
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...


Notable Ga people

  • Mustapha Tettey Addy
    Mustapha Tettey Addy
    Mustapha Tettey Addy is a renowned Ghanaian drummer and ethnomusicologist. Addy, a practicing Muslim, is a member of the Ga ethnic group and is the founder of The Obonu Drummers, which performs creative drumming composed by Addy that is based upon the royal Obonu drumming of the Ga people and...

    , traditional drummer (b. 1942)
  • Obo Addy
    Obo Addy
    Obo Addy is an Ghanaian drummer and dancer who was one of the first native African musicians to bring the fusion of traditional folk music and Western pop music known as worldbeat to Europe and then to the Pacific Northwest of the United States in the late 1970s...

    , traditional drummer (b. 1936)
  • Harry Aikines-Aryeetey
    Harry Aikines-Aryeetey
    Harry Leslie Aikines-Aryeetey is an English sprinter. In 2005 he was named as the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year and the IAAF's Rising Star of the Year after becoming the first athlete to win gold medals at both 100 metres and 200 metres at the World Youth Championships.Aikines-Aryeetey...

    , athlete (b. 1988)
  • Nii Amugi II
    Nii Amugi II
    Nii Amugi II is the official title of Simon Nii Yarboi Yartey , who was the Ga Mantse or king in Ghana for 39 years.-Biography:...

    , Paramount King of the Ga People (b. 1940)
  • Eric Adjetey Anang
    Eric Adjetey Anang
    Eric Adjetey Anang is a Ghanaian sculptor born in Teshie, Ghana, where he lives and works.-Biography:In 2001, he introduced Ghana design coffins at Gidan Makama Museum Kano, Nigeria, under the auspices of Alliance française in Kano....

    , artist, sculptor (b. 1985)
  • Joseph Arthur Ankrah
    Joseph Arthur Ankrah
    Lieutenant General Joseph Arthur Ankrah served as the first commander of the Army of Ghana and from 1966 and 1969 as the second head of state.-Early life:...

    , 2nd Head of State Ghana (b. 1915)
  • Ayi Kwei Armah
    Ayi Kwei Armah
    -Early life and education:Born to Fante-speaking parents, and descending on his father's side from a royal family in the Ga nation, Armah was born in the port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana, Having attended Achimota School, he left Ghana in 1959 to attend Groton School in Groton, MA. After...

    , noted Ghanaian writer (b. 1939)
  • George Ayittey
    George Ayittey
    George Ayittey is a Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC. He is a professor at American University, and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute...

    , president of the Free Africa Foundation
    Free Africa Foundation
    The Free Africa Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank headed by economist George Ayittey which criticizes corruption, oppression, and mismanagement in African governments, and advocates for democratic reform. Its board includes Makaziwe Mandela and Larry Diamond...

  • Marcel Desailly
    Marcel Desailly
    Marcel Desailly is a retired Ghanaian born French footballer and star of the France national football team squad, with whom he won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000...

    , footballer (b. 1968)
  • Kofi Ghanaba
    Guy Warren
    Guy Warren of Ghana or Kofi Ghanaba was a Ghanaian musician, best known as the inventor of Afro-jazz and as a member of The Tempos.- Biography :...

     (born Warren Gamaliel Akwei; also known as Guy Warren), trap drummer, composer, creator of Afro-Jazz, worked with Thelonious Monk
    Thelonious Monk
    Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...

    , Lester Young
    Lester Young
    Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....

     and Charlie Parker
    Charlie Parker
    Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

     (b. 1923)
  • David Animle Hansen
    David Animle Hansen
    Rear Admiral David Animle Hansen was the first Ghanaian to be appointed Chief of Naval Staff of the Ghana Navy.-Education and training:David Hansen trained at the Eaton Hall Officer Cadet School in the United Kingdom.-Career:...

    , the first Ghanaian Chief of Naval Staff, 1961–1967; the Ghanaian Navy ship GNS Hansen is named for him
  • Robert Kotei
    Robert Kotei
    Major General Robert Ebenezer Abossey Kotei was a soldier, politician and track and field athlete. He was once the Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces and also a member of the Supreme Military Council which ruled Ghana between 1975 and 1979. He was executed in 1979, following a...

    , Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, 5 July 1978–1979 (b. 1935)
  • E. T. Mensah
    E. T. Mensah
    Emmanuel Tettey Mensah, best known as E. T. Mensah was a Ghanaian highlife musician.He began as a flutist with the Accra Orchestra, a schoolchildren band, in 1930. In 1948 he formed "The Tempos", a group he might be best known for, and toured West Africa. The group gained international attention...

    , musician (b. 1919)
  • Azumah "The Professor" Nelson
    Azumah Nelson
    Azumah Nelson , a native of Ghana, is a former professional boxer. He is a three-time world champion in two weight classes.Nelson is the former Lineal and two-time WBC Super Featherweight Champion...

    , Boxer (b. 1958)
  • Neville Alexander Odartey-Wellington
    Neville Alexander Odartey-Wellington
    Major General Neville Alexander Odartey-Wellington , former Army Commander, Ghana Armed Forces , was a Ghana Army officer...

    , Army Commander (b. )
  • Nii Amaa Ollennu
    Nii Amaa Ollennu
    Raphael Nii Amaa Ollennu was the Chairman of the Presidential Commission and acting President of Ghana during the Second Republic from 7 August 1970 to 31 August 1970.-Early life:...

    , former Interim President of Ghana (b. 1906)
  • Nii Parkes
    Nii Parkes
    Born in the UK, in 1974, and raised in Ghana , Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a performance poet, writer and sociocultural commentator. A veteran of several poetry festivals, and former Poet-In-Residence at the Poetry Cafe in London, he has performed Poetry in the UK, Europe, Ghana and the US and was a 2005...

    , sociocultural commentator (b. 1974)
  • Clement Quartey
    Clement Quartey
    thumb|250px|right|Clement Quartey in a fight against Wilfried Rühl in 1962 Clement Quartey is a former Ghanaian boxer. At the 1960 Summer Olympics he won the silver medal in the men's Light Welterweight category. It was Ghana's first Olympic medal in history...

    , boxer (b. 1938)
  • Ike "Bazooka" Quartey
    Ike Quartey
    Ike "Bazooka" Quartey is a former WBA Welterweight champion boxer. He has fought numerous world champion boxers including Oscar De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas, Vernon Forrest and Ronald "Winky" Wright.-Biography:...

    , boxer (b. 1969)
  • Paul Sackey
    Paul Sackey
    Paul Henry Sackey is an English rugby union footballer who currently plays at wing for Stade Français in the Top 14.As of 28 February 2009 he has 22 full England caps...

    , rugby union footballer (b. 1979)
  • Ben Tackie
    Ben Tackie
    Benjamin Wonder Tackie, , is a professional boxer. Tackie is known for his chin and his ability to throw a high volume of punches. All of his losses have come via decision.-Professional career:...

    , boxer (b. 1973)
  • Honourable Peter Ala Adjetey
    Peter Ala Adjetey
    Peter Ala Adjetey was the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana from 2001 to 2005.-Early life:Peter Ala Adjetey was born on August 11, 1931 at Accra, the capital of Ghana. He obtained his basic education at St. Paul's School at La, a suburb of Accra and the Accra Bishop Boys' School. His secondary...

    , second Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana in the Fourth Republic. (b. 1931)


See also

  • Ga language
    Ga language
    The Ga language is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana, in and around the capital Accra. It has a phonemic distinction between 3 vowel lengths.-Classification:Ga is a Kwa language, part of the Niger–Congo family...

  • Adangme language
    Adangme language
    Adangme , is a Kwa language spoken in south-eastern Ghana by 800,000 people.Some sources list Adangbe as another name for the same language whereas lists it as a different language in the Kwa family, and it has a separate ISO 639-3 code of 'adq'.-Classification:Adangme is a Kwa language, part of...

  • Ga–Dangme languages
  • Homowo
    Homowo
    Homowo is a festival celebrated by Ga people of Ghana. The festival starts in the month of May with the planting of crops before the rainy season starts. During the festival, they perform a dance called Kpanlogo...


  • Jamestown, Ghana
    Jamestown, Ghana
    Located directly east of the Korle Lagoon, Jamestown and Usshertown are the oldest districts in the city of Accra, Ghana and emerged as communities around the 17th century British James Fort and Ussher Fort on the Gulf of Guinea coast...

  • Tabom people
    Tabom People
    The Tabom People refers to the Afro-Brazilian community in Accra. The Tabom People is an Afro-Brazilian community of former slaves. When they arrived in Accra they could speak only Portuguese, so they greeted each other with “Como esta?” to which the reply was “Ta bom”, so the Ga people of Accra...

  • Teshie
    Teshie
    Teshie is a city in Ghana in the Greater Accra Region. Fort Augustaborg, built by the Danes in 1787, is located in Teshie and was occupied by the British from 1850 to 1957. The national Officer Cadet Training School and Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre are also located here...

  • List of rulers of Gã (Nkran)


Publications

  • 2010. "The Deathbead of a Living Man. A Coffin for the Centre Pompidou", in: Saâdane Afif (ed.), "Anthologie de l'humour noir", Paris: Editions Centre Pompidou, p. 56-61.
  • 2008. The Buried Treasures of the Ga: Coffin Art in Ghana. Benteli, Bern. ISBN 978-3-7165-1520-4
  • 2004. A Report on Paa Joe and the Proverbial Coffins of Teshie and Nungua, Ghana in: Africa e Mediterraneo, Nr. 47-48, S. 44-47.

External links

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