Tallensi
Encyclopedia
The Tallensi are a tribe
of the Frafra people of northern Ghana
, numbering a few tens of thousands. They speak Talni, a dialect of the Frafra language, and maintain an agricultural
mode of subsistence. The Tallensi homeland is covered by the Tallensi Traditional Area
, and consists mainly of open savanna
.
and follow a patrilineal
system of kinship and descent. Great emphasis is placed on inheritance and the tensions surrounding parents' relationships with their children. It is considered essential for a man to have a son if he is to achieve fulfillment and be venerated as an ancestor after his death. However, the birth of a first-born son, and to a lesser extent a first-born daughter, is held to mark the culmination of a man's 'rise' in the world, and the start of his decline. Meanwhile, the son grows to replace and supplant the father. The resulting ambivalence between father and son, which is reminiscent of the effects of the Oedipus complex
as articulated by Sigmund Freud
, plays an important role in Tallensi ritual
s and taboo
s.
Taboos begin when the first-born son reaches the age of five or six. From this time on the son may not eat from the same dish as his father, wear his father's cap or tunic, carry his father's quiver
, use his father's bow
, or look into his father's granary
. When the son reaches adolescence
, he may not meet his father in the entrance to the house compound. Similar taboos exist to regulate the relationship between mother and first-born daughter. The daughter, for example, may not look into her mother's storage pot.
Upon the death of a father, his first-born son and daughter lead the rituals involved in his funeral
. The son, at this point, puts on his father's cap and tunic. A tribal elder, carrying the dead man's bow, ritually guides the son to his father's granary and shows him the inside. After his father's death the son is considered a mature man for the purposes of ritual, and it is his responsibility to make sacrifices to the ancestors, chief among them being his own father, who being recently dead is held to act as an intermediary between those still living and the more remote ancestors.
It is believed that these taboos and rituals serve to channel ambivalence and resentment between generations into culturally defined and culturaly acceptable means of expression.
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
of the Frafra people of northern 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...
, numbering a few tens of thousands. They speak Talni, a dialect of the Frafra language, and maintain an agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
mode of subsistence. The Tallensi homeland is covered by the Tallensi Traditional Area
Tallensi Traditional Area
The Tallensi Traditional Area is a region of northern Ghana, and home to the Tallensi people. It is mainly covered in open savanna. Villages in the area include Gbeogo....
, and consists mainly of open savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
.
Rituals surrounding the first-born son
The Tallensi are polygamousPolygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
and follow a patrilineal
Patrilineality
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
system of kinship and descent. Great emphasis is placed on inheritance and the tensions surrounding parents' relationships with their children. It is considered essential for a man to have a son if he is to achieve fulfillment and be venerated as an ancestor after his death. However, the birth of a first-born son, and to a lesser extent a first-born daughter, is held to mark the culmination of a man's 'rise' in the world, and the start of his decline. Meanwhile, the son grows to replace and supplant the father. The resulting ambivalence between father and son, which is reminiscent of the effects of the Oedipus complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
as articulated by Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, plays an important role in Tallensi ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
s and taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
s.
Taboos begin when the first-born son reaches the age of five or six. From this time on the son may not eat from the same dish as his father, wear his father's cap or tunic, carry his father's quiver
Quiver
A quiver is a container for arrows. Quivers have been traditionally made of leather, bark, wood, furs and other natural materials; modern quivers are often made of metal and plastic....
, use his father's bow
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...
, or look into his father's granary
Granary
A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...
. When the son reaches adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
, he may not meet his father in the entrance to the house compound. Similar taboos exist to regulate the relationship between mother and first-born daughter. The daughter, for example, may not look into her mother's storage pot.
Upon the death of a father, his first-born son and daughter lead the rituals involved in his 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...
. The son, at this point, puts on his father's cap and tunic. A tribal elder, carrying the dead man's bow, ritually guides the son to his father's granary and shows him the inside. After his father's death the son is considered a mature man for the purposes of ritual, and it is his responsibility to make sacrifices to the ancestors, chief among them being his own father, who being recently dead is held to act as an intermediary between those still living and the more remote ancestors.
It is believed that these taboos and rituals serve to channel ambivalence and resentment between generations into culturally defined and culturaly acceptable means of expression.
Further reading
- Fortes, Meyer (1945). The Dynamics of Clanship among the Tallensi. London: Oxford University Press (for International African Institute).
- Fortes, Meyer (1949). The Web of Kinship among the Tallensi. London: Oxford University Press (for International African Institute).
- Fortes, Meyer (1959). Oedipus and Job in West African Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Two reports of a stay among the Tallensi in GbeogoGbeogoGbeogo is a village in northern Ghana. It is situated to the south-east of Bolgatanga, in the Tallensi Traditional Area. Gbeogo is populated by the Tallensi people, and consists mainly of mud-built dwellings. The village is home to a deaf school and has been host to American Peace Corps Volunteers...
:- Cleovoulou, Marios (June 1998). "How does development affect culture?".
- Cleovoulou, Marios (1998). "1998 Newsletter".
- Riehl, Volker (2003). The Dynamics of Peace: role of traditional festivals of the Tallensí in northern Ghana in creating sustainable peace In: Kröger, F. / B. Meier (ed): Ghana’s North. Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang Verlag, 207 - 223
- Riehl, Volker/Christiane Averbeck (1994) ‘Die Erde kommt, die Erde geht’: Zum religiösen Naturverständnis der Tallensi in Nord-Ghana In: Sociologus, N.F., Bd. 44, 136-148
- Riehl, Volker (1993). Natur und Gemeinschaft: Sozialanthropologische Untersuchungen zur Gleichheit bei den Tallensi in Nord-Ghana Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang Verlag
- Riehl, Volker (1989) The Land is Ours: Research on the Land-Use System among the Tallensi in Northern Ghana. In: Cambridge Anthropology, Vol. 14, No. 2, 26-42