Puberty rites among the Akans (Bragoro/ Brapue) [A must read]

Puberty rites among the Akans (Bragoro/ Brapue) – What today’s generation do not know

Puberty rite is one of the initiation rights for girls. When a girl comes of age among the Akans in the past, she is taken through the Bragoro/ Brapue rite to initiate her into adulthood.

Most Akans, especially the Asante and Bono perform puberty rites for their daughters. A girl who is being initiated is called  Brani or Sakyima. 

Bragoro can be performed only after the girl experiences her first menstruation, she is presented to the queen mother who by some physical examination ensures that the girl is not pregnant.

There are both spiritual and material preparation for the ceremony.

The spiritual preparation involves finding out if the girl’s Kra (soul) like the ceremony to be performed or not. The material preparation, on the other hand, consists of providing all the necessary things such as food items, money, chicken, and so on.

The ceremony is usually held on a Monday or a Tuesday. Relatives, friends, and Brannwom (Puberty songs) groups are invited.

READ: Stages in Life: Birth, Naming Ceremony and today’s modernity

On the day of the ceremony, the initiation is announced early in the morning by the mother. She beats a metal part of a hoe or an old pan with a stick to announce it.

Immediately after the announcement, the people assemble on the initiate’s compound and sing Branwom.

The first right of the day is “enstoolment” which is performed by an old woman who has many children. The initiate takes her bath and covers her head to the waist leaving her face bare. She is placed on a stool three times, remaining on it the third time. The stool is usually placed on a mat covered with a blanket or “Kente’ cloth. A brass basin called “Ayaawa) is filled with water containing “Adware or Odwen-Ahaban” (leaves of Odwen) with an egg and a dry okro fruit is placed beside the girl.

A woman sits beside the Yaawa. When gifts in the form of coins are put in the Yaawa, this woman sprinkles water with the adwera or odwen on the girl.

It is believed that the sprinkling of the water will protect her from evil spirits that may make her barren. Women sing and move around the girl. There is a long of jubilation and merry-making. A libation is poured with palm wine or schnapps to thank the gods and anscestors for looking after the girl up to her puberty age.

She is presented gifts by her parents, relatives, and friends. All gifts presented are displayed around her.

The next right is the Tiyi (hair cutting) The initiate is giving a special hair cut, and the father pays some money for it. The money serves as capital for the girl. The finger and toenails are cut, and her hair is shaped into traditional “Dansinkran” (Asante women’s traditional hairstyle) She is dressed in a new white cloth with her breast exposed. She wears beads around the neck, wrist and ankles.

The next stage is the ritual bath, which takes place in a stream or a river. Where there is no stream or river, water can be put in a Yaawa for the same purpose,

Her head including the face is covered with cloth, and she is carried to the stream for the ritual bath. On arrival, the officiating woman removes her cloth and dips her into the stream three times, informing the spirits of the water of their presence and purpose.

The “Brani” (Initiate) is then seated on a stool and the lime is squeezed so that the juice drops on her head.

The following items 3tor (mashed yam), an egg and three leaves of 3dwono tree are thrown into the stream.

Watch out for more details in the concluding part of this Puberty rites among the Akans (Bragoro/ Brapue) write-up as we reveal some of the unknown historic facts that have eluded many of today’s general.