ASAMANDO
According to Akan cosmology, the Asamando is
the ancestral world or the land of the spirits.
Whereas the Akan conceive of the entire universe
as essentially spiritual, the Asamando is regarded
as the specific site where the spirits of ancestors
dwell permanently. Revealed religions such as
Christianity regard the heavens or the sky as the
location of God and the hosts of angels, whereas
for the Akan, the Asamando lies beneath the
Earth. This belief in such an “underworld” sheds
light on many Akan ritual practices, including
dancing and pouring of libation, as the Earth
reflects their connection to the spiritual realm.
For the Akan,owuo(physical death) does not
mark the end of life. It represents the transition
from Earthly life to spiritual life, a transition that
each individual must make to reach the Asamando
and join the community of ancestors or Nsamanfo.
Attaining ancestorhood is one of the primary pur-
poses and goals of life. Thus, important to an
understanding of the Asamando are the Akan
conceptualizations of humanity, life, and death.
The Akan believe that each individual consists
of certain material and spiritual elements. The
honam (body) and mogya (blood; connection to
matrilineage) represent the material or physical
components, whereas the kra (life force/soul),
honhom (breath of Divine Life), and sunsum
(spirit; connection to patrilineage) represent the
spiritual or nonphysical components. Nyame
(Creator) bestows these material and spiritual ele-
ments on people at conception and birth; however,
when they “die,” the honam and mogya join
Asase Yaa (Mother Earth) while the kra, honhom,
and sunsum return to Nyame. Although the Akan
believe that the universe and all things, animate
and inanimate within it, are endowed with vary-
ing degrees of sunsum, on an individual basis, the
sunsum is the basis of one’s character and person-
ality and originates from the father. Upon owuo,
it is the sunsum that transitions to the Asamando
and awaits nomination to the status of Nsamanfo.
Because the Akan calendar operates on a 40- to
42-day cycle, the Akan believe that it takes at least
one cycle before the sunsum finally departs from the
world of the living and transitions to the Asamando.
Ayie (Akan funeral rites) are taken quite seriously as
it becomes the responsibility of the deceased’s family
members to perform proper and timely customary
rites as to ensure that the sunsum can properly tran-
sition to the Asamando; otherwise it can transform
into an unsettled and malevolent spirit and may
come back to harm the family.
Once the sunsum has made its transition,
depending on the degree to which the individual
lived a righteous life, his or her sunsum may be
sent back to the Earthly realm to fulfill his or her
nkrabea (destiny) via the honam of a newborn. In
this way, the conceptualization of the Asamando
has further implications for the Akan life cycle, in
that as the elder members of society seek entrance
into the Asamando, its newest members arrive
fromthe Asamando.
The Asamando is of particular importance to the
Akan cosmology because it provides the foundation
for the collective conscience or ideas of morality.
People attempt to live righteously so that when their
time comes, they will be admitted to the Asamando.Yaba Amgborale BlaySee alsoAkan; Asase Yaa; Nyame; SunsumFurther Readings
Ephirim-Donkor, A. (1997).African Spirituality:On
Becoming Ancestors. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Opoku, K. A. (1978).West African Traditional Religion.
Accra, Ghana: FEP International Private Limited.
Opokuwaa, N. A. K. (2005).The Quest for Spiritual
Transformation:Introduction to Traditional Akan
Religion,Rituals and Practices. New York: iUniverse.ASANTE
The Asante are one of about a dozen groups that
make up the Akan people located in the modern
state of Ghana, West Africa. They are believed to
have migrated from the area of the old empire of
Ghana after the spread of Islam in the North and
parts of West Africa during the 13th century. The
Asante settled in the Adanse region probably in
the 14th century before spreading out and, in the
process, creating more towns during the 15th cen-
tury. This entry discusses their history and reli-
gious beliefs.Asante 69