There is now illness, death, and trouble on the
Earth as a direct result of the separation of the
Creator from the people of the Earth.
Nevertheless, the Dinka honor Abuk as the first
woman and see in her the creation and origin of
all their traditions. As the first woman and the
first mother, she is celebrated in the festivals and
rituals of the Dinka.
Molefi Kete AsanteSee alsoAuset
Further Readings
Asante, M. K. (2007).The History of Africa:The Quest
for Eternal Harmony. London: Routledge.
Beswick, S. (2004).Sudan’s Blood Memory:The Legacy
of War,Ethnicity,and Slavery in Early South Sudan
(Rochester Studies in African History and the
Diaspora). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester
Press.
ADAE
An Akan term meaning “resting place,”Adaeis the
most important festival of the Akan. Connected to
the meaning of the term, it is a day of rest for the
living and the ancestors, and, as such, work, includ-
ing funerals, is forbidden. As the paramount ances-
tral custom, it involves the invocation, propitiation,
and veneration of ancestral spirits. These are
special days on which the ahene (traditional rulers;
singular = ohene) enter the Nkonuafieso (stool
house), the place where the spirits of enstooled
ancestors rest, and pour libation and offer food and
drink on behalf of their people. Every 5 years, the
Asantehene (paramount ruler of the Asante) hosts
Adae Kese (big Adae), a 2-week period of celebra-
tion during which all those enstooled within
the Asante nation unite in Kumasi (the capital of
Asante) and reaffirm their allegiance to the
Asantehene and the Sika Dwa (Golden Stool), the
spiritual seat of the Asante nation.
It is through the celebration of the Adae that
the Akan calendar is conceptualized: One year is
represented by nine Adae. Following the Akan cal-
endar, according to which each cycle constitutes a
period of 42 days, the Adae is celebrated on two
occasions in each cycle—Akwasidae (“sacred
Sunday”; Adae falling on Sunday) and Awukudae
(“sacred Wednesday”; Adae falling on
Wednesday). Distinct from the Adae Kese,
Akwasidae and Awukudae festivals are more
localized, celebrated by every ohene in his com-
munity among his people.
Akwasidae, usually celebrated as a public rit-
ual, is the grander of the two festivals. However,
the general public does not participate in the most
important aspect of the festival, which takes place
in the Nkonuafieso. On the Akwasidae morn,
each ohene, accompanied by his elders and atten-
dants, lowers his cloth to bare his shoulders and
removes his sandals as a sign of humility and
respect before the ancestors. Entering the
Nkonuafieso, he greets the ancestors by calling
each of their names, one by one, and offering
them each a drink through libation. The ancestors
are then offered a sheep, whose blood is smeared
on the stools, as well as special foods prepared in
their honor. The ohene then sits in state to receive
his people. On these sacred days, personal and
community disputes as well as important political
matters are often addressed publicly in the pres-
ence of the ohene.
Equally important to Adae are the preparations
for the festivals. The day before Akwasidae,
Memeneda Dapaa, is considered a good or
“lucky” day. On this day, all of the preparations
needed for Akwasidae are attended to by all those
involved in the celebration. This includes ritual
drumming to announce the events of the coming
day and the invocation of the spirits of ancestral
drummers, seeking their cooperation and blessings
for a successful Akwasidae. Also on this day, ritual
drummers call upon the Creator, various abosom
(deities), and enstooled ancestors in such a way as
to recite the local history of the community.
It is important to note the relative significance
of festivals for the Akan. Rather than arbitrary
celebrations, festivals are reflective of the culture
and traditions of the Akan and serve historical,
spiritual, social, economic, political, cultural, and
moral functions within the society. Thus, the Adae
in particular teaches and reinforces not only the
history of the Akan, but local histories as well;
expresses continuity between the physical and the
spiritual, the living and the ancestral; reunites6 Adae