refers to the king of all vultures. There are six other
associate gods in this pantheon, but they are all
subordinate to the Opete Kromanti (see Figure 1).
2.The Sjoro-weno are gods of the Earth. The
commanding gods in this category are the kondre
aisa. They are notably female, they are the god of
a village or a particular group of villages, and they
give protection to that specific community. Mbiti
points out that, in the Akan tradition, the Earth is
also considered a female divinity. The lesser gods
in the Earth category are particular clan gods. The
wordbere or lo refers to the clan. These clans
trace their spiritual origins back to particular
African ethnic groups, and this is usually reflected
in the name of the bere. Wooding says, for exam-
ple, that all of the gron Winti or kondre aisa for
the Para villages are Luangu Aisa, which indicates
that their origins are from the Cameroon and
Congo-Angola area.
The various bere (clans) can be traced to West-
Bantu, Fanti-Akan, Ewe, Fon, and Yoruba. All
the aisa lesser gods manifest themselves in various
types of snakes, and they are all usually female
(see Figure 1). Snakes are consequently sacred in
the Winti faith.
3.The Watra weno are the gods of the water
kingdom. The commander of these water gods is
Ondro Watra Gron Mama, or underwater ground
mother. In the Para villages, she is also known as
Mama Bosu, a soft and friendly goddess that man-
ifests herself as a Cayman. Among the lesser gods
in this society is Tata Bosu, the husband of Watra
Wenu. All Kromanti water gods, which are in the
service of the Watra mama, are called Busuntji.
The wordBusuntjicomes from the combination
of the wordbusunorbusrun, meaning “spiritual
purification bath water,” andtjiordji, meaning
“supernatural being.”
It is interesting to note here that there is a strik-
ing similarity between the meanings of this word
in Suriname and the name of the natural lake in
Ghana called Bosumtwi, which the Asante hold
sacred because they believe that when they die
their souls go to the lake to say farewell to their
godtwibefore going on to the hereafter.
4.The Busi weno is the spiritual associate of
theplantandforestkingdom. The Baka Busi Aisa
or Baka Busi Mama, along with her husband and
male counterpart, Tata Loko, are important forest
gods, but they are also familial gods connected to
a bere and a gron Winti and are therefore impor-
tant. However, in the forest, there is also the Busi
mama, who is a supernatural being; she is the
female owner of the forest and not part of any
bere. She can determine if and when people find
their way out of the forest. The Baka Busi of the
Para region that are bere aisa are all divided into
Kromanti (Fanti-Akan), Vodu (Fon), Nkese
(West Bantu), Luagu (West-Bantu), Tata Busi or
Mbumba (Congo), Leba (Ewe-Fon) Kromanti
Apuku or Adumankama, Bakru, and the Akantamasi
(Fanti-Akan), all named after their African ethnic
origins (see Figure 1).
Last, there are the Busi Indji, which are the
supernatural beings of indigenous American
Indian origin.Winti Rites
In Winti, the essential customary rites and obser-
vances are directly connected to paying tribute to
and satisfying the divinities and the ancestral
(Kabra) spirits. If the divinities or ancestral spir-
its are neglected, they can cause spiritual
disharmony or illness in their descendants. Belief
dictates that the ancestral spirits from both the
maternal and paternal sides of the family must be
honored and satisfied through customary rites
and observances. Winti rites are divided into four
categories: (1) initiation, (2) prevention, (3) purifi-
cation, and (4) healing rites.
Winti practice includes public and private rites
and observances. However, unlike other African
religious expressions in the Americas, such as
Vodun, Santeria, and Candomble, which tend to
have more public rites, Winti has mostly private
rites. Another aspect of Winti that makes it unique in
the Americas is that it contains little influence from
Christianity, unlike like Santeria, Candomble,
Vodun, and others.
The public rites in Winti are known as Winti
pré, which are communal and are typically held
for some of the reasons mentioned. In a Winti
pré, the participants are typically dressed in col-
ors that correspond to the particular divinity. A
Winti pré ceremony consists of ritual music,
singing, and dancing, and it usually lasts all722 Winti