TEMA NEW TOWN PALACE

                                                                            

PALACE AND CULTURES

CULTURES OF TEMA NEW TOWN AND THEIR PALACE

BAIDOO MARGARET

The people of Tema are believed to have migrated from Israel and then went to captivity in Egypt. The Ga’s came in four groups namely; “Wosakpaa” (the people of Ga Mashi), “Woduko” (the people of La), “Krowor” (the people of Nugua) and “Wↄkple” (the people of Tema) and stayed at the Nile River and then started worshipping the river which they call it “Naaee Wulↄmↄ”. The migration route of the people started from Israel to Egypt to Ethiopia to Sudan to Nigeria (Ile-Ife) to Togo.

The people started coming to the shores of Ghana and first went to Akuapem and settled at “Pinkwai forest” with the natives there.  In 1504, Ashaley Quansah an experienced hunter, a member of the Ga’s during one of his hunting expeditions identified a place where he built a mud house and stayed there. For sometime he realized the place waswfertile land and decided to go back and bring his family along. He called the place “Ashaleymaŋ” currently known as “Ashaman”. In 1520, he brought his family, his god which he worships known as “Tsa Adae” which is still in existence the people worships and a lesser god “Awudu Klakla” currently in Awudum. People started joining them which made the people to select a leader to lead them and suggested Ashaley Quansah should select a leader for them. He selected his son Adjei Kwao Nsrobi in 1589 later called Nii Adjei Nsrobi Quansah because he was enstoolled as a king.

Tema was built on the site of a small fishing village called “Torman” name for the local calabash plant. “Tor" calabash gourd was cultivated there. Because people were not able to call "Torman" properly then came the name “Tema”. The villagers of Torman migrated from Meridian (old place) to a new fishing ground around 3 kilometers away which was called “Newtown” bringing out the name “Tema Newtown”. Discussion was held by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Nii Adjetey Ansah I I in 1959 under the CPP government to move the people of Tema from old place to the New place in order to use the site for industrial purposes. It is also believed that the name Tema came from the Bible in Genesis 25:15 and 1chronicles 1:30.
In 1961, the Tema harbor was built.  The people were led by “Nuumo Ashiboye Kofi I wulↄmↄ (fetish priest for the Ga’s) to the new place because the people disstoolled their king for having discussion along with Nkrumah without their consent. The people of Tema Newtown were ruled by Nii Adjetey kraku II from 1992 to 2020.

The Tema Mantse.

The people of Tema has three ruling clans namely; Nii Adjetey Ashale -Obuowe, Kloklo Tse we and Nii Ansah Basa we.  These clans are the only ruling clan of Tema Newtown. The people of Tema Newtown practice the patrilineal system of inheritance.

In the cultural setting of the people of Tema they have two festivals they celebrate, the “Kpeele Joo” and “Hↄmↄwↄ” festival. “Kpeele Joo” and “Hↄmↄwↄ” is a festival celebrated to remember their migration as they settled during the period of hunger. Before the celebration of these festivals, the people divide themselves into groups of twenty members to start farming where maize was given to every leader of the group to plant with their members to cultivate before the period of hunger approach which made them named it “Hↄmↄwↄ’ meaning “hooting at hunger”. During Homowo festival the people prepare "Kpokpoi" the traditional food from milled maize without mixing it with water, adding of palmnut soup to it to get a perfect mixture for the traditional food. The Kpokpoi is prepared by all house hold.

The chief and his traditional leaders along with some natives sprinkling the Kpokpoi all over the town to thank the gods for a successful year and also commemorate the souls of the deceased during their migration and the period of hunger.

The red cloth symbolises seriousness of the people.

The king sprinkling the Kpokpoi signifies thanking of the gods of the land and commemorating deceased people in all house hold.

Kpeele joo is celebrated when they worship all their gods; Awudu, Ahulu, Tsaade, Asamanuah, Sakumo-Otu and Naayoo (the head gods of them all) and perform all the necessary rites to plead they have a bumper harvest and dance after that.

Every group does presentation to the traditional leaders assuring them of bumper harvest. “Kpeele Joo” is celebrated before “Hↄmↄwↄ” where a durbar is organized for various group to display their culture before the traditional leaders. They sing to honor people who does great deed for the land and also uses songs to dishonor people who does bad deeds irrespective of your stature in the society in front of the traditional leaders and it is not a taboo. Fetish priestess display cultural dance during the durbar and also pours libation to thank their gods.

“Kpeele Joo” is celebrated in three days, from Friday to Sunday. On Friday they worship “Sakumo”, Saturday worships “Chaidaa” and on Sunday worships “Naayoo”. The preparation of farming starts from April, May, June, July and August (August is when homowo is celebrated). 
Another activity done on the last day of “Kpeele Joo” which is on Sunday evening is “Ajiekpo” meaning “staying Indoors”. During this time every individual is supposed to sleep early because it is believed that, this is the time the gods cleanse the land from all calamities that befell them during the year and purifies the land. Also it is the time the fetish priest and priestess foresee calamities and cleanse them away. It is a taboo to see them during these rituals.

Also before homowo, fishing on the sea is banned for week and it is believed that the fingerlings need to grow so during the day of celebration more fish will be caught for the festival.
Fishing on Tuesdays is a taboo in Tema. It is believed God rested on the seventh day therefore the deities in the sea also need to rest. The people has three cultural dance; “Kpaŋlogo”, “Gome” and “Kolomashi”.

The people of Tema has several types of greetings (i.e. ŋamↄ) and it includes; Morning (Ojekoo meaning the sun is out again), Afternoon (Minaokoo meaning am seeing you again), Evening (Oshwie meaning end of the daily activity), Funeral greetings; Kpoo, Akɜɜɜ Nↄko (meaning,there’s nothing to say), festival greetings include; ŋↄwala (be healthy), Afi oo Afi, ‘Afi naa Akpe wↄ ( we should also meet next year ) and “Kpaanuↄ aninawↄ”, greeting at workplace the “Aekoo”, greetings during meal time ;“Oninami” and “Bawↄyenii”, Greeting on safe delivery ; Oninenↄ ayilↄ, and greeting an elderly person (Nii miba maŋnyɜii meaning  seeking something good from the elder).
The people of Tema practice the polygamous system of marriage. It is believed that when a man marries a wife it signifies that he is lazy but when he marries more wives he is hardworking. They also practice the traditional way of marriage that is background investigations on the lady’s family, knocking by the male family, background investigation on the man’s family and then perform the necessary marriage rites.

When it comes to the palace and the ruling of the people, there are 10 traditional officials and they have their various duties. We have Maŋtsɜ, Mankralo, Jaasetse, Nyaado, Sakumo-wulomo, Shipi, Akwaashong-Tse, Otsaame, Wolaitse and Wulomo. 

“Maŋtsɜ” the father of the land with the highest authority and resides at the palace. “Mankralo” is the second in command in the absence of the Tema mantse.
“Jaasetse” is the head of the chief makers of the traditional council and see to it that proper and qualified candidate is installed as a traditional leader and without him there will be no enstoolment of a traditional leader. 

“Wolumo” is the mouth piece of the gods and serve as an intermediary between the gods and the people. He ensures that all traditional purification rites are performed in accordance with the traditional procedure. Also, the dressing of the wolumo is believed to be derived from the bible, that is, when Moses was told by God to take off his sandals because he is at a holy place. They wear white garment, white beads and do not shave their beard. They believe the beard is a scared place and walks bare footed. They do not eat left over food, taste salt, travel, attend funeral and do not see corpse and finally do not die in the presence of their gods.
"Nyaado” does exact thing as the wolumo but does the main rites during the “kpeelejoo” festival.

"Shipi" organizes and initiate levy collections from the people and render account according to the people. Also takes control of gun-powder distribution and shares it to the warriors during the period war (Ta). 

“Akwaashong-tse” in time of war is the commander of the army and in time of peace he takes up a training program to keep his people in combat-ready shape and also a linguist to the “jaasetse” and give maximum cooperation when processing the nomination selection, confinement and induction of a new king to the stool. 

“Otsaame” is an errant man of the king. He should always be with the king and all speeches from the king to the people goes through him. 
"Wolaitse" is the head of the fishermen. He ensures all rules relating to fishing are obeyed and problems facing the fishermen are settled.

When a king of Tema dies, he is buried instantly and his picture would be giving to a wood carver to carve the exact image of the picture, which will be used during the laying in state of the body since the corpse is already buried. A letter will be sent to the Regional traditional leaders, the national traditional leaders and presidency to inform them about the death of the king. Initially there used to be human sacrifice but stopped due to the introduction of the 1992 constitution.

At the entrance of the palace, there’s a statue of two lion at both sides and an eagle at the top. The lions symbolizes bravery and the eagle symbolizes strength which is the main symbol of the people of Tema. There’s a mini museum which has the palanquin, swearing swords, drums, umbrella, Linguistic staff and pictures of the old kings.
The palanquin is used by the king during festive period and the drum is used to announce important information and a state of emergency. The swearing sword is used by the king to take an oath to protect his people at all times.
The linguist staff is what the Otsaame uses and there’s a symbol of a folded hand which symbolizes that "when the people of Tema get hold of you, you will not be spared".
There’s is a stool room at the palace with the name of the three ruling clans on it. The ruling do not use thetstool if the other but uses their own stool in order to respect the stool.The Tema traditional council has a stool with a gourd on it and it symbolises the origin of the people.
The people of Tema Newtown has great history and culture which must be known to all.

BAIDOO MARGARET DCS20212