Dangme (people)

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The Dangme , or more correctly: Adangme , are a people in Ghana . This term encompasses all speakers of the Dangme language who, together with the Ga, form one of the main ethnic groups of Ghana as Ga-Adangme . The number of Adangme is given as 800,000 or 833,000.

Geographical distribution

The settlement areas of the Adangme are mainly in the areas south of the Akum River and roughly fill the area between 6 ° 30 'N, 0 ° 15' W, the Volta and the coast. The Adangme peoples include the Dangme, Ga, Krobo (with the subdivision: Manya-Krobo, Yilo-Krobo, Denkira-Krobo), the Ada, the Shai, the Osudoku and the Prampram, to name just the most important. Among the Akwapimers they make up the largest part of the population.

history

Historical states of the Adangme after the fall of the La empire were mainly Krobo and Ladoku. The kingdom of Ladoku was the eastern neighbor of the Ga kingdom of Greater Accra until 1680 and extends in the coastal hinterland west of the lower Volta to an altitude of about 6 ° N. Adampi, Alampoe (or similar) are historical names for the Resident of the Kingdom of Ladoku. To the north of Greater Accra and Ladoku, Aburi, Bunu, Equea, Latebi and Akrade joined as smaller Adangme states (in the direction from west to east between the Densu River and the Volta). Above these chiefdoms there also existed Kamana as an empire east of Akwamu, west of the Volta and south of the Kwahu plateau. The situation changed when, in 1677, the Akwamus invaded Greater Accra and heralded its downfall. Subsequently, Ladoku and the mountain regions met the same fate. Ada and Osudoku emerged as successor states from the earlier Ladoku. In 1731, as a result of a national liberation struggle against the Akwamu hegemony with the League of Abotakyi, the state of Akwapim (Akuapem) was born, which, along with some family associations from Akim, primarily the Adangme small states of the Akwapim -Hills (as they were called from now on) up to the Volta. When the Danes spoke of "Reviernegern" and "Bergnegern" in historical (colonial) times, the former mostly meant the Ada and their allies on the Voltaufer from the mouth upstream to Malfi, the latter denoted the inhabitants of the Akwapim, Shai - and Osudoku Hill.

The ethnic group of the Dangme speakers is often confused or equated with the ethnic group of the Adangbe , but it differs not only in the population (approx. 2000) significantly. The Adangbe colonize the coastal areas approximately east of Prampram to the salt lagoon, which is located west of Ada. They also belong to the Ga-Adangme group.

Since the settlement areas of the Adangme, in contrast to those of the neighboring Akimer , have no gold deposits, it was in the past both the secular and religious rulers of the Adangme and others. a. also forbidden to carry gold objects. Wearing golden objects was primarily associated with the Akan , a traditional enemy.

origin

The Adangme peoples trace their origins back to the La Nation, which is sometimes also called Da or Le and which also existed with a common political state until the beginning of the 16th century. The priest-king of the La carried the title Laanimo and the former capital of the La empire was called Klekpe. In the mythical tradition, the La-Nation is compared to a granary, which was filled to the brim with grain (= the people of the La). Their chief guardian, the Laanimo, was responsible for this granary . He once had to watch fainted from a distance (= absence in the capital) as weevils (grain pests = internal enemies) and external enemies destroyed the grain. This story alludes to events that took place around the year 1500. At the time, the La Army was defending its country against the attack of an outside enemy who had openly stated that they wanted to wipe out the entire La Nation. When the Laanimo left the capital Klekpe during this war to join his troops, the enemy managed to advance to the capital Klekpe through betrayal, besieged it and finally conquered it. Klepke was extensively looted and then completely burned down. When refugees brought the news of the fall of his capital to the Laanimo , both the king and his generals found that all was lost and to avoid the shame and shame of having to serve the conquerors as slaves, they chose collective suicide. They recommended that their followers join them, which many of them did. After this mass suicide, the kingdom, which was finally defenseless and defenseless, was now easy prey for the enemy. Much of the population sought to flee and dispersed in different directions, with the majority migrating in a south-easterly direction. These later called themselves Adangme and the later state communities of the Krobo or Ladoku on the lower Volta were essentially state foundations of these La refugees.

National epic "Klama"

The Adangme have a national epic in "Klama" , which keeps the memory of their common past alive. The Klama, however, is more than just transmitted history. The epic contains thousands of individual stories; if only the individual stanzas were to be cataloged in an index, this would contain around 60,000 entries, starting with the 800-year history of the La-Nation, individual biographies, religion, philosophy, medical science, etc., and ending with romantic fairy tales. Scenes from the Klama epic are re-enacted singing, dancing and playing at so-called "Klama meetings", which usually frame all significant occasions, such as B. Weddings, “chair cleaning” ceremonies, naming a child or at religious festivities. Singing, playing and dancing the Klama content is reserved for an elite group of people called Agbaa . The Agbaa themselves are also regarded as priests, since they officially “belong” to the national gods, but they are not identical with the actual priests and priestesses who are responsible for supervising the Agbaa people.

The dance, game and singing performances presented at the Klama meetings are accompanied by very specific drum rhythms. So is z. For example, a certain rhythm called “Maa” is reserved for accompanying scenes from the La story. Other rhythms are called "Nimeli a do" or "Abodo". The latter has religious connotations. In Dangme the word Abodo stands for barely visible, elf-like and super-intelligent beings of small stature who live in the mountains and forests and have the status of sub-gods. They know the secret knowledge of every single plant and they can, if they like, transfer people into their own state, which they only do if they are young and capable (and willing) to learn. As “lost people” they are then initiated by the Abodo into all secrets and mysteries that are attached to any natural phenomena. When the training is completed, the students are returned to their human condition and can be found hanging around somewhere on the outskirts of their villages from which they had disappeared a few years earlier. For the other people they are then considered to have returned "from the world of wisdom and beauty". Possibly this is a symbol and stands for the importance of an education outside the national borders. It is interesting in this context that in the Klama stanzas the gods of the sea ( wo woi ) communicate with the gods of the land ( abodo ).

The individual stanzas of the Klama are systematically arranged. So the Klama z. For example, a part called Tegble , which literally means “path of war”, but most of the time this part depicts pieces of a warrior killing a leopard with a spear. There are also z. B. also the Hae part, which one could call "songs of the virgins". This part contains a whole repertoire of romantic songs that are connected with the loves and sorrows of a young woman during her training to become a (perfect) housewife, wife and mother. All Klama stories always begin and end with the same greeting and farewell verse.

Exhibitions

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The latter are Akan refugees from Denkira who were accepted by the Krobos in the first decades of the 18th century.
  2. ↑ A missing arm of the ghost figure can mean good in FAZ of August 31, 2016, page N3

literature

  • DA Puplampu: The National Epic of the Adangme. In: African Affairs . 50 (200) (1951), pp. 236-241.
  • Hugo Huber: The house with the Krobo (West Africa). Sociological and ritual aspects. In: Geographica Helvetica. 18 (1963), pp. 278–283 (digitized version )

See also

Web links