Asante Funeral Practices

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On the death of any person, it is an invariable custom to solemnize the event, by a conjunction of condoling and carousing. If the person be of consequence, this custom is observed very extravagantly. For, not only every branch of the family contribute, but the friends of the dead come forward with something emblematic of the regard they had for the deceased, or respect for the family. Cloth, spirits, and gunpowder, are generally lavished on these occasions; and until the body is deposited in the ground, it is a continual scene of dancing, singing, firing volleys of guns, and, at intervals, lamentable exclamations, that do not betoken much real anguish or sorrow. It is necessary to remark, that all this is a customary action that must be followed, and the actors are principally persons employed for the occasion, who have no inward feelings of grief, excepting what sympathy will create. After the interment, and when calmness, we may say, is restored, we then behold real sorrow and affliction, and the habitation of the departed may be appropriately termed the house of mourning.

There is great attention shewn in this country to the dead, and in proportion to rank, family, or the situation the person was in. The body is exposed to public view, decorated with the riches and ornaments of the country, for three or four days, and sometimes six; and when buried, gold, valuables pieces of cloth, and other articles, are put into the grave. In some places human sacrifices take place, and the victims are selected according to the rank and quality of the deceased.

Henry Meredith, An Account of the Gold Coast of Africa: With Brief History of the African Company (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1812).

Henry Meredith

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