30 April 2025
BACKGROUND HISTORY OF NAMING CEREMONY IN THE LAND OF AHANTA
In the land of Ahanta, the rites of passsage are preceded by “Naming ceremony. “Dumadele” as it is called locally in the Ahanta language is largely viewed as the most significant since the birth of a person serves as the first point of contact into this physical world. The priority attached to this rite is greeted with the christening of the new born baby.
Ahantas are of the firm belief that names adduced to a new born baby serve as his/her divine identity throughout his/her stay on the surface of the earth. The art of naming in the land of Ahanta is strictly patriarchal in terms of performance; names are strictly chosen from the patrilineal lineage of the man. Purposefully, this is done to avoid likely extinction of names within the family.
Furthermore, this also ensures some level of balance in the ownership over the child; it is believed that since the mother exercises outright ownership over the child in terms of kinship, the man is therefore credited with this privilege also right at the stage of birth. In a case where the woman wishes to have the baby named after a member of her lineage, permission has to be sought from the man.
