Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Esi and Akosua

One of the first things I was asked when I got to Ghana was which day I was born. I, of course, said, December 26th. (my birthday). That wasn't the answer they were looking for. They wanted to know which day I was born. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wed...etc. Mind you this was a question I was asked 10 times the first day I arrived in the village.

Ghanians name their children, at least part of their name, with a name that is attached to day they are born. It bothered me that i didn't have a truthful answer to question. I began just saying Tuesday.

It was so important that I know my Ghanian to one certain school master I met, that she contacted me twice so she could tell me. She had a book with birth dates and years. She was so sweet.

I went yesterday and found out I am Sunday born. My Ghananian Fanti tribe name is Esi. My Ashanti name is Akosua.

I'll have to write out all the names for the weeks later. I found out that my mom and sister, Ellen, are also Sunday bborn and are Esi and Akosua. My dad was also Sunday born,so his is the male version of Esi. My brothers however are Thurs (Tim) is Yaw(fanti) and Ekow (Ashanti) and Monday (Danny) is Kojo(fanti) and Kwadwo (ashanti)

I can't quite get a straight answer if there is some characteristics to a Sunday born or a Monday born . However, when I at church last Sunday, they had people paying some fee , instead of aphabetical order (like A-K, L- S, T-Z), they anounced all monday born pay Kwame, all Tuesdya born pay PHilip. Etc. I was thinking it's an effectient way to organize a people where some are preliterate.

2 comments:

bjkeefe said...

This was fascinating. I'm going to forward the post to a friend of mine who worked for the Peace Corps in Africa for a while, and see if the C.A.R. peoples had anything like this.

Zo Kwe Zo said...

I am said friend, an RPCV, CAR, Secondary Ed/Math 1988-90. I know of no such importance placed on birthdays among the tribes in the southeastern CAR. They did seem to care (and know) who was older than who, since younger (kete) owed older (kota) respect, independent of their station. The younger always nodded first to the older (often calling him kota), and only then did the less important show his obeisance to the more important with a more exaggerated bow. If the older was also the more important, he could start the whole thing by calling the younger one kete, but this would be clearly understood as an assertion of authority. I never used it myself, even with students.

Now, if only I could get younger kids in the US to show me respect like that!