Abstract:
The Fiaside institution. with its accompanying beliefs and practices. has
been with the Anlo-Ewes since time immemorial. It is a religio-cultural
institution attached to deities of restitution - Troxoviwo. By this practice.
young women are sent as wives of a deity, Fiasidewo, to serve in a shrine of a
Troxovi to atone for sins committed by their relatives. The practice is popularly
known in Ghana as the Trokosi system. Trakas; in reality is the name given to a
variation of the practice among the Tongu-Ewes, The Trokosi practice has been
given much publicity and condemned by the public as an outmoded religious
system of cult-slavery and human rights abuses. A Bill was therefore passed in
Parliament banning the activities of Troxovi institutions. Meanwhile, the
Ghanaian public knows little about the phenomenon as it is practised among the
Anlo-Ewes - the Fiaside Institution.
This study is, therefore, undertaken to uncover the Fiaside institution to
the Ghanaian public so that people could come to know more about the
institution and be able to appreciate and criticise the institution meaningfully.
The study is therefore tailored to answer among others the following research
questions: -
1. What is the Fiaside institution?
2. How do women become Fiasidewo'l
3. Of what significance is the institution to the people?
4. How does the Fiaside institution illuminate and is illuminated by
traditional Anlo beliefs and practices?
5. What is the future of the institution?
The study is a case study and the methodology used in gathering data was
basically through unwritten sources, because majority of the informants are
non-literate. A few written sources were also consulted, notwithstanding.
The findings of this study, inter alia, are that the institution is a religious
one and is characterised by the performance of three main initiation rituals, and
that some Anlo-Ewes feel the institution was and is still socially, religiously,
economically, politically and morally relevant to their society. It has also been
discovered that the Anlo-Ewes themselves have come to appreciate the fact that
certain aspects of the institution need to be either abolished or transformed in
order to stand the test of time.
