The fiaside institution among the Anlo-Ewes of Ghana

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.