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Encyclopedia of African Religion

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Encyclopedia of African Religion

Molefi Kete Asante & Ama Mazama

Pub. date: 2009 | Online Pub. Date: January 26, 2009 | DOI: 10.4135/9781412964623 | Print ISBN: 9781412936361 | Online ISBN: 9781412964623| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Ga

Molefi Kete Asante

The Ga are a small ethnic group comprising a population of nearly 700,000 people in the south of the modern country of Ghana. There are six states of the Ga people: Accra, Nugua, La, Osu, Teshi, and Tema. The original Ga kingdom of Nkran gives the city of Accra its name. In the early part of the 16th century, the Ga Mantse, the title of the kings, extended the kingdom around the present site of the city of Accra. Homowo refers to “hooting at hunger.” This means that hunger cannot rule the people; in other words, hunger has no victims among the Ga because they laugh and hoot at hunger. This festival remembers a massive famine that nearly wiped out the people in the 17th century. Since that time, the Ga have come ...

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