Akua'ba
People: Asante/Akan
Medium: Wood, beads
The Asante people of Ghana incorporate the Akua'ba figure into their beliefs of one of their key moments of life: fertility. Birth and fertility is an extremely important aspect of Asante culture, as well as many other peoples of Africa. This is due to the high death rate of children and newborns. Conditions of living in parts of Africa can be extremely harsh, making it very difficult for mothers to nurture newborns or for children to survive. Also, it can sometimes be difficult for a woman to even conceive a child. The Asante have developed these Akua'ba figures to help with these problems. Often a woman will go to their spiritual leader for guidance to help their fertility problems. The spiritual leader will then have the woman have an Akua'ba figure made for them. These figures represent a child, even though they show characteristics of an adult. The woman is then told to care for it as she would a real living child. The power of these figures is in the belief that if the woman cares for the figure and nurtures it, she will in turn conceive a real child.
Medium: Wood, beads
The Asante people of Ghana incorporate the Akua'ba figure into their beliefs of one of their key moments of life: fertility. Birth and fertility is an extremely important aspect of Asante culture, as well as many other peoples of Africa. This is due to the high death rate of children and newborns. Conditions of living in parts of Africa can be extremely harsh, making it very difficult for mothers to nurture newborns or for children to survive. Also, it can sometimes be difficult for a woman to even conceive a child. The Asante have developed these Akua'ba figures to help with these problems. Often a woman will go to their spiritual leader for guidance to help their fertility problems. The spiritual leader will then have the woman have an Akua'ba figure made for them. These figures represent a child, even though they show characteristics of an adult. The woman is then told to care for it as she would a real living child. The power of these figures is in the belief that if the woman cares for the figure and nurtures it, she will in turn conceive a real child.