By Winifred Lartey
Copyright asaaseradio
Historian and Akan culture expert Osepe Tetreku Kwame Osei has offered deep cultural insights into how marriage and divorce are understood in traditional Akan society, noting that the family—not the individual—anchors the institution of marriage.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (13 October), Osei explained that, traditionally, marriage among the Akan was a union between four clans—the father’s and mother’s families of both the man and the woman.
“A marriage is a contract between four families. The man’s father’s and mother’s clans, and the woman’s father’s and mother’s clans. It is not just between two individuals,” he said.
He noted that what modern Ghanaians call “engagement” is actually the traditional wedding ceremony where the union is sealed with drink offerings and witnessed by both families.
“When the man brings the drink to the woman’s family, that is the wedding. Once accepted, the two are considered married until death separates them,” he explained.
On divorce, Osei said that ending a traditional marriage requires ritual steps—not just emotional or physical separation.
“If the man wants to end the marriage, he must return the woman to her family. But if the woman seeks divorce, she or her sister must return the drink the man brought to her family. That signifies the end of the marriage,” he said.
He added that even when a couple obtains a court divorce under the ordinance, the Akan tradition still requires the symbolic return of drinks to make the separation complete in the eyes of the families.
“Until the drink is returned, the families still see the woman as married,” he emphasised.
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