Queenmother resuscitates puberty rite in Asankare

Asankare (Ash), Sept. 6, GNA -- The palace of Asankare in the Asante-Akim South district was last Friday besieged by residents to witness four young girls being initiated into womanhood for the first time in several decades.

Known traditionally as 'Bragoro' (puberty rites), the four girls, were initiated amidst traditional tunes and cultural displays to the admiration of the people who had thronged the palace in their numbers.

With the performance of the necessary customary rites behind closed doors, the girls, who were beautifully dressed in traditional costumes, sat on stools with the Queen Mother in between them. Simultaneously, the people were treated to fine tunes of traditional songs and dances whilst loved ones presented gifts after which the floor was opened for people to advise the initiates as they made bold step into womanhood.

Nana Yaa Biaah II, Queen Mother of Asankare traditional area, explaining the motive behind the re-introduction of the puberty rite, said the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy in the area prompted her to re-introduce the rite despite numerous oppositions to the move. She called on the people to discard the erroneous notion that the practice was ungodly and Satanic, saying the absence of such old customs had given rise to moral decadence in society.

Nana Biaah noted that not only would the re-visitation of the rite help check the increasing spate of sexual promiscuity among the youth but also promotes the dignity of womanhood as the young ladies would learn to preserve their bodies for their future husbands.

The Queen Mother cautioned parents to endeavour to present their daughters whenever they began to menstruate for the rites to be performed in their own interest since a girl found to be pregnant without being initiated would be drastically dealt with. Dr Lord Justice Gyamfi-Fenteng, the District Chief Executive in an address said the queenmother's initiative was laudable and worth emulating by others in an effort to instil some sense of decorum in the youth.

He said puberty rites was one of the customs of our ancestors which is worth upholding by the present generation, though others such as female circumcision have had effect on society.