tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90650472069769356512024-02-19T23:00:15.136-08:00Krobo Tribe GirlsKrobo Tribe Girlshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05318471721429518984noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9065047206976935651.post-44828777767432041072008-12-23T00:15:00.001-08:002008-12-23T05:37:27.723-08:00Krobo Tribe Rites<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiWNJVzb6_HVNRQrkGrH820fND-R-tNi_O_4fFk-_JMFRr9e0xzV66EuLbYUMegm1mIV-Vs1BxFwxbaUKjllpi7ysNjVh-c5IDs16GDQF1Z809g4BgiTDPndyS8A_8LkS6GW-08APcDdE/s1600-h/EasternRegion.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282897595710355938" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 288px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiWNJVzb6_HVNRQrkGrH820fND-R-tNi_O_4fFk-_JMFRr9e0xzV66EuLbYUMegm1mIV-Vs1BxFwxbaUKjllpi7ysNjVh-c5IDs16GDQF1Z809g4BgiTDPndyS8A_8LkS6GW-08APcDdE/s320/EasternRegion.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"> The Krobo Tribe</span></strong> ...<br /><strong><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;"></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">The Krobo Tribe is located in the Eastern Region in Ghana, in Westafrica. This tribe is fairly well known for it's old historical tribal rites, marking the first menstruation of their girls.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;">This here is only the official view of these rites.</span></div><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;">However, much more is going on in the villages, behind the stage, so to speak, bbut this might not be the right place to speak about these things.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;">But you can search the internet yourself, and you will easily find out, that many of these Krobo girls end up in prostitution later on, or are being otherwise sexually abused by men.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">Some Rite Descriptions : </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(1) The "Krobo Tribe" marks the passage of girls into womanhood by performing a series of rituals known as "Dipo."</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmP5fD65usaYGx7usMtUHr9yL_Z44yUjORp7cQmGOg1JQpY-sup6-so92U1Q0lyjn58IQqDV3LXgmUsKKNsJAHfxwPPAVxDRfrHOC6jRxQvCcLvw-pOYZR4M3dlMm-6wGkqcgUffJl8PM/s1600-h/KroboTribeGirls00.jpg"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282939907282715106" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 293px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmP5fD65usaYGx7usMtUHr9yL_Z44yUjORp7cQmGOg1JQpY-sup6-so92U1Q0lyjn58IQqDV3LXgmUsKKNsJAHfxwPPAVxDRfrHOC6jRxQvCcLvw-pOYZR4M3dlMm-6wGkqcgUffJl8PM/s320/KroboTribeGirls00.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"> (2) Dipo rites have been practiced since the 11th. century, and their popularity has not waned despite modern intrusions into traditional Ghanian culture.<br /></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(3) At the beginning of the Dipo ceremony, each initiate enters a ritual house, sheds her clothing, symbolic of childhood, and is dressed anew by her ritual mother.<br /></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(4) The morning after shaving their heads, the initiates carry their calabashes to the river to bathe. The washing ceremony is meant </span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">to be a purification rite to cleanse the body and spirit. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;">It's a ceremony that is several hundreds of years old.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282940812551515506" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 275px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 189px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSTEfUF9_YdOeml7ew7I4q7fz2aO2PRYwINJal1Vd_0dQ9TqqSsVsOuDxzLIn68Ge4wD9OMp9YiWeemhw1BhwdLcFR7UsKt4lwaVglMAbizWPTejD4JgkDEbICyehNtQ9xctSOalvzSI/s320/KroboTribeGirls03.jpg" border="0" />(5) After their ritual bathing, the girls are fed a special meal of water-yam porridge and palm-oil sauce prepared by their mothers. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(6) The initiates are helped by priestresses. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(7) The young girls undergo an inner and outer transformation with the help of their specially appointed Dipo guardians. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(8) The climax of the Dipo initiation ceremony is called the blessing of Tekpete, referring to a legendary sacred stone which the Krobo carried down from Krobo Mountain when the British evicted them from their place of origin in the nineteenth century.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLnik3IRuGiphHZKGIcoiatzGp5YgCeTdqMBSptYGGUTSZs_jqTIRkRzPHcZ9s6U8nPBC2OSKDePeUtD4ElRm69KfsRVUVGFrY4IwdoCY8PvmmJ5HmVFgrC6TyYgaC7QQl1MLPvTuqnM/s1600-h/KroboTribeGirl1.jpg"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282941975752511778" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 242px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLnik3IRuGiphHZKGIcoiatzGp5YgCeTdqMBSptYGGUTSZs_jqTIRkRzPHcZ9s6U8nPBC2OSKDePeUtD4ElRm69KfsRVUVGFrY4IwdoCY8PvmmJ5HmVFgrC6TyYgaC7QQl1MLPvTuqnM/s400/KroboTribeGirl1.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(9) The initiate wears pure white strips of calico around her head and chest.<br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(10) Each initiate has been splashed with chalky water to ward off any evil forces that might overcome them. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(11) The initiate maintains a contemplative silence by pressing a single leaf between her lips. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(12) The initiate is carried by her father or other family members, after sitting on the sacred stone of virginity. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(13) Each initiate has been spashed with chalky water to ward off any evil forces that may overcome her. You may not believe in sprits, and their powers, but we </span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;">here in Africe know better. They are real, and they exist. More about this in another blog</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSKsglPc8rTywiduuNpY0E2WPTjWHxPcEuLke3TZqGruhgoGWDiojv0fCr89WJ7lXLSp9u-KEmaOHgn9qB2R55Qi6EMLMy9oHP1sugc93z_qjdt_G-O3B0xUJTdjzTlbqj9wn_uGSJgm4/s1600-h/KroboTribeGirls01.jpg"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282945152453487890" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSKsglPc8rTywiduuNpY0E2WPTjWHxPcEuLke3TZqGruhgoGWDiojv0fCr89WJ7lXLSp9u-KEmaOHgn9qB2R55Qi6EMLMy9oHP1sugc93z_qjdt_G-O3B0xUJTdjzTlbqj9wn_uGSJgm4/s320/KroboTribeGirls01.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(14) Despite all the influence of the Christian church in Ghana the Krobo people consider the Dipo ceremony their most sacred an beautiful ceremonial tradition.<br /><br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(15) The initiates are shaved their heads by their ritual mother. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(16) Shaved initiates. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(17) After blessing the sacred stone of virginity: if a girl is found not to be a virgin, or, even worse still, if she is discovered to be pregnant, she risks to be ostracized and will never attract a husband from her own tribe. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:85%;">They often end up as prostitutes in the cities, or abroad.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9NtQBw1V2s6YktoydUaDrkt_7LWfiE_CSW4bS-gKKKotJovfuzndRbmtyBnjC_sO0UQKJ7kRYbBYDQ2Pvytt-V9i0O2m0z4qEanbSF_VEI8DCPAo9P5y3_xR91iSvLycWqHqeH17NvY/s1600-h/KroboTribeGirls05.jpg"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282945987720569058" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9NtQBw1V2s6YktoydUaDrkt_7LWfiE_CSW4bS-gKKKotJovfuzndRbmtyBnjC_sO0UQKJ7kRYbBYDQ2Pvytt-V9i0O2m0z4qEanbSF_VEI8DCPAo9P5y3_xR91iSvLycWqHqeH17NvY/s320/KroboTribeGirls05.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(18) The initiates are now ready for their Outdooring Ceremony, during which they will be presented to the community of family, friends and potential suitors.<br /></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(19) The Krobo are among the oldest and most famous makers of ground-glass beads in Africa. many of the beads, known as AKORI, or AGGREY, are made locally; others have been trade from Venice since the seventeenth century, as well as from Holland.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(20) During the final week of Dipo instruction, the girls have studied the art of dance and music ....</span><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(21) .... and also learned about the subleties of seduction, including special techniques for making love !!!</span></p><p><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(22) Denoting family wealth and social status, each type of bead an initiate wears has a name of significance. Blue beads, called KOLI, mean "something you love very much", and are associated with affection and tenderness. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">Yellow beads symbolize maturity and prosperity. </span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">The large yellow beads known as BODUM beads are said to possess magical protective powers. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmTtRQulO7BPt-4WAxOYHarFUa0eKxssYyPWNTpNYzmXh2NWRR_eSqEOdRPzuC4qxUXizDl_JO2UHZu4N2DxZ0pdmQ3Q41khmsZBdM6JDEv-FXxPkLiKhNllxV4NAppoeRFlI1iBuduw/s1600-h/KroboTribeFestival.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282950384333084450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 293px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmTtRQulO7BPt-4WAxOYHarFUa0eKxssYyPWNTpNYzmXh2NWRR_eSqEOdRPzuC4qxUXizDl_JO2UHZu4N2DxZ0pdmQ3Q41khmsZBdM6JDEv-FXxPkLiKhNllxV4NAppoeRFlI1iBuduw/s320/KroboTribeFestival.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></p><br /><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(23) Musicians during the Outdooring Ceremony. </span></span></p><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(24) White beads signify respect for the gods and ancestors when worn by priestesses. The village priest wears a Dipo-pe straw hat.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(25) At their Outdooring Ceremony, Krobo initiates, perform the KLAMA dance which emphasises their graceful movements.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(26) The KLAMA dance at the Outdooring Ceremony. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(27) Tied around her neck are beads that are often been passed down through a family for many generations. Men of other tribes consider Krobo women to be among the most desirable in West Africa.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(28) The beads around their necks are considered to be of great value for the Krobo. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(29) The Krobo girls demonstrate their dancing skills for the chief, relatives, and most importantly, prospective suitors who gather to admire the display of feminine grace, and beauty...</span><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AHqNulb5dfIs_4uME2e2Z3FQKN2XRVsx15Cfpd9xgK1b3SXdTnMilcCzbjm094Ypc7cwc4hwJCoADAo-BsGtFG8Qt_8oWv4oudFQq7_GdMmgUZTkzbcWd9GON7k3YqwApDWh58WwDyE/s1600-h/KroboTribeGirls02.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282962497399867954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AHqNulb5dfIs_4uME2e2Z3FQKN2XRVsx15Cfpd9xgK1b3SXdTnMilcCzbjm094Ypc7cwc4hwJCoADAo-BsGtFG8Qt_8oWv4oudFQq7_GdMmgUZTkzbcWd9GON7k3YqwApDWh58WwDyE/s320/KroboTribeGirls02.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div>Krobo Tribe Girlshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05318471721429518984noreply@blogger.com0