Mythologies of the Éwé people

 

The Ewe people (/ˈeɪ.weɪ/; Ewe: Eʋeawó, lit. "Ewe people"; or Mono Kple Volta Tɔ́sisiwo Dome, lit. "Between the Rivers Mono and Volta"; Eʋenyígbá Eweland;) are a Gbe-speaking ethnic group. The largest population of Ewe people is in Ghana (6.0 million), and the second largest population is in Togo (3.1 million). They speak the Ewe language (Ewe: Eʋegbe) which belongs to the Gbe family of languages. They are related to other speakers of Gbe languages such as the Fon, Gen, Phla Phera, Gun, Maxi, and the Aja people of Togo, Benin and southwestern Nigeria. Ewe people are located primarily in the coastal regions of West Africa: in the region south and east of the Volta River to around the Mono River at the border of Togo and Benin; and in the southwestern part of Nigeria (close to the Atlantic Ocean, stretching from the Nigeria and Benin border to Epe). They are primarily found in the Volta Region in southeastern Ghana, southern Togo, in the southwestern part of Benin, and a small population in the southwestern region of Nigeria (most of whom are settled in Badagry). The Ewe region is sometimes referred to as the Ewe nation or Eʋedukɔ́ region (Togoland in colonial literature). They consist of several groups based on their dialect and geographic concentration: the Anlo Ewe, Ʋedome (Danyi), Tongu or Tɔŋu. The literary language has been the Anlo sub-branch.

Ewe, peoples living in southeastern Ghana, southern Benin, and the southern half of Togo who speak various dialects of Ewe, a language of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family. Ewe unity is based on language and common traditions of origin: their original homeland is traced to Oyo, in western Nigeria, which was a major Yoruba kingdom. Most Ewe are farmers, corn (maize) and yams being their staple foods. Sea fishing is a full-time occupation in some coastal areas. Spinning, weaving, pottery making, and blacksmithing, as well as trading, are all important.

Villages include several patrilineages, in which land ownership and certain political offices are vested; lineage members also share certain spirits and gods. The lineage head, usually its oldest member, administers lineage property, settles disputes, represents the lineage in village affairs, and serves as a priest linking the living members to the ancestors. Among most Ewe the patrilineage is the largest important kinship unit; among the Anlo in coastal Ghana, however, the lineages are segments of larger, dispersed clans. Clan membership is characterized by mutual help and friendliness, shared names, food taboos, and clan rituals. The introduction of a money economy, schools, Christianity, and government courts has weakened the corporate structure of the lineage. The Ewe never formed a single centralized state, remaining a collection of independent communities that made temporary alliances in time of war.

Ewe religion is organized around a creator god, Mawu (called Nana Buluku by the Fon of Benin), and numerous lesser gods. The worship of the latter pervades daily life, for their assistance is sought in subsistence activities, commerce, and war. Belief in the supernatural powers of ancestral spirits to aid or harm their descendants enforces patterns of social behaviour and feelings of solidarity among lineage members. In modern times many Ewe have become Christians.

There are many different schools of thought about the origins of the Ewe tribe, with a school of  thought tracing the origin as far back as an earlier settlement in Adzatome, a suburb founded by Ham, the second son of Noa in the Bible; Noa being the progenitor of various tribes. It is here that we learnt about the Biblical Story of the building of the tower of Babel to enable the people get close to God, see Him and pray to Him, followed by God‟s displeasure and the resultant fall of the tower and dispersion of the people into clusters of people speaking various languages instead of the single one that first united them. Oral tradition also claim the Ewe people were led by an ancestor called „Gu‟ under whose leadership they settled at the delta of the river Nile, in present day Egypt. Other ethnic groups also settled in Egypt then, including the Jews forced by draught in their land of Canaan. There were cultural exchanges among the various people, with groups adopting practices of others with whom they lived in close proximity. The acts of circumcision of male children, pouring of libation learnt via the worship of the SUN-GOD, out-dooring of new born babies, widowhood rites, kingship and burial of kings and chiefs with their personal effects some customary practices adopted by the Ewes from the Egyptians and the Jews. They also learnt the composition of long songs from the Jews.

The Ewe people are a West African ethnic group. The largest population of Ewe people is in Ghana (3.3 million), and the second largest population in Togo (2 million). They speak the Ewe language which belongs to the Niger-Congo Gbe family of languages. They are related to other speakers of Gbe languages such as the Fon, Gen, Phla Phera, and the Aja people of Togo and Benin. "Ewe" is the umbrella name for a number of groups that speak dialects of the same language and have separate local names, such as Anlo, Abutia, Be, Kpelle, and Ho. (These are not subnations but populations of towns or small regions.) Closely related groups with slightly different mutually comprehensible languages and cultures may be grouped with Ewe, notably Adja, Oatchi, and Peda. Fon and Ewe people are often considered to belong to the same, larger grouping, although their related languages are mutually incomprehensible. All these peoples are said to have originated in the general area of Tado, a town in present-day Togo, at about the same latitude as Abomey, Benin. Mina and Guin are the descendants of Fanti and Ga people who left the Gold Coast in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, settling in the Aneho and Glidji areas, where they intermarried with Ewe, Oatchi, Peda, and Adja. The Guin-Mina and Ewe languages are mutually comprehensible, although there are significant structural and lexical differences. They live mainly from agriculture, livestock, hunting and trade. They live in houses with a large common yard. In the villages, the women work in the fields or do a small business, they take care of the children as well. The men also work in the fields or do other crafts such as the forge, the carpentry, etc. In the city, women work in offices, most are business women or artisans in hairdressing, sewing. Some become restaurant owners. Men also work in the offices where they are most numerous. Others engage in commerce and in the craft industry. On the marital plane, they are for the most polygamous especially in the villages. The wedding is done in a traditional way. They can also opt for civil marriage if they wish.

The Ewe are a people found primarily in three countries of West Africa, namely Ghana, Togo, and Benin. They are concentrated in southeastern Ghana east of the Volta River, in southern Togo and the southwestern portion of Benin. They are a collection of a group of people who speak Ewe as the main language, but with different dialects. Each group is also known by a different name, such as Anglo (Anlo, Awlan), Awuna, Hudu, Kotafoa, Adan, Agu, Aveno, Be, Gbin, Ho, Kpelen, Togo, Vlin, Vo, and so on. Other slightly different cultures that are closely related to the Ewe include the Adja, Oatchi, Peda, and Fon. Even though these other groups speak languages that are incomprehensible to Ewe, they are considered to be part of the Ewe cultural group. Although the Ewe people are said to have originated from present-day southern Togo in the Tado region, it is thought that the original group of Ewe migrated south from Nigeria to their present area at some time in the 13th century. The Adja Kingdom of Tado in southern Togo, situated along the Mono River, is an area that has been constantly populated since prehistory and is well known for its metalworking and other crafts. Most Adja people today still live in and around Tado. The Ewe and Fon are considered to be the descendants of the Adja people who migrated from Tado and intermarried with other groups as they moved in different directions towards southeastern Ghana and Benin.

The Anlo Ewe are a sub-group of the Ewe people of approximately 6 million people, inhabiting southern Togo, southern Benin, southwest Nigeria, and south-eastern parts of the Volta Region of Ghana; meanwhile, a majority of Ewe are located in the entire southern half of Togo and southwest Benin. They are a patrilineal society governed by a hierarchal, centralized authority. Their language (self-name Anlogbe) is a dialect of the Ewe language, itself part of the Gbe language cluster. The Ewe religion is centered on the Supreme God, Mawu and several intermediate divinities. Christianity has been accepted in every part of Anlo Ewe land, with a minority of people still practicing traditional Vodun beliefs. The Vodu religion is slowly becoming a previous religion among the Anlo Ewes, with the youth of the community today practicing Christianity much more. However, those who still practice the Vodu religion also believe their tradition is a factor that keeps integrity and probit, while Christianity stands to pave way for integrity, honesty and probity to be washed away as years go by. It is for this reason that some Anlo Ewe people do away with Christianity when it comes to issues of accountability.

Numbering over six million strong, the Ewe people inhabiting southern Togo, southern Benin, southwest Nigeria, and south-eastern parts of the Volta Region of Ghana are an ethnic group with a patrilineal society governed by a hierarchal, centralized authority.‘Anlogbe’ is a dialect of the Ewe language, itself part of the Gbe language cluster. The Ewe language ‘Ewegbe’ belongs to a member of the Kwa family of Sudanic languages which constitute a sub-family of the Niger-Congo family of the Congo-Kordofanian language family of Africa. It is said the forebears of the Ewe, the Yoruba and the ancestors of the Aja, Fon, and Ga-Dangme lived in harmony till the expansion of the Yoruba people pushed the Ewe and related peoples westward. The Ewe thus migrated from Ketu also called ‘Amedzofe’, a Yoruba town in modern Benin. The Yoruba founded Ketu by the fourteenth century. While some lived at Tado in present-day Togo from where they later dispersed in various directions, some returned east to settle at Allada from where they founded the Aja kingdom of Allada, Whydah, Popo and Jakin, and later the Fon kingdom of Dahomey in the early eighteenth century.

The Ewe people are an ethnic group who occupy the south-eastern part of Ghana, and also parts of neighbouring Togo and Benin; Togo (formerly French Togoland) and Volta Region, Ghana (formerly British Togoland; both formerly Togoland, the southern part of which was Eweland or Eʋedukɔ́), and southern Benin. They speak the Ewe language (Ewe: Eʋegbe) and are related to other speakers of Gbe languages, such as, the Fon, Gen, Phla Phera, and the Aja people of Togo and Benin. The Origin of the Ewe is similar to those who speak Gbe languages. These speakers occupied the area between Akanland and Yorubaland. The Ewe is essentially a patrilineal people. They believe that the throne should be reserved to a fief or an heir according to succession; hence, the founder of a community becomes the chief and is usually succeeded by his paternal relatives.

The Ewe people are an ethnic group in the western part of the African continent. The biggest population of Ewe people is in the state of Ghana followed by Togo. They are about 2 million in Togo and over 3 million in Ghana. The Ewe people speak the Ewe languages and they are in relation to the Fon, Gen, Phera, and the Aja group of Benin. There are more than 1 different schools of thought concerning the origin of the Ewe ethnic group. There is a particular school of thought locating the origin at a settlement in Adzatome. Adzatome is a suburb in which Ham, the 2nd son of Noah, founded. It’s here that we learned about the Biblical story of the establishment of the Babel tower to enable the people to get closer to the Supreme being. People credit this story as being the origin of the Ewe language. According to oral traditions, Gu, an ancestor, led the Ewe people under whose leadership they settled in Egypt. The Jews also settled in the land of Egypt. There were cultural exchanges among different people, with people copying the way of things of other people with whom they lived closer. Some traditional practices which the Ewes adopted from the Egyptians are circumcision of males and pouring of libation. They also learned the making of very long songs from the ethnic group of the Jews.

Éwé are the largest ethnic group in Togo, making up more than 1.3 million people (22.3 per cent of the population), and are related to a number of other southern groups, which are sometimes considered sub-groups of the Éwé. These include the Ouatchi, Mina, Adja and Afro-Brazilians who are descended from returnees to Togo from Brazil, primarily in the 19th century. Many are civil servants, merchants and professionals. They practice Christianity and a traditional religion centred on a creator deity. Though the first president of Togo after independence was a Éwé, after his assassination and throughout the rule of the northern Gnassingbé family of Kabyé ethnicity – from 1967 to the present – the Éwé, related southern groups and northern groups are seen as rivals to the Kabyé, have been largely excluded from power. Éwé are at the heart of political opposition to Faure Gnassingbé and the ruling party and are heavily involved in several opposition parties. Éwé trace their origins to the Oyo of Nigeria, some of whom migrated to today’s Togo in the 13th century. They accepted such smaller groups as the Mina and Ouatchi that arrived later. Their initial settlements were organized on a local basis, without a strong centre, and the Éwé were susceptible to slave raids into the 19th century. The German occupiers regarded the Éwé as future administrators, and the French administration also used skilled and educated Éwé in the colonial service in Togo and elsewhere in French-controlled Africa. The preferential treatment of Éwé under colonial rule led to resentment in the north, which was much less developed and where fewer opportunities in education and trade were available. Éwé, in turn, were resentful of colonial boundaries that divided them among Togo, Ghana and Benin. During the colonial period, many agitated for a common state, while other groups, fearing Éwé dominance, opposed this goal.

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