African Slavery and the Occult
ACCRA, Ghana — An ancient practice of sexual slavery has come under severe criticism. Among the Ewe (pronounced Evay) and Ada peoples of Ghana, Togo and Benin is the tradition of "Trokosi" or "the wives of the gods" — perhaps more accurately translated as "fetish slavery," whereby young girls are given to priests of the native religion.
These girls are condemned to lives of hard labor, sexual servitude and perpetual childbearing at a dozen or so shrines to pay for the crimes of their ancestors. Committed by distant and long-dead relatives, some as trivial as the theft of a few heads of corn or a goat, some crimes are by now completely forgotten but the servitude continues.
The fetish slaves, even as they toil without hope of profit for themselves, are supported by their families of origin who provide food for them and their children. The families are even expected to pay for a slave's funeral and in some cases, replace her with another female virgin. Some women in the shrines represent the fifth successive generation to be so enslaved.
Sentences and customs vary between shrines, but when the fetish slave begins menstruating, she undergoes an initiation ceremony after which the fetish priest, or as they believe, the god himself through the channel of the priest, can have sex with her whenever he wants. The women are sometimes returned to their families when they've lost their physical appeal.
Trokosi originates from the same belief system as voodoo. From the 1500s on, the Ewe were driven from the Niger River delta westwards. During this violent period their war-gods took on great importance and the fetish priests were more important than the chiefs. They remain the most revered, feared and powerful figures in many rural areas.
Moreover, senior members of Ghana's armed forces and government are said to continue to visit and support the shrines seeking to further their careers. Appalled by the practice, some Ghanaians have broken the fearful silence which surrounds Trokosi. But their calls for it to be banned have had little more success than the efforts of foreign missionaries, which may have led to it actually becoming more entrenched in Ghana. The fetish slaves are pawns in an age-old struggle between traditional African religion and the encroachment of Christianity which arrived in 1471 with the first Portuguese slavers.
Fetish slavery is still common in the rural eastern section of the country, affecting an estimated 10,000 women and girls. (6/16/96)
Source: http://www.thelinkup.org/
Slain boy 'was gift to Nigerian sea goddess'
A little boy whose torso was found in London's Thames River may have been
sacrificed to a Nigerian sea goddess in a ghastly ritual.
Hardened Scotland Yard detectives investigating the case sat stunned on
Wednesday as they listened to a South African expert on ritual killings spell
out the grisly details.
Full story at: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=ct20020417212733793S353300
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