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3.10.2 Knowledge of Sea gods
All respondents were quick to mention the whale, also known as Bonsu in the local dialect. The chief of Busua, who bears the stool name Nana Badu Bonsu recalled to the researcher
that oral tradition from his ancestors indicate that his clan came from the whale. In other words, members of his clan are descendants of the whale - they are the children of the whale.
As a result, his clan holds the whale in high esteem as a powerful god. To him, the whale can capsize boats on the sea if it discovers that a fisherman in a boat has been cursed.
3.10.3 Knowledge of the Goddess “Maame Wata” Water
All respondents had heard of the name maame wata before but only a few had seen the goddess physically. A queen mother at Apewosika, Axim who also couples as a fisherman’s
wife, said she and her brother had had an encounter with maame wata before. According to her, the upper part of this sea creature is human and very beautiful whereas the lower part is
fish. Thus it is a minotaur. A fetish priestess of the royal clan at Busua recounted her experience with maame wata about forty years ago when she was an adolescent. She said
that one Wednesday afternoon she went to a secluded part of the beach at busua in search of crabs – a seasonal economic activity of the youth at Busua. On her arrival at the beach she
saw a beautiful white woman sitting on a stone and holding a small stick in her left hand. She had very long hair with part of it hanging loosely and covering both her face and back.
According to her, wherever the woman touched with her stick crabs came out. The woman beckoned her to catch all of them. She filled two buckets and decided to take one home.
When she returned to convey the second catch home, she saw the strange creature had retreated into the sea. On her return again, the beautiful woman had resumed her original seat.
Through some understandable sign language the beautiful white woman expressed her love for her and promised to visit her at her house.
A few months later, she was visited by a white lady at about 8 pm who demanded food from her. After serving her, the white lady told her that she had many children and would send
two to stay with her. The fetish priestess said two of her daughters bear so much resemblance with the white lady that she sought spiritual explanation to it. The children are not only fair
but have as much hair as the white lady who had visited her some time back. The spirits revealed to her that it was the woman she met at the sea shore while looking for crabs who
visited her home and that the two children were a fulfillment of her promise to send two of her children to her the priestess. This was a testimony to the existence of maame wata - a
sea goddess. Respondents at Axim and Apewosika also mentioned maame wata as a sea goddess but rated the whale as being more powerful. Asked whether they knew the abode of
maame wata, the general view was that the exact location of the sea-goddess was unknown though a few said her abode was deep down the sea.
3.10.4 Knowledge of Other gods
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