Zìükunmpii are expected to insult and banter each other for example, accusing them of eating green beans. The only time there are any serious dealings is when
one is called on to come and help resolve a family dispute. Immediately the reconciliation has taken place, the
zìükunü› insults all the parties, left, right and centre, and then gets on his bicycle and leaves the village without a further word to
anyone.
2.7 LIFE CYCLE OF A SUPYIRE
Birth
Oftentimes, a woman will seek supernatural help in order to conceive. Although
Kile is the source of life, each child is thought to have come from a certain place. So, if the mother had prayed for a child from the family’s little god kile, she
might well name him Kilen›
“God-man”; if from the fetish of love the K›nr›, the child may be named
K›nr›cwo “K›nr›-girl”.
The child is actually not usually named until he has survived the first week, probably due to the high rate of infant mortality in the past. At the naming ceremony,
he is presented to the ancestors of the village, who then take note of him to protect him and to keep him from straying from traditional ways.
If a mother loses a succession of two or three babies, it is said that it is the same child that keeps returning. The jinas are blamed for the death of some children,
especially beautiful children they are thought to want for themselves. In order to try and deflect the attention of the jinas away from him, the child following one who has
died in infancy may be given a name such as “Ugly child”. So there is some belief in reincarnation, but it is not clearly defined, and does
not play a central role in Supyire thought. A child born into the family of an elderly person who has recently died is sometimes named after him.
Circumcision
The custom of circumcising both boys and girls continues without exception. It is a rite that enables the child to develop into a full adult which for the Supyire is
synonymous with being married. The foreskin and the clitoris respectively are seen as being characteristic of the opposite sex, and as being inappropriate for the boy or
girl. Therefore they are cut from the body. H. Sawyerr suggests that circumcision in
Africa can be seen as a sort of sacrifice,
32
but this does not appear to be the case among the Supyire.
Marriage
This is the rite that fully establishes an individual as a full-fledged individual in society. One must marry outside the family clan. The wife will invariably come to
live in the village of her husband. Indeed it is the norm for the husband to build a hut for her in his own parent’s home compound. So he will not move away from his
family. A series of long negotiations over the years between two clans culminate with
a family delegation from the groom’s side making an overnight stay in the village of the bride. They stay with their jatigi who then as intermediary goes with the
delegation to bring greetings and gifts to the girl’s family. Kola nuts, cloths, cooking utensils and two chickens to sacrifice to the ancestors are among the obligatory gifts.
There is also usually nowadays a cash dowry. After friendly banter over the quality of the gifts, the bride’s family provide a communal meal to seal the alliance between
the two families. Consistent with the third party nature of most dealings in Supyire society, the
couple to be married is at no point involved in the negotiations. They are not even in the village on the wedding day; the girl will already have left to take up residence in
the groom’s village the previous day. They are strictly forbidden to eat any part of the communal wedding meal, even leftovers.
The marriage is only really seen as consummated with the successful arrival of the first child. At this point they have fully entered into the ageless stream of
family life, by contributing to its ongoing existence and expansion.
Married life
Men and women tend to live very separate lives. The men eat together first and then the women and children. There is a fairly rigorous division of labour. For
example, it is the husband’s responsibility to provide the staple for the meal: corn,
32
Dickson, Kwesi A. and Paul Ellingworth,, Pour une Théologie Africaine, Yaounde, Editions Clé, 1969, p.109.
