The Very Reverend Japhet Ledo
The Very Reverend Japhet Ledo, retired Moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, himself a royal and brother of a chief, explains that the Èwè people are open to change. Over the centuries, they have successfully blended the influences of the Western world and Christianity with traditional ways.
When asked about the role of traditional leadership in a contemporary society, Rev. Ledo reveals,
The genius of the Ghanaian culture is that we don’t have to throw out the old when we accept the new. For example, since the 17th or 18th century, the stool has been a status symbol representing the spirit of the ancestors of the clan. A brave leader creates the stool from a specific tree and performs many rituals to bless it.
In great secrecy, the tᴐgbe used to sacrifice one of his descendants, a pure pre-menstrual virgin. Her blood, including a drop from her heart, drenched the stool. They also washed the stool with herbs and the blood of many slaves. Today, they use sheep’s blood. This ritual gives the stool’s spirit mighty power, which the subjects never take lightly. It saves you in times of danger and visits wicked ones with disasters.
In the olden days if a rival group captured the stool, disaster would come to the community. The stool itself sits in a place of honor on a large stack of animal skins near the tᴐgbe.
Over recent decades, the Èwè have demonstrated cultural flexibility by choosing to practice some of their ancestors’ customs but to discontinue others. “We don’t engage in practices that are unhealthy or anti-Christian,” explains Reverend Ledo. “The lessons of the past inform the practice of the present rather than contradict it.”