Culture · 3 min read
Kente is a language before it is fashion
The cloth is not only something Ghana produces. It is a way knowledge moves between generations.
The Ghana Story library
Start with the story behind the place.
A growing, source-backed encyclopedia of Ghana told through people, culture, history and the places visitors can still experience today.
Browse by story world
Then narrow by lens
Culture · 2 min read
Nyame and Asase Yaa: the Sky Father and the Earth Mother
Any Akan funeral; any farm on a Thursday, when the earth rests.
Culture · 2 min read
The Old Woman and the Pestle: why the sky moved away
Any compound at dusk, where fufu is being pounded.
Culture · 2 min read
How Death Came: the goat, the sheep, and the message that arrived wrong
Told at wakekeepings, where the moral has weight.
Culture · 2 min read
Tano and Bia: the brothers and the stolen blessing
The Tano River, rising near Techiman; the Bia River, running down through the western forest into Côte d'Ivoire.
Culture · 2 min read
How the Lesser Gods Came Down
Any shrine to a river or a mountain; any akom drumming where a priest is possessed.
Culture · 2 min read
Why the Bat Flies at Night
The straw-coloured fruit bat colony over 37 Military Hospital and the Accra ridge at dusk — thousands of them, every evening, in season.
Culture · 2 min read
Why the Sea Turtle Beats Its Breast
The turtle nesting beaches at Ada Foah, Ningo, and along the Volta estuary, roughly October to March.
Culture · 2 min read
How the Leopard Got Its Spots — and How the Antelope Kept Its Life
Mole National Park, Northern Region.
Culture · 2 min read
Where the Wild Things Were Kept: how sickness and hardship got loose
Anywhere; this is a hearth story.
Culture · 3 min read
How Ananse Bought the Sky God's Stories
Any storytelling night; the Centre for National Culture, Kumasi.
Culture · 2 min read
Why Wisdom Is Scattered Through the World
Told to children, and to adults who need it.
Culture · 2 min read
Ananse and the Famine: how he came by his wife's grain
Told in the lean season before harvest.
Culture · 2 min read
What a Stool Is
Any palace stool room; the Manhyia Palace Museum; the woodcarving village of Ahwiaa, outside Kumasi.
Culture · 2 min read
Asamando: the country of the ancestors
Any funeral, which in Ghana is the largest event in social life.
Culture · 3 min read
What Was in the Bag: how sickness, poverty and the wild animals got out
Told at night, when the reason for a hardship is being discussed.