A Religio-Cultural Inquiry into the Spiritual Journey of a Fiasidi through Initiation Rites at the Troxovi Shrines in Klikor, Ghana
Alex Kwasi Azaglo 
, Dickson Adom , Steve Kquofi & Alice Korkor Ebeheakey
Issue: Vol.5 No.8 Issue Article 8 pp.1527 -1542
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024588 | Published online 6th August, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Initiation rites play a pivotal role in shaping cultural identity, reinforcing societal norms, and facilitating the transmission of cultural values from one generation to the next. Using a qualitative approach which was supported by interpretive philosophy, the study explored the initiation rites of a Fiasidi which involves a series of rituals, ceremonies, and teachings that are designed to prepare young girls or women for their ritual responsibilities in serving Torgbui Adzima shrines in Klikor, Ghana. A case study was used in the research. Observations, document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and audiovisual materials were used to gather data. The opinions and experiences of fifteen (15) participants, including high priests, priestesses, ritual functionaries, petitioners, and Fiasidiwo (initiates), were sampled using the purposive sampling approach. Thematic analysis was used to do an inductive study of the data. The study revealed that three main rituals feature in the initiation rites of a Fiasidi in Klikor. These are Godedegome (puberty rite), Gatete (Fiasidi’s homecoming), and Flaxoxo (purification rite). The study concluded that the Troxovi shrines are effective in ensuring social order and discipline and promoting African indigenous knowledge and spirituality among the Anlo-Ewe communities. It recommended that other ritual performances such as performing libation, wailing wall prayers, and traditional dance forms be explored by other researchers. The study has contributed to providing insights into cultural diversity, and spiritual identity and illuminating the significance of ritual practices in various fields including social anthropology, African aesthetics, and African traditional religion.
Keywords: Initiation Rites, Fiasidi Tradition, Troxovi Shrines, Klikor, Deities
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Alex Kwasi Azaglo is a PhD candidate in African Art and Culture, Department of Painting and Sculpture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. His research interests include Contemporary Art History, Indigenous Cultural Practices, Visual Communication, and Popular Culture. He is currently an Art Teacher at Battor Senior High School in Ghana.
Dr Dickson Adom is a researcher in the multidisciplinarity fields of Place Identity, History, African Art, Art Installations, and Cultural Anthropology for Biodiversity Conservation, Environmental Sustainability, and Heritage site conservation. He is a lecturer in the Department of Educational Innovations in Science and Technology,Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He also holds an extraordinary researcher position in the School of Economic Sciences, Northwest University, South Africa. For his scholarly and academically rigorous peer review activities for top-ranked publishers and journals such as SAGE Open, Taylor and Francis (African Identities), Springer, Elsevier and many others, he received a 1% Global Top Reviewer Award from Publons, New Zealand in 2018. He is a certified Publons Academy mentor and a Diamond Level Author at Ezines (U.S. A), with over sixty journal publications, more than ten book chapters, and over 200 e-articles.
Prof. Steve Kquofi is an Associate Professor of African Art and Culture. He is currently the Head of the Department of Educational Innovations in Science and Technology (DEIST), Faculty of Educational Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi (KNUST), Ghana. His areas of expertise are diverse and varied. This expertise includes cultural anthropology; African art, global art history; art education; TVET; museums and monuments studies; socio-cultural practices and environmental aesthetics; traditional ecological knowledge in biodiversity conservation; as well as aesthetics and criticism in sub-Sahara African art. Currently, Steve is researching how to effectively employ art and aesthetics in environmental protection in sub-Saharan Africa and its implications for art education.
Dr. Alice Korkor Ebeheakey is an Africanist, artist, art critic, researcher, and a Senior Member of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). In her work and research, she looks out for possible answers to the problems that contemporary societies face, in the ancient epistemological thoughts, arts and theories of Africa. Her research interests include Contemporary African Art, Africa Diaspora Art and Culture, Ethnographic and Indigenous Cultural Studies, and African Ethnic Studies. She is determined to use her research to present ideologies that deal with the unification of thoughts towards achieving an amalgamated understanding of Africa. She is currently exploring ways of bridging the gap between indigenous peoples and art practices and contemporary anthropological ideologies through research.
Azaglo, Alex Kwasi, Dickson Adom, Steve Kquofi & Alice Korkor Ebeheakey. “A Religio-Cultural Inquiry into the Spiritual Journey of a Fiasidi through Initiation Rites at the Troxovi Shrines in Klikor, Ghana,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.8 (2024): 1527 -1542. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024588
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
