Asamando

According to Akan cosmology, the Asamando is the ancestral world or the land of the spirits. Whereas the Akan conceive of the entire universe as essentially spiritual, the Asamando is regarded as the specific site where the spirits of ancestors dwell permanently. Revealed religions such as Christianity regard the heavens or the sky as the location of God and the hosts of angels, whereas for the Akan, the Asamando lies beneath the Earth. This belief in such an “underworld” sheds light on many Akan ritual practices, including dancing and pouring of libation, as the Earth reflects their connection to the spiritual realm.

For the Akan, owuo (physical death) does not mark the end of life. It represents the transition from Earthly life to spiritual life, a ...