Asase Ya

Asase Ya (or Asase Yaa, Asaase Yaa, Asaase Afua) is the Earth goddess of fertility of the Bono people, an Akan ethnic group of Ghana. She is also known as Mother Earth or Aberewaa.

Asase Yaa is the wife of Nyame the Sky deity, who created the universe. Asase Yaa gave birth to the two children, Bea and Tano. Bea is also named Bia.

Asase Yaa is also the mother of Anansi, the trickster, and divine stepmother of the sacred high chiefs.

Asase Yaa is very powerful, though no temples are dedicated to her, instead, she is worshipped in the agricultural fields of Bono. Asase Yaa is highly respected amongst Akans. Sacrifices are given to her for favour and blessings. Asase Yaa's favoured Bono people are occupationally workers in the agricultural fields and planet Earth is her symbol.^[1][2][3]

Asase Yaa Worship[]

The Bono people regard Asase Ya as Mother Earth, the earth goddess of fertility, the upholder of truth, and the creator Goddess who comes to fetch Bono people's souls to the otherworld (Planet Jupiter) at the time of death. She is credited as being the nurturer of the earth and is considered to provide sustenance for all. When a member of the Bono people wants to prove their credibility, they touch their lips to the soil of Bono and recite the Asase Ya Prayer-Poem. Another tradition holds that because Thursday is reserved as Asase Ya's day, the Bono people generally abstain from tilling the land of Bono.^[4]

Asase Ya Prayer-Poem[]

Asase Ye Duru is the Adinkra Symbol of Asase Ya the Bono people Goddess. Asase ye Duru means; The Earth has weight (symbol of providence and the divinity of Mother Earth and this symbol represents the importance of the Earth in sustaining life). Divinity of the Earth. Providence Power/Authority, Wealth and Might. Bono Twi: Tumi nyinaa ne asase (All power emanates from the earth) and Asase ye duru sene epo (The earth is heavier than the sea).

The Abosom in the Americas (Jamaica)[]

Worship of the Asase Ya goddess was transported via the transatlantic slave trade and was documented to had been acknowledged by enslaved Akan or Coromantee living in Jamaica. Jamaican slave owners did not believe in Christianity for the Coromantee and left them to their own beliefs. Hence Bono's spiritual system was dominant on the plantation. According to Jamaican historian and slave owner Edward Long, creole descendants of the Akan coupled with other newly arrived Coromantee joined in observation and worship of the Bono goddess Asase Yaa (the English people recorded erroneously as 'Assarci'). They showed their worship by pouring libations and offering up harvested foods. Other Bono Abosom were also reported to be worshipped. This was the only deity spiritual system on the island, as other deities identities in the 18th century were obliterated because of the large population of enslaved Coromantee in Jamaica, according to Edward Long and other historians who observed their slaves.^[5]

See also[]

• Nyame
• Akan religion
• Adinkra
• Amokye

References[]