'Washing away the hand': a later life rite of passage among the Sisala of Northern Ghana

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Periodical article

Title:	'Washing away the hand': a later life rite of passage among the Sisala of Northern Ghana
Author:	Grindal, Bruce T.
Year:	1977
Periodical:	Savanna: A Journal of the Environmental and Social Sciences
Volume:	6
Issue:	2
Pages:	141-144
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	Sisala rites of passage death rites
Abstract:	Among the Sisala, a ceremony surrounding the death of the father is seen as constituting for the senior son and his siblings a rite of passage into the status of full adulthood. The paper analyses these rites in terms of both Sisala concepts of socialization and the social and political institutions of the society, and concludes by showing that these rituals function to mediate conflicts between the concept of vitality inherent in the growth process and the principle of seniority inherent in the political process. Suggestions for comparative research will be presented. Notes.