UNCOVERED: Young Ghanian Girls undergoing Dipo Virginity Initiation.
Puberty Rites called Dipo among the Krobos is a very prominent event which has been carried out for years despite the influences
of education, modernization and missionization. The practice is held very strongly by the Krobos and it is ensured that every
female in the tribe undergoes the rites. The rites are held every year between the months of April and May.
Several girls partake in this event which lasts for a period of
four days during which they spend most of their time in the
Dipo house where the rites take place.During this period, the
girls are dressed in a special way to show that they are initiates. They have food restrictions and are only allowed to drink water from a well. They are taught the Klama dance, undergo a ritual
bath and the crux of the rite is when the girls are made to sit
on a stone which is believed determines virginity.
Any girl who is found not to be a virgin at the time of the
rites used to be ostracized in the past and was treated as
an outcast. Nowadays, a set of purification rituals are
performed for such a girl. On the last day of the rites, the girls
are dressed up in colourful Kente cloth (a traditional cloth in Ghana) and adorned with a lot of beads on their neck, arms
and waist. A durbar is held during which the girls perform
the Klama dance amidst singing and in the presence of
onlookers.
In the past, when there was no formal education, the rites served as a form of vocational training period for initiates where they were taught housekeeping and child rearing skills. The girls were therefore initiated into womanhood after which, they were ready to be married.
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