• Source: Dipo

Dipo rites are one of the most popular, yet criticized, puberty rites and practices in Ghana, yet is one of the most attended events in the country, receiving huge numbers of tourists. The rite is performed by the people of Odumase Krobo in the Eastern region of Ghana. The rite is performed in April every year. It is used to usher virgin girls into puberty or womanhood, and signifies that a participating girl is of age to be married. Parents, upon hearing the announcement of the rite, send their qualified girls to the chief priest. The girls, however, have to go through rituals and tests to prove their chastity before they qualify to partake in the festival.
On the first day of the rites, the girls' heads are shaved and they dressed in cloth around their waist to the knee level. This is done by a special ritual mother, and it signifies their transition from childhood to adulthood. They are paraded through the community as initiates (dipo-yo).
Early the next morning, the chief priest gives the initiates a ritual bath. He pours libation to ask for blessings for the girls. He then washes their feet with the blood of a goat which their parents presented. This is to drive away any spirit of barrenness. The crucial part of the rite is when the girls sit on the sacred stone in order to prove their virginity. However, any girl found to be pregnant or not a virgin is detested by the community and does not entice a man from the tribe.
The girls are then housed for a week, where they are given training on cooking, housekeeping, and childbirth and nurture. The ritual mothers give them special lessons on seduction and how their husbands will expect to be treated. They learn the Klama dance, which is performed on the final day of the rites.
After the one-week schooling, they are released and the entire community gather to celebrate their transition into womanhood. They are beautifully dressed in rich kente cloth accessorised with beads around their waists, necks and arms. With singing and drumming, they perform the Klama dance. At this point, any man interested in any one of them can start investigating her family. It is assumed that any woman who partakes in the rites not only brings honour to herself but to her family at large. The ritual is done to initiate young women into knowing their responsibilities before stepping into marriage.




References

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