Paramount queen mother of Osudoku underscores importance of dipo, widowhood rites

The Paramount Queen Mother of the Osudoku Traditional Area in the Greater Accra Region has stressed the need for society, particularly the Osudoku Traditional Area to continue to value the customs and traditions of the area.

Nana Amponsah Dokua III said practising and respecting the existing customs such as widowhood and dipo rites is the surest way to bring dignity to women.

She made the call while feting some 120 aged women and widows at Osuwem.

Underscoring the importance of the two rites, the event offered the women the opportunity to revisit how the two customary rites are performed and the benefits those who undergo them derive from it.

“We discussed how the widowhood rites would be performed in an acceptable manner and how the dipo can be done decently and devoid of shame to our daughters,” Nana Amponsah Dokua III explained in an interview adding that her message was well received by the women.

The queen mother also used the occasion to call on the women to ensure that their daughters receive the best of education and avoid early childbirth which could deprive them of accessing education.

“We must advise our daughters to embrace education to higher levels. If they do this before having children, there would be no problem but little girls are now in a hurry to give birth,” she said.

According to her, her motivation is to ensure that the needy and vulnerable women in society were adequately catered for, adding that there was need to celebrate with the widows, the poor women, vulnerable and the childless women in her community.

She feted and distributed items including fabrics, towels and scarfs to over 120 aged women at Osuwem, the first of its kind to be provided for the widows and aged in the area.

Presenting the items, Nana Amponsah Dokua reiterated the need for the youth in the area and beyond to emulate the good deeds of their mothers by adhering to the norms and traditions.

She regretted that the aged are more often neglected in society and hence the need for the government and other philanthropists to regularly extend support to them and not only on special days.

The queen mother also appealed to the people to respect and obey the customs and traditions of the traditional area to enhance peace and development in the community.

Some beneficiaries who spoke in an interview expressed gratitude to the Paramount Queen Mother and appealed to others to emulate her gesture.
One of them, Florence Nyengor Amponsah said that the gesture by the queen mother would positively influence her community.

“The queen mother has done well for us and nobody has shown such gesture to us before and we are very pleased so God should bless her and open doors for her to enable her to build our community so that she can do better for us next year,” she prayed.

Fetish priestess of the traditional area, Nana Korley Woryo, also underscored the importance of traditional rites such as dipo in the Ga-Adangme custom which adequately prepares a woman for marriage.

She dismissed claims that such rites were akin to idol worship, adding that they were customary rites that must be observed and practised.

The event was supported by the Lordina Foundation, District Chief Executive for Shai Osudoku, Solomon Temple, Nsawam-Adoagyiri and families and friends.