Akan in Jamaica
The Akans were one of the larger groups of Africans to grace the shores of Jamaica as enslaved people. While the Taínos had maintained an agriculturally based economy, focused around self sufficiency, self reliance and preserving the environment, the colonizers, on their arrival, established mining operations which they worked with the forced labour of the Taino population. When nature revealed that Yamayeka/Jamaica had not been blessed with an abundance of gold, greed focused their attention on other fortune making ways.
Sugarcane was introduced and a labour intensive, plantation style agricultural system was developed to extract wealth to support the industrialisation of their homelands, mining activities in other Caribbean locations and of course line their own pockets. The demand for labour to service these plantations was the driving force behind the enslaving and human trafficking, that fed the Transatlantic Trade in enslaved Africans.
The Akan people came carrying not only their labour but also their culture. Sugar cultivation was hard work but even as they made Jamaica one of the two (Haiti being the other) top exporters in the world, none of the benefits or the wealth was seen by them. What they did receive was extremely harsh working conditions, merciless whipping, torture, broken families and more and more atrocities. Enslaved persons were owned, sold, raped at the whim and fancy of the Backra Massa. They rebelled. Many took to the hills and fought physically, mentally and spiritually against the injustices. Many stayed on the plantations and fought similarly.
Akan spirituality established itself. Those who took to the hills and mountains became gatekeepers of the tradition as they were able to participate in their way of being much more so than others. Shrines were established, ancestors venerated and deities implored to assist the fight for freedom. Onyankopon became Yenkinpong and Akan spiritual ways and practices became the dominant expression of spirituality. As the colonisers facilitated an inflow of missionaries, the Akan spiritual system (and all things ‘African’) was demonised and forced underground.
Many of today’s Jamaicans have developed an awareness and appreciation of our African ancestry and there are many initiatives to reclaim Africa. Sankofie maintains a shrine house that is home to a number of Akan deities and has a spiritual community that participates in work and worship. The intention is to live and teach Akan spirituality and to apply the teachings of our ancestor so that we may live in balance and harmony.