This African people has a rather peculiar history for its continent. There was a time when they were not only numerous (now out of more than three million), but also powerful. Their warlike empire flourished, but everything comes to an end.
The end of the Ashanti empire was laid by the same thing that nourished it - gold and the slave trade. They were very warlike and captured many slaves on their campaigns. They were exchanged for gold, which the Ashanti also skillfully traded for their own benefit. They were very proud of themselves, saying that they themselves would never become slaves.
But they could tell this story to other Africans, but certainly not to the British, who knew exactly who should own all the gold in the world and who should be their slave. Wars began, in which the Ashanti showed themselves to be great. But technical superiority and skillful military strategy did their job, and after 70 years of war, the Ashanti were conquered. And now they themselves began to be sold into slavery.
I must say that slaves from Ashanti still turned out, but useless. Sometimes there were more problems than benefits from them. Then the Europeans did what had always worked - they began to baptize Ashanti and destroy their numerous temples. In addition, preachers of Islam have been operating in the north of their lands for several centuries.
In general, the national identity was chopped off, but did not completely fall. Instead of Christianity and Islam, some kind of mixture of these two religions with Ashantian paganism turned out. Sometimes the sermons of the local Muslims and Christians generally bear a pronounced anti-Christian and anti-Islamic character.
It is interesting that no radicalism remained in these religions, and the Ashanti often have members of the same family adhere to different religions, which does not bother them at all. "Christians" and "Muslims" not only do not disdain each other's society, but also constantly arrange joint holidays.
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In short, if all these popes, patriarchs, chief rabbis and muftis were recruited among the Ashanti, a single religion would appear in the world, and no terrorist attacks, jihads and crusades for you.
Shamans of this people exist to this day. They help the people communicate with the spirits of their ancestors, and find out if they are happy with their behavior or not. Some practical recommendations are also received.
But Ashanti do not like witches. Moreover, like almost every Russian man, they believe that any old woman is already half a witch. If she becomes a witch in the second half, a real hunt will begin for her. If caught, the interrogation begins, which the authors of "Hammer of the Witches" would envy.
Naturally, the witch confesses everything, after which she is executed, after having pinned her tongue with a thorn to her chin so that she does not curse too much. After that, the guilty Madame is impaled to everyone's joy. There are other options - to burn it or leave it in the forest to feed the local predatory fauna.
However, not only old women become witches. Sometimes it is also young women. Nobody will feel sorry for them either, and, perhaps, completely in vain. An example is a certain Harriet Tubman, who became famous in the 19th century for being an active assistant to fugitive slaves. When she was only 12 years old, she saw how the overseer threatened the slave boy, and even asked her to help him punish the boy.
Harriet Tubman is an African American abolitionist.
She rushed to his defense (the warlike spirit of Ashanti did not leave her) and received a brutal blow with a two-pound weight in the forehead. She somehow survived, and in return received the gift of clairvoyance and the ability to leave the body and see the surroundings.
She used the gift to help slaves make successful escapes. Fortunately, the Ashanti was not executed, and she not only managed to escape herself and continue helping others, never failing, but also lived 91 years, waiting for the abolition of slavery. This is vitality!
So, dear readers and subscribers, if it seems to you that your mother-in-law is one hundred percent witch, take care of her. Maybe it will do.