Tega – also called Tegare or Tegani is from the Northern and Western part of Ghana near Upper Volta. Tegare was originally a hunter’s Deity and assisted in locating and catching game. He is said to have spoken and revealed himself through a piece of wood. Tegare – unlike Asuo-Gyebi, Tano, Densu Yao et al. – is more a Suman than an Obosum in the strict sense. He is best described as a Suman who is also an Obosum. Thusly, He resides in a manmade clump of medicine or Suman.
Tegare is a hunter of witches, liars, thieves, and evil doers. When he catches an evil doer that person falls ill until confessing and repenting. Tegare is very honest, direct – and a great diviner, herbalist and healer. He protects and helps those who ask. Though not commonly known – Tegare also will help people to have babies. He is a wonderful and popular Obosum who sings beautiful songs and is a spectacular dancer. He is fun but never to be taken lightly as he is always watching you carefully. He is from the Northern Islamized part of Ghana. He dresses in that manner and often carries Islamic prayer beads along with a throwing stick called aconti. He is a left-handed Obosum and does not have a menstrual taboo. Tegare understands all languages and speaks Pidgin Twi, Northern Languages (Dagara, Hausa, Mossi, Dagoma, Gonja et al.) as well as Akan and English.
The 1st African-American Tegare Priest trained and graduated in Ghana was Nana Anum Toprah of New York. The 2nd was Nana Kwabena Brown of Washington D.C. Nana Kwabena is also the 1st to train at the Aboabo Tegare Shrine in Brong Ahafo. This Shrine was the first to receive Tegare from Ypala. From Aboabo the God spread south, east and west throughout Ghana and into the Ivory Coast. The major centers for Tegare are Ypala (also called Yeripada), Nkoranza, Aboabo, Nkantinine, Calacou and Fahmi. There are many Tegares and the Shrines have male and female Priests.
Some of the offerings accepted by Tegare are:
Kola Nuts, Palm Wine, Beer, Rev D’ or Perfume Water, Rum, Tobacco, White Cloth, Guinea Fowl and Cash.
Tegare should always be fed with the supervision of a Okomfo (Priest).
Source: Nana Kwabena Brown of Temple of Nyame (U.S.)
March 21st, 2009 at 2:40 am
Does the spelling of Tegare differ from region. I know the spelling to be Tigare. He is my first love and i understand his prescriptions. Do the taboos differ with the different regions?
Yawwwww Medawasi
July 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Does anyone knows what in Ifa Orisha identical Deity like Tegare
August 7th, 2009 at 11:51 am
There is an inherent danger in trying to match up Deities of two systems, unless one of them is directly related to the other. For example, we know that the Fa of Dahomey is the Ifa of Nigeria. One is the predecessor of the other. Tegare never made its way to Nigeria or Benin, nor was it morphed with an existing Orisa. And no Orisa played a role in the creation of Tegare.
If you are just looking for a Deity with common traits you may have to look at more than one. What is your goal? What are you trying to understand or accomplish?
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Mikyia mo (Greetings),
Tegare is known to the Yoruba as Atinga. Atinga became prominent in Southwestern Nigeria in the earlier part of the last century..
Hetep..
August 27th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I have heard this asserted before. But I doubt it to some degree. Was Atinga influenced by Tegare? Possibly. (The existence of one gave inspiration to create the other) But while Tegare is a traditional cult ran by priests, Atinga is a pseudo-society that is owned by Christians and Muslims, who indiscriminately destroy any traditional temple, society, Orisa shrine they seen unattended. Atinga is anti-traditional and ran by those that believe in Christian and Muslim ways of life only. These Antinga leaders are Africans that hate all things Africans, in particular the African woman and her independence. Its also worth noting that Atinga is NOT a Deity. Atinga followers attacked “witches” with physical violence, not as spirituality. They identified them by means of bias and non-compliance with foreign religion. Atinga was a function of the indigenous “uncle tom”. Their claims to religious or spiritual prowess are linked to their identification with “Allah” and “Jesus” – and are quite frankly just figments of their imagination and products of their self-hatred.
On the other hand, Tegare IS a Deity. Tegare co-exists with other Abosum. Tegare has temples, priests and devotees. These devotees and priests also worship the full pantheon of other Abosum. Tegare does use spiritual means to identify women AND men that use spiritual powers to harm others, but does not object or stand against women in general or female spiritualists – which is obviously anti-African.
Furthermore, the term “witch” is interpreted differently among the priests of Tegare and the non-religious leaders of Atinga. For these reasons, these two sources are not the equivalent of one another at all, although on an academic and political surface they may appear to be to the non-traditionalist or academic.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Mikyia mo (Greetings),
The worship of Tegare reached Dahomey (Benin) and Nigeria in the late 40s/early 50s.
Afurakanu/Afuraitkaitnut (Africans) with a perverse/christian-islamic mindset would twist this worship as well as any Ancestral/Deity worship into something it was not meant to be.
Nevertheless, the actual Suman (talisman Spirit) Tegare was received and utilized by Afurakanu/Afuraitkaitnut (Africans) in Dahomey and Nigeria –just as Tegare was first received by Akan people from *non-Akan* people to the north of contemporary Ghana.
The name given to the society in Nigeria, Atinga, was taken from the name of the Spirit that they originally received, Tega (Tegare).
Tegare is not an Obosom, although many utilize the term Obosom very loosely at times. Some in Ghana and the US will use the terms Suman and Obosom interchangeably, which in reality is inaccurate and misleading.
There are many Nsuman spirits including some Abosommerafo that have “priests”, “shrines” and “devotees” but are not Abosom at all.
..SANKOFA..
August 27th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
You’re correct Suman and Abosum shouldn’t be thought of as one in the same. Forgive my lazy description. lol
But, again, there is a vast difference in the individuals involved in Tegare and those involved in Atinga. These individuals are virtually diametrical opposites. And more importantly, Tegare is not antagonistic against women with spiritual gifts, but women and men that mis-use spiritual gifts. While Atinga is antagonistic against anything that is considered traditional spirituality.
Now, I will say that you are the only individual besides myself who makes a clear correlation between the object “talisman” and foreigners. It is true, NEGATIVE talismans were introduced to Africa from areas like the Middle East. But here is true way to test whether the Arabic talisman and Tegare are the same. A talisman cannot be reached via divination. It has no voice of its own. It requires no worship. It is slave to its owner. This kind of talisman is a “conjuring” of energy. Tegare while a Suman, that is roughly translated as “talisman” is not a talisman in this way. The western translation confuses the point. Tegare does have identity. It can enter into dialogue. It is not slave. Now here lies the tricky part.
Even here at Roots and Rooted we have an article by an Akan priest describing Tegare’s origin as the “Northern Islamized Ghana”. Does that mean that Tegare is a foreign spirit? I’d venture to say no. I’d say it was an indigenous spirit that came to reside in “Arabic clothes”, much like St. Lazarus is used to dress up Babalu Aiye. That Ghanaian influenced by Islam would give new clothes and emphasis to Tegare is not so hard to imagine. It would have been one way to keep the spirit in good standing as foreign influence grew. We know the influence of foreign culture on Mami Wata, but only the naive would assume it was not from Africa. Lastly, we ask ourselves if something is a “spirit” and not a Deity, does that preclude it from being genuinely African? Again the answer is no. We know that “Iwin” are genuinely African. But most would not consider them Orisa, but a different kind of “spirit”.
In any case the only thing that really matters is this: If an Abosom was contacted via divination would it verify that Tegare was not originally of African origin? Fortunately, Africans do not have to sit in the dark. They simply ask via the traditional means, and Abosum, Nyame will give the answer – clear and promptly upon request.
August 28th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Mikyia mo (Greetings),
I should clarify that when I mentioned that Tegare is a non-Akan Spirit that is not to say non-Afurakani (non-African). He is an Afurakani (African) Spirit from those Afurakanu/Afuraitkaitnut (Africans) who live north of the Akan people. The reason why I brought up His non-Akan origins is because there are many (including some in the Akan tradition) who believe that Tegare is an Obosom that has been worshipped by the Akan for thousands of years. The truth is that He has only been known to most Akan for less than 100 years.
It was a regular practice for certain Asantehene (Asante kings) over the past couple of hundred years to send their Nsumankwafo to the north to retreive Nsuman from the Gonja people and other islamized Afurakanu/Afuraitkaitnut. While there are many “muslim” nsuman there are many, many more indigenous Afurakani/Afuraitkaitnit (African) nsuman. In fact, the majority of the “african-muslim” nsuman are not really from the near-east (middle-east) at all, but are discarnate spirits (often uncultivated Ancestral Spirits) from the clans of those islamized Afurakanu/Afuraitkaitnut. Moreover, some also are Mmoatia who *allow* the individual to communicate with them via the nsuman.
Tegare is definitely an indigenous Afurakani (African) Spirit. This is why many okomfo refer to Him as a deified Ancestor, although the term “deified” can be misleading as well. There are some Akan (as well as other groups) who confound Abosom, Nsuman and even Mmoatia. Some will refer to a mmoatia who possessed someone, “the Obosom just possessed”. The mmoatia (best described as trans-dimensional “dwarf” spirits, indigenous to Afuraka/Afuraitkait (Africa)) are not Abosom in reality. While some on the continent will confound these classes of Asunsum (Spirits) in a “slang” fashion, some do so for political purposes. Either way, those who are being reintroduced to the culture don’t always have immediate access to these nuanced definitions/classifications and take the “slang” version or perverse political version of spiritual classifications as fact.
This goes back to Atinga. Tegare did make His way to Nigeria and Dahomey, just as He made His way to the Akan people in Ghana from His non-Akan northern origins in Yipala. Atinga is just a phonetic variation of Tega/Tegare. While the “witch-catching” thrust of His activities were exploited and corrupted by certain individuals who would later mis-use His name as a label for their mis-guided practices, that doesn’t take away from the reality that there those in Nigeria and Benin who work with Tegare genuinely.
Someone posted a question about which Orisha Tegare was. It’s important for people who have that question to know that while Tegare is known by some in Nigeria and Benin (after arriving there in the late ’40s/early ’50s), He’s not an Orisha (Obosom).
..SANKOFA..
August 28th, 2009 at 10:44 am
I will try to reach my contacts in Nigeria. But in the meantime, would you mind posting some sources regarding the arrival of Atinga and its relationship to Tegare. I would like to see these. Also, thank you for bringing us back to the question – Tegare is not an Orisa.
September 11th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Mikyia wo (Greetings),
I happened to talk to a brotha who resides in Ghana a few days after the last post. He was initiated by an Ewe from Dahomey. In course of our conversation I brought up Tegare. He was very familiar with Tegare having been in Ghana for awhile but he mentioned that the Ewe had Tegare in Dahomey (Benin), and this is one of the shrines He now has.
There are a number of websites and books that deal with Tegare manifesting as Atinga outside of Ghana. Many of them are written by non-Afurakanu/non-Afuraitkaitnut (non-Africans).
Here is a link however from a book by Nana Kyerewaa on Akan Spirituality:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ax0FxTUykP4C&pg=PA96&dq=Nana+Tegare,+ancestor#v=onepage&q=Nana%20Tegare%2C%20ancestor&f=false
On page 96 she mentions that some Akan recognize Tegare to be a deified Ancestor. She also mentions that His cult spread outside of Ghana to Ivory Coast, Togo, and other parts of West Afuraka/Afuraitkait (Africa).
I would also suggest that those who want to get some insight into this Spirit, to connect with people who have either dealt directly with Him, been to one of His shrines (here or in Afuraka/Afuraitkait), etc. Those who are Akan can ask their Abosom and/or Nananom Nsamanfo about Tegare as well.
Hetep..
September 11th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Mikyia wo (Greetings),
I should have linked in the last post to an excerpt from Kwasi Konadu’s Book:
http://books.google.com/books?id=x2jD9teNhMwC&pg=PT243&lpg=PT243&dq=tigare,+suman&source=bl&ots=L4gEkYEmwy&sig=y0Efy95-lDzVpU-t1n3u0-Prq9Y&hl=en&ei=daaqSt7vE5DQlAeduMnWBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=tigare%2C%20suman&f=false
Amongst the Bono (considered by many the cradle of Akan civilzation) you notice that Tigare did not come into the culture as an Obosom. This suman was “made” into an “obosom” after the fact. This is one reason why many will describe him as a defied Ancestor.
..SANKOFA..
July 12th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I am an Obosomfour to Nana Tegare. I travelled to Yipala from the U.S. (approx. five times) and transported Tegare’s shrine back to the U.S. Since reading the blog, I have been in constant communication with Ghananians who grew up around the shrines to gain clarification on Tigare being a suman not an obosom. You mention in your blog that Tegare is not an obosom. He is a suman. Please provide your definition of suman as distinct from obosom. Thanks.
July 14th, 2010 at 7:34 am
The article is based on information provided an Akan priest. The conversation below it are a part of an on-going conversation between myself and a site visitor. Perhaps you’d like to share more information?