A locally-brewed Ghanaian sorghum beer resembling umqombothi is succeeding in bringing increased equality among generations outside its ritual space.
“When we drink, we think: Drinking and discourse in North-Western Ghana” was an informal talk presented by Dr. Edward Nanbigne at the English Department on 22 March. Nanbigne, an African Humanities Programme Residency fellow from the University of Ghana, said the presentation was a condensation of a larger work juxtaposing the ritual and non-ritual space of drinking.
Brewed much like umqombothi but containing only two to three percent alcohol depending on the brewer, pito is not an inebriating drink and is even taken as food during the dry season.
Touching briefly on pito-drinking within a ritual space, Nanbigne described the myths of the Bagre cult existing within the Dagaaba people of North-Western Ghana. They believe that knowledgeable spirits known as ‘the Beings of the wild’ – similar to the South African tokoloshe – taught them the skill of beer-brewing.
He added that pito is used in rites of passage such as initiation and marriage. Although not used for libation as in many other cultures, those without parents let a trickle of their pito flow out to ask their ancestors to keep them from evil. “Let this drink settle us, not disturb us,” they say during the ritual.
“But beyond that, I am more interested in the performance of drinking – a dramatic action,” said Nanbigne, who is particularly fascinated by oral culture within the non-ritual space.
Unlike the concentric circles seating arrangements in Southern Africa, the Dagaaba have no formal seating arrangements, and a younger person would generally give their seat over to an older person. The beer is traditionally served in earthen pots and drunk out of small calabashes.
“You cut a drink…that is the living term used,” he said, referring to the expression ‘cut me a calabash’.
Protocol is imperative and the eldest drinks first. As for speakers, rules are less rigid as permission does not need to be granted for the use of proverbs unless the speaker is very young.
In this reciprocal space, even those who have no money should be able to drink as much as they can. Someone who never reciprocates, however, is labelled “tuuro nyuuro” – ‘he who follows and drinks.’
Increased equality between the generations has also been ensured by subversive language used by young men in the space, who more recently revert to ‘konli’, or jargon that is incomprehensible to the elders.
Being allowed to drink and brew pito also become a way for women to gain wealth and social status in society. Additionally, unmarried women are permitted to show interest in eligible men within the non-ritual space.
“If a young woman puts the pito dregs into a man’s calabash, that is a non-verbal message to him which speaks volumes,” said Nanbigne.
Pito has recently lost popularity to alcoholic drinks in urban areas in particular, and drinkers prefer to be left undisturbed in order to “think my thinking”. Nanbigne said that in rural areas, however, pito still brings people together. “You cannot be an individual drinker,” he said.
Nanbigne, whose residency period is funded by the American Council of Learned Societies, will be leaving Rhodes at the start of April.
Story by Ruth Woudstra
Caption: Professor Edward Nanbigne of the University of Ghana