The elders of Okortoshieshie family at Ngleshie James Town last week performed their annual Otufo rites to usher their chaste and matured females into womanhood.
The rites, according to history, were performed since 1737, when the Okortoshieshie family migrated from Ada Tergbebiawoe to settle at James Town in Accra.
The family spread eventually to live at Amanhia, Amamole, Afuaman, Aplaku, Weija, Nsakina, and Obeyeyie in the Greater Accra Region.
The Head of the family, Nii Ahistey Tetteh, at a briefing, said the rites were performed by experienced elderly women who confined the young girls for some weeks.
The young girls, he said, were then taken through the rudiments of hygiene, dancing, cooking, marital roles, storytelling, their history as well dos and don’ts of marriage life.
The rites were crowned with feasting after prayers had been said to the ancestors for protection and good health.
By Francis Xah