• 3,646 Abibitumi Points
      Symbolic Representation And Socio-Cultural Significance Of Selected Akan Proverbs In Ghana
      • 3,646 Abibitumi Points

        Ɛbɛ wei nkyeraseɛ emu dɔ pa ara.

        Twi: Akokɔnini boro nsa a, na ne werε afiri ɔsansa

        English: (a) When the cockerel gets intoxicated, it forgets the falcon.

        AND (b) When chicks get intoxicated, they forget the hawk.
        Literal meaning: The cockerels and chicks are preys for falcons and hawks, so they do not meet eye to eye, but
        when the cockerel or the chick gets drunk, it forgets about its enemies. The cockerel then goes strutting proudly
        around, and the chick walks around carelessly around, dazed in a false sense of freedom.

        Symbolic meaning: If one gets power-drunk or temper-drunk, one tends to behave improperly to one’s superiors and later suffers for it.

        Socio-cultural significance: The proverb is used to counsel people to be sober when they are provoked to anger, or
        when they rise to a position of power and influence, be it physical or spiritual, they should keep in mind the
        Ghanaian saying: ‘Until someone stronger than you arrives on the scene, you think no one can beat you.’