Journal Entry #7 July 24, 2008Dear Journal,
Right now it’s about 6:30 a.m. and we are in the airport on our way to Kumasi, another city in Ghana. We plan to be in Kumasi for two days. There we will visit different villages, see some new sites, and shop a little bit more, because prices are generally lower in Kumasi then they are in Accra. I will check back in later today to tell you how my day went.
Today is probably the most interesting day that I have had on my trip to Ghana. Once we arrived in Kumasi we immediately went to the hotel and ate breakfast. We arrived in Kumasi early so we still had a full day ahead of us. From the hotel we went to the Okomfo Anokye Hospital. This is an historic site in Ghana and I will explain the history behind it. Okomfo Anokye was a spiritual leader in the Asante Kingdom, which is located in the city of Kumasi. Kumasi is the capital of the Asante Kingdom. The Asante was without question the most powerful empire in the West African sub region during the 18th century. In fact the Asante kingdom was larger than present day Ghana. The first king of the Asante was King Osei Tutu I and Omkofo Anokye was his closest advisor. In time Osei Tutu I founded the Asante Nation which I described above. As I stated Okomfo Anokye was King Osei Tutu’s closest advisor, but he was also a very close friend. I know that this is a lot of information but I had to give a brief history of the Asante Kingdom to enable you to understand what we saw today. As I stated earlier, today we visited the Okomfo Anokye Hospital, which in 1697 was the location in which Okomfo Anokye organized the 11 divisional chiefs of the Asante Empire. It is stated that the finger nails and a small sample of each chiefs’ hair was burnt into a black powder, which was mixed for all the chiefs to take turns in drinking. The rest was buried at a spot in the ground where Okomfo Anokye planted his sword. He stated that if anyone was to remove the sword it would mark the collapse of the Asante Empire. We saw the sword today! Okomfo Anokye’s sword has been in the same spot since 1697 and cannot be moved. Countless people have came and tried to remove the sword from its spot. In fact in 1964 Muhammad Ali came to Kumasi for two weeks and tried to remove the sword, and still it could not be done. It is said that in the 1950’s, when the hospital was being constructed, the contractor, whose name is Mr. Gee attempted several times to remove the sword with the use of a bulldozer. He said there were times when he was planning to use this machine to remove the sword, and the sword would vanish for six weeks then reappear in the same spot. It’s funny to me that in America there are many tales of miracles and strange happenings, but there is never any proof that the events actually took place. However that is not the case in Ghana, there is evidence to show that these magical events actually occurred. why This is one of the two DOCUMENTED events that took place in shaping the Asante Kingdom. The other event is Okomfo Anokye’s calling of the GOLDEN STOOL which has united the Asante people for over three centuries. However I figure one long story is enough for this entry. If you want to know about the Golden Stool I guess I could start another blog for that. My question to everyone is how come movies like "The Sword in the Stone" become legendary stories, yet no one can go to England and actually see a sword in a stone. However in the city of Kumasi lyes a real sword in a stone that has been there for over 300 years. However this is just another case of the Europeans raping our African culture. They stole our people, they probably had no problem stealing our stories.
1 comment:
I did not know about the sword in Ghana. But, there is an even older sword in a stone in Siena, Italy. This blade belonged to St. Galgano Guidotti.
Born in 1148 to an illiterate feudal lord, Guidotti would become a wealthy knight. Though he was skilled in the art of war, he was also profoundly arrogant, violent, and only concerned with worldly pleasures.
Then, something changed in Guidotti. The affluent nobleman is said to have had visions of the Archangel Michael, the warrior saint. One of these visions supposedly led him to the Twelve Apostles on the hill of what is now known as Rotonda di Montesiepi.
It is here that Michael suggested that Guidotti should give up his life of wealth and dedicate his existence to God instead. Guidotti snickered at the Archangel’s request and stated that the task would be as difficult as splitting a stone. To prove his point, the knight thrust his sword into a rock and, to his surprise, cut through it like butter.
Sometime after, while on horseback, he wandered to a hilltop much like the one he had seen in this dream. He was so struck that by the sight that he decided to plant a cross. However, without a cross or any wood handy, he unsheathed his sword plunged it into a stone, where it has remained ever since.
After his death one year later in 1185, Pope Lucius III would declare him a saint, and the Montesiepi Chapel would be built around the legendary, yet very real “sword in the stone.”
Throughout time, many have tried to play King Arthur and extract the medieval sword, yet all have failed. In fact, to prove a point, on display at the chapel are the mummified hands of an unfortunate thief. It is said that this would-be robber was actually an assassin sent by the devil himself and that he was eaten by wolves who were friends of Guidotti.
Now, you may think that this sounds like a bunch hogwash and that the sword was probably just planted by the church as a tourist attraction. You may be right. Yet, if you believe this theory you’d have to commend the church for one of oldest tourist traps in history.
Recent tests on the sword’s style and metal have found that is consistent with the late 1100s to early 1200s. These same tests provided radar analysis of a cavity beneath the stone, which is thought to be a burial recess, possibly containing the knight’s body.
https://aleteia.org/2016/05/01/the-real-sword-in-the-stone-is-in-a-church-in-italy/
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