Difference between revisions of "The origin of Attie"

Latest revision as of 21:17, 2 August 2014

The following narrative is a story told between the Attié. It is a story about their origin and how they defeated the Asante.

Below we document the story in the way it was told to me as a little boy in the village Grand-Alépé by Anrdé Yapo who we called Kotiyi which means 'father of Koti'.

--Joseph Bogny 18:05, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

The Origin of the Attié

The Beginning

For an annotated version of the story please following this link

In the past the Attie and the Asante were living in the same land. They were citizens of the same country. They were good neighbours until the king died. His succession led to a big problem in the country. A war started. During this time, several tribes used to live together. The reign should have gone to us (the Attié) but the Asante refused. This is the true reason of the war. We began fighting, we were fighting beyond what we had ever done. People were changing in into different beings, even animals.The land was trembling. Men were displaying their magic.Things fell apart. The Asante took the sabre which was the symbol of the king' s power.The Attié ceased the blade of the sabre.The Asante ceased its handle. They tore the sabre apart, but he Asante could not take it away (from us). The battle was fought, the battle was fought, it was hard. They could not defeat us. The pursued them (the Attié), but the did not catch them. They went to the Comoé.

It was there that the wife of the king refused to give her son in scarifies, and the king's sister gave her son in scarifies. Did you now understand the depth of this story! When we fled we gathered at Asseudji. As far as I remember the sabre is still in Asseudji. We called generally assembly, and we gathered. We were so many that we had to divide into many groups. There was land and land and land. I do not remember the name of the king that we were following. In the past when you were together, and one had to separate you shared a ritual meal making you faithful to your people. When they had finished the meal they separated. The oral tradition says that the names of the different tribes of the Attié have been giving during this meeting. It is the reason why some of them are called Bodɛn (Bodin) some of the are called Nɛdin (Naindin). The Nɛdin are in the land of Anyama and Alépé. The say that the Nɛdin took the house of the snail called Nɛ to eat the common meal. That is the reason why they are called the Nɛdin.

There are two tribes among the Nɛdin, the Nyan and the Lépɛn. The Bodɛn are the Nkadzɛn, the Atobru, the Ketɛn, the Brignan and the Tsoya and the Anapʌn. The Nɛdin are living in Anyama and Alépé near Abidjan, and the Bodɛn are living in the Adzopé area and some are in the Alépé area. The Bodɛn are the most numerous and they are spread to the Anyi area. That is the part of the story you have to know. It is how the Attié have come to place where they are now.