Akan and Winti: what Suriname's spiritual tradition shares with Ghana

Anyone who grew up with Winti and travels to Ghana hears familiar words: kra, Kwasi, Kofi, Ananse. That is no coincidence. Many enslaved Africans in Suriname came from the Gold Coast, and their ideas live on in Winti. This guide sets the two traditions side by side: what they share, where they part ways, and what that means for how a dream is read.

In short

Winti grew from several African roots; the Akan of present-day Ghana are among the clearest, alongside Fon, Ewe and Kongo influences.
The strongest shared thread is the soul: the Akan ɔkra and the Winti kra, both tied to the day you were born and carried in day names such as Kwasi and Kofi.
Both traditions honour the ancestors, trace the family line through the mother, and know a distant creator with many active spirits below.
In dreams both ask first who is speaking, and both take a dream about a deceased relative most seriously.

Winti has several roots, and the Akan are one of them

Winti arose in Suriname among enslaved Africans who came from many different peoples. Researchers point to three large groups in particular: the Akan of the Gold Coast, present-day Ghana; the Fon and Ewe of the Bight of Benin, in present-day Benin and Togo; and peoples of the Kongo and Loango region in Central Africa. On the plantations, and among the Maroons who escaped into the interior, their beliefs met and merged into something new.

You can still hear those roots in names. Kromanti, the strong warrior winti, take their name from the fort of Kormantin on the Gold Coast. Tata Opete, head of the air pantheon, carries the Twi word for vulture, ɔpɛtɛ. The Luangu winti are linked with Loango in Central Africa, and Leba, the winti of the crossroads, is often compared with Legba, the guardian of the crossroads among the Fon.

For a long time Winti could only be practised in secret: in Suriname the legal ban was lifted only in 1971. That history shaped the tradition. It is not a copy of an African religion, but a Surinamese tradition with African roots. This guide follows the Akan thread, because it is the one most clearly visible in how Winti thinks about the soul, the family and the ancestors. The guide to Akan dreams describes the Akan tradition itself in more detail.

The kra: the clearest shared thread

In the Akan tradition every person receives an ɔkra from Onyame, the creator: a spark of the divine that comes at birth and returns to God at death. Before birth the ɔkra takes leave of God and receives its nkrabea, its destiny. The ɔkra is linked to the day of the week on which you are born, and so is your first name, the kradin or soul name.

In Winti the kra is the personal soul or life force, and here too it is tied to the day of birth. The word itself comes from Akan. Winti also knows practices around a weak kra: a kra tafra, a meal for the kra, or a kra watra, a bath, when someone feels restless, tired or stuck. Dreamkin describes these practices; it does not prescribe them.

The Akan further speak of the sunsum, the spirit or personality, which is said to travel during sleep, and of the ntoro, a spiritual line through the father. Winti describes a person's spiritual inheritance in its own way: through the djodjo, a male and a female winti who take a child on as supernatural parents before birth, and through the winti that run in the family. The thought is related, a person never belongs only to themselves, but the form is Surinamese.

Akan and Winti side by side

Twelve concepts in both traditions, each in one line. Click a concept for the Winti explanation.

Concept	Akan (Ghana)	Winti (Suriname)
The soul	ɔkra: a spark of Onyame, carrying destiny	kra: the personal soul, strengthened with a kra tafra
The soul name	kradin: the day name, such as Kwasi or Akosua	the day name, such as Kwasi or Kwasiba
Spiritual inheritance	ntoro through the father; mogya, the blood, through the mother	the djodjo, two supernatural parents, and the family winti
The creator	Onyame, far above, approached through others	Anana Keduaman Keduampon, far above the winti
The earth	Asase Yaa, the earth as goddess	Mama Aisa, mother of the earth
Spirits	abosom, deities of rivers, lakes and forests	winti in pantheons of earth, water, forest and sky
The vulture	ɔpɛtɛ, the Twi word for vulture	Tata Opete, head of the air pantheon
The ancestors	nsamanfo, who counsel, warn and protect	yorka and bigisma, who often speak in dreams
The family line	abusua, the clan, through the mother	bere, within which winti are inherited
Trance and ceremony	akɔm: an ɔkɔmfoɔ possessed by an ɔbosom	wintiprei: song, dance and trance
Stories	Kwaku Ananse, the clever spider	the Anansi-tori, Surinamese Anansi stories
Dreams	the sunsum travels; an elder helps interpret	who is speaking? discussed in the family, sometimes a luku

The parallels are about shared words and structure; both traditions differ by family, region and generation.

Day names: Kwasi, Kofi and Yaba

The day names are the most visible trace of the kra in everyday life. Among the Akan the name says on which day you were born, and with it something about your soul. Enslaved Akan brought the system to the Americas, and in Suriname it lives on, especially among the Maroons and in older Creole families.

The names line up almost one to one. Sunday: Kwasi and Akosua in Ghana, Kwasi and Kwasiba in Suriname. Monday: Kwadwo and Adwoa, Kodyo and Adyuba. Tuesday: Kwabena and Abena, Kwabena and Abeni. Wednesday: Kwaku and Akua, Kwaku and Akuba. Thursday: Yaw and Yaa, Yaw and Yaba. Friday: Kofi and Afua, Kofi and Afi. Saturday: Kwame and Ama, Kwami and Amba. Spellings differ by source, region and family.

In Suriname such names were once everyday names. Today they are more often a second name, a nickname, or a name with a ritual meaning. Anyone who knows their day name knows something about their kra, and in both traditions that is still worth knowing.

Gods and spirits: a distant creator, and many who are near

Both traditions know a creator who stands far above daily life. Among the Akan that is Onyame, also called Onyankopon; in Winti it is Anana Keduaman Keduampon. In both, people rarely address the creator directly. Daily life is the domain of other forces: among the Akan the abosom, deities who live in rivers, lakes and forests, and in Winti the winti, ordered in pantheons of earth, water, forest and sky.

The earth has a special place in both. The Akan call on Asase Yaa, the earth as goddess, second after Onyame. In Winti Mama Aisa is the mother of the earth and, for many, the head of all winti. In both traditions the earth nourishes and carries, and asks for respect. Whether the two names are related, the sources we use do not establish; the parallel in role is clear.

Water is inhabited in both as well. Akan rivers such as the Tano are themselves deities; in Winti rivers and creeks are the home of the water winti and the watra mama. That is why in both traditions a dream about a river is rarely only about water. The guide to the Winti pantheon shows how the winti are ordered.

Ancestors and the family line

In both traditions the dead do not disappear from the family. Among the Akan the nsamanfo, the ancestors, counsel, warn and protect, and are honoured on the Adae days of the Akan calendar. In Winti the yorka, the spirits of the dead, and the bigisma, the elders, remain part of the family and often speak in dreams. Pouring a little water or drink on the ground for the ancestors is familiar in both.

In both, the family line runs through the mother. The Akan are matrilineal: the mogya, the blood, comes from the mother and decides which abusua, which clan, you belong to. In Winti the family line is the bere, within which winti are inherited and ancestors are served; bere is the Sranan word for belly, a word that itself points to the mother.

Around Keti Koti on 1 July, when Suriname and the Netherlands remember the abolition of slavery, both threads come together. Many Afro-Surinamese families then think of ancestors who were brought from, among other places, the Gold Coast.

How both traditions read a dream

Neither the Akan nor Winti sees a dream as a random film. Among the Akan the sunsum is said to travel during sleep, so that a dream can be a real meeting: with a deceased grandparent, with someone far away, or with a spiritual force. In Winti the first question is who is speaking: your own winti, a yorka, or something from outside. In both, a dream can give counsel, warn or ask for something.

In both, a dream about a deceased loved one is the most important dream there is. Among the Akan a smiling ancestor counts as a blessing and an angry one as a sign that something in the family needs attention; Winti reads a calm yorka as content and a restless one as something left unfinished. The Akan add a well-known caution: do not simply go along with a deceased person in a dream.

And in both, the first step is close to home. The Akan tell a striking dream to an elder in the family; in Winti it is discussed within the bere first, and sometimes taken to a luku, a consultation with a diviner. Dreamkin describes this, but does not prescribe rituals and does not predict misfortune. For single symbols you can set both readings side by side, for example for a baby, a wedding, dying or spiders, which among the Akan recall Ananse.

Where they part ways

The similarities are real, but Winti is not the Akan religion in Surinamese dress. A few differences stand out.

Winti has more than one root. Alongside the Akan, Fon, Ewe and Kongo traditions shaped it, and much of what is typical of Winti, such as the four pantheons and many winti names, cannot be traced to the Akan alone. Winti also developed under slavery and a long ban, often in secret, and that left its mark on how knowledge is passed on: by word of mouth, within families.

The Akan tradition, by contrast, grew up within kingdoms. Chieftaincy, the stools of deceased kings and queens, the Adae and Odwira festivals and the Adinkra symbols belong to it; they are Akan, not part of traditional Winti. Most Akan today are Christian, and combine the old tradition with their faith, just as many Surinamese families combine Winti with church.

Finally, the djodjo and the winti a person can carry give Winti its own, very personal way of looking at someone, without an exact Akan counterpart. That is perhaps the best summary: the Akan gave Winti words and thoughts, and Suriname made something of its own with them.