The Earth with No Temple, and the Binding Oath

Asaase Yaa, the earth-goddess of the Akan, is honoured without temple or dedicated priesthood, for the reasoning is that the earth is everywhere and needs no house. She stands second in importance only to the sky-god Nyame, and her presence structures ordinary life: among the Ashanti she is Asaase Yaa, linked with Thursday, her sacred day, on which the ground is traditionally left untilled; among the Fante the earth-goddess is Asaase Afua and linked with Friday. Her leave is asked before a grave is dug or the ground is broken, and an oath sworn by touching the earth to the lips is held especially binding, the earth being the witness that cannot be deceived. In the mythology she is spoken of as the wife of Nyame and, in the Ananse tales, as the mother of the trickster. She is a working presence in the moral and agricultural life of Akan communities rather than a figure of formal cult.