Akan Akua Ba

This fertility doll is typical of the Akan, more particularly the Fante subgroup. The Fante people are one of the Akan group, along with the “Asantefo” or Ashantis, the Akuapem, the Akyem, the Baoule, Nzema, and others. They believed in a supreme god and in less important deities who derived their power from such god.

The Fanti use acua’ba dolls, which differ from those of the Ashanti. As this is a matrilineal society, the acua’ba are female. They are used as fertility figurines in shrines or worn by women either to induce conception or, during pregnancy, to assure the birth of a beautiful child, preferably a daughter.

Usually the Fanti dolls do not have any arms and legs. They mostly appear with rectangular or elongated heads.