Contributors

Edmund Amoa Buahin

Language

English

File Type

application:pdf

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Description

I come from a big family and everyone has chores to complete before dinner, after my mum and my sisters finish cooking. After making fufu, it was my job to clean the mortar and pistil. Because cassava, after it has been pounded sticks to the mortar, you need to pour water into the mortar to make is soft before you can clean it. This process often extends the cleaning process and often I would be very hungry and I would think about postponing the cleaning till the next day but I wouldn't dare. Growing up one of the folklores I was told was, if you leave the water in the mortar till the next day, you would see a reflection of a ghost in the water that fills the mortar. I was scared sick of that folklore that I would literally clean the mortars as quickly as possible right after the fufu was done being pounded. Now that I am old and wise I know it was a good story to get me to do my cleaning because leaving stuff uncleaned is unhygienic. It was a great way to morally learn such a wonderful principle of cleanliness.

Publication Date

2-1-2016

Keywords

Supernatural Non-religious Legends; Ghost; Folklore; Moral lesson;

Semester

Winter

Professor

Eric Eliason

Course Number

ENG 391

The ghost in the mortar

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