Rest Days; A Sociological Study 55 



the first day as a general sabbath. Each of the four other clays 

 is a day of rest for the followers of the god to which it is dedi- 

 cated, and for them only.^' For the adherents of a god to violate 

 the day sacred to him is a serious ofifense, punishable with a fine, 

 and in former days, with death. The general notion is that if 

 the honor of the god be not vindicated by his followers all will 

 suffer for the neglect. " The sabbath-breaker is, in fact, killed 

 by the other worshippers of the god from motives of self-pro- 

 tection."^^ 



The Tshi-speaking peoples also illustrate the custom of appro- 

 priating particular days of the week to the god worshipped by 

 different classes of the community. Thus, whilst the first day 

 of the Tshi week is a general sabbath, hna-da, the second day, 

 is the fisherman's holiday. Its observance is now accounted for 

 by a tradition that the first fisherman, named Kwegia, chose 

 Tuesday for a day of rest ; but the real reason according to Ellis 

 is that in times past Tuesday was the day sacred to the god of 

 the sea, for it is now the day commonly sacred to the majority 

 of the existing sea deities. Any fisherman who violated this rule 

 was fined, and his fish were cast into the sea. In the old days 

 he would have been put to death. Of late years the spread of 

 Christianity and scepticism has caused this observance of Tues- 

 day as a rest day to fall into disuse. ^^ The Tshi likewise ob- 

 ey^ has come also to mean the week of five days. See also, R. E. Dennett, 

 Nigerian Studies, London, 1910, pp. 77 sqq., who makes the Yoruba week 

 consist of four days with Shango's Day " as a Sunday." 



" Ellis, Y oruha-S peaking Peoples, London, 1894, p. 145. Among the 

 Malagasy, before the destruction of idolatry at Imerina in 1869, each idol 

 had a sacred day when those who were its special votaries abstained from 

 work (James Sibree, The Great African Island, London, 1880, p. 281 ; 

 idem, in Folk-Lore Record, 1879, ii. 32). 



^ Ellis, Yoruba-S peaking Peoples, 149. 



""Ellis, Tshi-Speaking Peoples, 220 sq.; idem, Y ortiba-S peaking Peoples, 

 149. Beecham declares that were the fishermen to go out to sea on this 

 day, "the fetish would be angry, and spoil their fishing" {Ashantee and 

 the Gold Coast, London, 1841, p. 186). Cf. also Bosman, "Guinea," in 

 Pinkerton's, Voyages and Travels, xvi. 402 sq.; Mary H. Kingslej^ West 

 African Studies,' London, 1901, p. 145. 



55 



