Posted on 07/25/2009 2:04:54 PM PDT by Lorianne
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The descendants of an African chief who was hanged and decapitated by a Dutch general 171 years ago reluctantly accepted the return of his severed head Thursday, still angry even as the Dutch tried to right a historic wrong.
The head of King Badu Bonsu II was discovered last year in a jar of formaldehyde gathering dust in the anatomical collection of the Leiden University Medical Center. The Dutch government agreed to Ghanaian demands that the relic be returned.
On Thursday, members of the king's Ahanta tribe, dressed in dark robes and wearing red sashes, took part in the hand-over ceremony, honoring his spirit by toasting with Dutch gin and then sprinkling the drink over the floor at the Dutch Foreign Ministry.
But descendants of the chief said they were not consoled.
"I am hurt, angry. My grandfather has been killed," said Joseph Jones Amoah, the great, great grandson of the chief.
The chief's head was stored elsewhere at the ministry and was not displayed during the ceremony. It is expected to be flown with the tribe members back to Ghana on Friday.
Tribal elders said after the hand-over that they were also angry because they had been sent by their current chief only to identify the head, not retrieve it. Taking it back without first reporting to the chief would be a breach of protocol, they said.
"We, the Ahanta, are not happy at all," said Nana Etsin Kofi II.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Can’t they show us a picture?
;-)
LOL
LOL!
SO this King had the heads of two people displayed on his throne and they see nothing wrong with this ?????
The elders demanded the Dutch government provide aid to their tribe to appease the slain chief.
Follow the money.....................
Somehow I knew there was gonna be alcohol in this story...
“The head was taken by Maj. Gen. Jan Verveer in 1838 in retaliation for Bonsu’s killing of two Dutch emissaries, whose heads were displayed as trophies on Bonsu’s throne, said Arthur Japin, a Dutch author who discovered the king’s head when he was working on a historical novel.”
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What’s with the apologies? Sounds like a little old-fashioned give-and-take to me.
Photographing the event would have been priceless. I can see the King accepting the “head in a jar”.
So...does Holland get the heads of the two Dutch emissaries back?
It's from Amazon.com!!!
Do you have Amazon Prime? free shiping!
I don’t...but maybe decapitated monarchs qualify for bonus free shipping?
Could be. I mostly buy books and DVDs. Never been in the dead-dictator-market. Is there a profit possibility there?
I don’t understand how Ghana has a tradition of pouring gin on the floor for the dead. They can’t have had Gin for that long.
Unless it is one of these multi-cultis who has no idea about the cultures they enjoy enrapping themselves in.
So, did the chieftain die? ;’)
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