When someone tells you that something is part of their traditions, it usually means that you aren’t allowed to question it. Tradition is simply another word for obedience, specifically the kind that involves never questioning where often weird or terrible practices originate, or why they exists at all.
In Ghana, a 63 year old priest named Nuumo Borketey Laweh Tsuru XXXIII is defending his decision to marry a 12 year old girl, saying that Westerners simply don’t understand their traditions. He isn’t the only disgusting creep to do this: roughly 20% of girls below the age of 18 are routinely married off to older men.
Leaders of the Nungua indigenous community, to which both the girl and the priest belong, have condemned the public’s opposition to the marriage, saying the criticism “comes from a point of ignorance”. Nii Bortey Kofi Frankwa II, a local community leader, said on Sunday that the girl’s role as the priest’s wife is “purely tradition and custom”.
That must be why during the ceremony people overheard telling the child to wear perfume in order to be more “prepared” for her wifely duties.
Luckily, there are Ghanaians who are also sickened by the practice, although it’s doubtful that any of them will intervene. Tsuru is a priest, and this makes him practically untouchable. He has tradition to fall back on, and just the power of this word is enough to shut down all opposition. Ghanaian law also recognizes customary marriages, so the whole thing is legal.
So to recap, a tradition dating back centuries that allow old men to rape little girls with zero social consequences continues to be practiced, even in a world where we know this to be wrong. Isn’t religion fun?