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Nana Ogyedom Tsetsewa, Mankrado Gomoa Oguan, on Tuesday described as unacceptable emerging fashion where a lot of the Ghanaian youth engaged in decorating their dreadlocks with cowries.

Speaking with a Tema Regional Correspondent of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Nana Tsetsewa said, in the past, a person seen with dreadlocks depicted that either the person was a fetish priest or was a special child given by the gods to serve a purpose.

She explained that these children were special in that their hairs were untouched, decorated with cowries, and were allowed to grow all by themselves for a reason.

Again she said, the fetish priest or priestess also left their hairs just like that and this helped to differentiate between the normal Ghanaian and those the gods have assigned or those who have an allegiance with the gods.

Nana Tsetsewa said, now dreadlocks decorated with cowries have become fashionable with people joining the bandwagon, but she advised that “these are the identity of the gods, we must desist from it because locked hair decorated with cowries comes with its implications”.

According to her, in the past, the cowries were used as money but later some traditional leaders adopted and were used for spiritual purposes and some of these leaders practice witchcraft and other spiritual things.

Again she added that, because of the spiritual activities done with the cowries by the leaders, “the cowries now possess a kind of spirit, and if used without really understanding or having any knowledge about it, you can attract spirits that can possess you”.

She said that she has no problem with twisting the hair but when it is locked and decorated with cowries was spiritually unsafe, “you cannot be holding carcass and not attract flies, if you want to engage in a spiritual game with the gods, then fortify yourself”.

Nana Tsetsewa advised the youth and fashion designers to consult their elders before using traditional ornaments for modern decorations, “our ancestors chose the ornament for spiritual purposes, and in some instances, it has been dedicated to the spirit world as a symbol of identification”.

"I believe our tradition needs to be preserved, if we throw away our traditions, we will lose our identity as Ghanaians," she said.