River Tano flows from Techiman in the Bono East Region of Ghana for about 400km before entering the Atlantic Ocean in Ivory Coast. Tano virtually circles Techiman, crossing four of the five major highways leading to the ancient town. Travellers from Tamale (via Kintampo), Wa (via Wenchi), Sunyani or Kumasi must cross River Tano before entering Techiman – a town thought to be the birthplace of the Akans.
Natives of Bono consider the fish in River Tano sacred, and eating the fish is forbidden. To catch a glimpse of the fish, one should just throw food (e.g. bread) into the river and a shoal of fish will emerge.
Legend has it that this special treatment Tano and the fish receive was to placate him after his brother, River Bia, took his blessing. In one version of the legend, Nyame (the Supreme Being) had two sons, River Bia and River Tano. Nyame’s favourite was Tano and planned to give him the most peaceful parts of the land. Bia, on the other hand, would receive ordinary lands.
Nyame sent the goat to tell Bia and Tano to come to him the next day for their inheritance. Preferring Bia to Tano, the goat asked Bia to disguise himself as Tano and go to Nyame very early in the morning. Deceived, Nyame gave Bia the land intended for Tano. When Tano arrived, Nyame realised he had been deceived, but it was too late to correct the mistake. (Esau and Jacob in the Bible?)
Part of Tano’s compensation is the protection he receives from the natives of Bono. In return, Tano does not drown natives of Bono. Even the crocodiles in the river are harmless. And for the role the goat played in deceiving Nyame, Tano forbids goat rearing in areas close by.
Bia’s treachery created an enmity between him and Tano, making the former hostile to natives of Bono; a Bono especially Techiman native is advised not to go near River Bia. The legend continues that due to the enmity between the two brothers, they don’t mix even though somewhere along their courses, the flow close to each other. The legend has it that a certain hunter, amazed to see two rivers flowing close to each other but not mixing, fetched water from Tano and pour it into Bia and fetched water from Bia and poured it into Tano. Instantly, the hunter turned into a palm tree.
Determined not to flow into another river, Tano meandered his way through Ghana and Ivory Coast. When he finally reached the ocean, he entered the ground and after travelling for months, he thought he had crossed the ocean and therefore lifted his head. On realising he had not crossed the ocean, he reluctantly mixed with the sea. Even after that, one can still discern Tano flowing through the sea!
Source: Kwabena Antwi-Boasiako
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