Covenant

In a culture where marriage covenants are typically arranged by parents, considerations of the romantic feelings and true love of the prospective married couple seldom enter into the negotiations between families. Those emotions are born later, after the marriage is consummated. Prior to that, neither the young man nor the woman pursues the other.

In Covenant: The Woman Who Drank The Sassy Wood, Michael G. Siaway reveals how a young woman was treated in arranged marriages in rural Liberia within the (Dan/Gio) ethnic group in the 60’s. A young woman given into an arranged marriage is accused of being a witch and pronounced guilty. To prove her guilt rather than her innocence, the townspeople forced Tenneh to drink a deadly poison called Sassy Wood. The idea of accusing someone who may be innocent of being a witch with the pre-conception that she is guilty is both fascinating and challenging. What would the townspeople do if Tenneh’s guilt is affirmed, or if she is proven innocent?