GHANA FESTIVALS,
An Integral Part Of Ghanaian Culture.
Take
a close look at Ghana culture and you'll find that Ghana festivals are
an extremely attractive aspect of this
beautiful
country. The festivals
reveal a whole lot about the art culture of Ghana, the beliefs, and
common features of the Ghanaian society.
People
paying homage to the cheif at a durbar.
Festivals are used as
a means to remember ancestors and be favored with protection from them.
Also, festivals are often held in order to purify the area to allow
people to go into a new year with hope.
If you are visiting
Ghana, you'll definitely want to consider visiting some of these Ghana
festivals, so here are a few that will give you a better idea of Ghana
culture.
Panafest
When
it comes to the art culture of Ghana, Panfest is a wonderful festival
that features all types of art and culture, such as music, African
dance, and various other types of performing arts. This festival is
held every two years and it is dedicated to developing the continent of
Africa as well as to help lift up
the Pan-Africanism ideals as well.
It is also held to unite Africans and African descendants in the
Diaspora and other ports of America and Europe.
Homowo
Another
one of the Ghana festivals you may want to attend is the Homowo
Festival, which occurs in either July or August. Homowo is a word that
essentially means to make fun of hunger. This is a festival of
thanksgiving and also a festival celebrating the harvest.
Ancient
oral history talks about at time many years ago when there were no
rains and there was a famine throughout the plains of Accra. Finally
when the rains came and the harvest and food was plentiful, everyone
was so excited, thankful, and happy, that they began to hold a festival
that made fun of hunger.
Fiok
The
Fiok Festival is one of the Ghana Festivals that shows the war culture
of the Busa people who are in Ghana. Their exploits are re-enacted
during the festival and there is also dancing, durbar, thanksgiving to
all the gods, and drumming as well. Usually this festival is held in
December.
Adae Kese
This
is a Festival that is held in the Kumasi and is a Festival that is held
for the Ashanti people. It is also known as the Festival of the Asante,
and the festival is to celebrate the ancestral
stools of the Ashanti
people being purified. This festival is held every 40 days and when it
happens to fall on a Sunday, it is truly an amazing festival to see.
Hogbetsotso
The
Hogbetsotso Festival is a Ghana festival that is held in November on
the very first Saturday in the Volta area of the country by the Anlo
Ewes people. The main feature of this exciting festival is a durbar of
citizens and chiefs.
This is also known as the festival of the
Exodus as well, and it is held each year to celebrate how the Anlo Ewes
were able to escape from King Agokoli of Togo, who was a very
tyrannical ruler. All the chiefs of the area appear in their most regal
attire and sit to receive homage from the subjects that are in
attendance. Through the entire festival, there is dancing and drumming
to be enjoyed.
As you can see, many of the old traditions of
Ghanaians are celebrated during these festivals as well as the Ghana
culture. There are many other common festivals that occur as well, and
every big event in life is marked by some kind of ritual or rite.
Marriage,
puberty, child naming, and of course death is marked by big ceremonies
and festivals. Also, the festivals that occur throughout the year also
work to bring clans together in an amazing fashion.
These
Ghana festivals are all important to the people of Ghana.
They often
bring back recollection of events in the past, celebrate lives of
ancestors passed on,
and also work to consecrate new seasons as well.
You'll
also find that festivals are when you'll see the durbars of chiefs,
seeing Queen Mothers and tribal leaders parade through accompanied by
drummers and dancers.
The ritual and celebration is so
important to the daily life of the people of Ghana, which is easily
seen by the large gatherings that occur at festivals, marriages, and
funerals, which is something you'll commonly see when you visit this
unique country full of such amazing culture.
There are hundreds of festivals celebrated in different regions, by
different ethnic groups and tribes and on different months.
check
this
Festival Calender to see some of the popular festivals not
mentioned above.
Other
festivals to check out are the;
The Adae Kese Festival(Festival of the Ashantis)
The
Dipo Festival(initiation
of adolescent girls into womanhood) by the Krobos,The Fetu-Afahye
The Aboakyere Festival(Deer
Hunting Festival) by the people of Winneba,The Kundum Festival
The Odwira Festival by the people of Akropong and Mamfe.The Hogbetsotso Festival (celebrated by the people of Volta)
