Festivals of Ghana

Accra
Ghana’s capital is one of Africa’s biggest cities, with the inevitable traffic, noise and mayhem. Despite being a fast growing, lively city, the people are friendly and welcoming and maintain many aspects of their tribal African roots. The National Museum houses one of West Africa’s best ethnographic, historical and art collections, which gives a good introduction to Ghana and surrounding areas.

The old quarter of Jamestown is the heart of the old colonial town and is inhabited by the Ga people, who founded Accra in the 16th century. There are numerous bustling markets to explore where you can discover everything from food, clothing and household goods to traditional crafts. Most interesting is the area where coffins are made – here they make them with the most outlandish designs, in the shape of fish, aeroplanes, or just about anything else you can think of.

Aboakyer Festival
Aboakyer, also known as the ‘deer hunting festival’, is organized to honour the tribal God of the town. In this festival, the god Penkye Otu receives the sacrifice of a deer. The festival originated about three hundred years ago, when Winneba was first settled. People believed they managed to establish their homes here only thanks to the help of their god and they are still under its protection. This festival is the expression of their gratitude. Aboakyer Festival involves two groups of people in Winneba, the Tuafo and the Dentsifo.

They compete with one another to go into the bush and be the first to catch a deer. Armed with only clubs, the group who first catches the animal rushes back home singing war and victory songs. The deer is then presented to the Omanhene who places his bare right foot three times on it. After completing this ritual, the deer is lifted up and carried through the town streets by singing and dancing men to the shrine of Penkye Otu. In the final act of the festival the Tuafo and the Dentsifo come together before their God and sacrifice the deer.

Elmina
The pretty town of Elmina is dominated by the whitewashed St George’s Castle, which dates back to the 15^th century. The fort is a rather sombre place when you realise that this is where slaves were held awaiting transportation to the new world, and the cells which they were held in still remain. Elmina is also home to the smaller Fort St Jago, perched on a hill and overlooking the town, as well as a 19^th century Dutch cemetery, and the fishing harbour is a delight to explore, with colourful boats and fishermen bringing in their daily catch.

Kumasi
Kumasi is the historical and spiritual capital of the Ashanti Kingdom. With its population of nearly one million, Kumasi is a sprawling city with a fantastic central market where traders from all over Africa come to sell their wares. Every kind of Ashanti craft (leather goods, pottery, kente cloth) is found here, along with just aboutevery kind of tropical fruit, vegetable, and provision.

Ashanti people
The Ashanti people were one of the most powerful nations in Africa until the end of the 19th century, when the British annexed Ashanti country, bringing it into their Gold Coast colony. Originally from the northern savannah regions, the Ashanti people migrated south, carving farms out of the wild rainforest. The region was rich in gold, and trade in this precious metal developed quickly, with small tribal states developing and vying for control of resources. In the late 17th century the Ashanti ruler brought these states together in a loose confederation and the Ashanti Kingdom was born. Their social organisation is centred on the Ashantehene figure, the king of all the Ashanti. The Ashanti are the lords of the gold, so they dress themselves with it during ceremonies. The Ashanti Kingdom was famed for its gold, royalty, ceremony and the development of a bureaucratic judicial system. 

Awukudae Festival
The Awakudae festival is centred around the traditional chiefs of the Ashanti and the guardian spirits, with the purpose of strengthening the bonds between the people and their chiefs. After libations are poured over the thrones of the former kings, the ceremony begins in earnest. Under the shade of a highly colourful umbrella sit the paramount chiefs, wrapped in brightly coloured fabric. At the feet of his majesty leads a narrow corridor made of dignitaries with various functions: ritual sword bearers, guards armed with powder rifles, courtiers carrying the knives used for executions, and carriers of ostrich feather fans. Next to the chiefs are seated the elders and the advisers under the authority of the royal speaker, who holds in his hands the symbols of power covered in gold. During the ceremony, the courtiers bring their gifts and the “griots” tell the story of the past Ashanti kings, while drum and ivory trumpet players give rhythm to the ceremony. Women wrapped in vivid red cloth, perform traditional dances characterized by a series of delicate movements, alternated with rapid moves from one end of the stage to the other. This authentic ceremony takes place in one of the last African kingdoms to have retained all of its rituals, and we have a superb opportunity to experience the splendour, the colours and the atmosphere of one of Africa’s great monarchies.

Please note that the Dipo celebrations do not adhere to a strict schedule.

Dipo Festival
Dipo is an annual celebration that initiates adolescent girls to womanhood, an important cultural marker in the world of the Krobo people, like many ethnic groups, and is carried out with much ritual and ceremony. The traditional festivities involve adolescent girls being decorated in the beautiful beads that the Krobo are renowned for; the Dipo participants, traditionally called Dipo-yi are dressed in beautiful cloth only from the waist to the knee level. The upper part of the body is exposed and festooned with colourful and assorted beads.

Two days are set aside for the festivities. The girls undergo a series of rituals, tests and tasks to prove their chastity and readiness for adult life. On the first day of the ceremony, the girls are paraded in public in their ceremonial dress and their heads are shaved leaving a small portion of hair on the head. A piece of raffia is tied around their neck to signify they are now Dipo-yi, undergoing initiation. On the next morning, the girls are given a ritual bath in a river and then required to taste foods like sugar cane and peanuts.

The Krobo are famous for making beads and the festival therefore provides opportunity for them to exhibit their rich, authentic and beautifully handmade wares, which have become an integral part of their culture, to the public.

Traditional glass beads of Ghana are often referred to as Krobo beads, the Krobo Mountains being the main area of production. The craftsmen produce each bead following the same traditional technique for centuries; scrap glass is ground into a fine powder, then the glass powder is meticulously made into patterns and placed into hand-made clay molds covered in kaolin. The beads are baked, then decorated, washed, and eventually strung.