THE TULIP TOUR GUIDE TO GHANA

Festivals

The Chale Wote Street Art Festival

It is an alternative platform that brings art, music, dance and performance out of the galleries

and onto the streets of James Town, Accra. The first festival took place in July 2011, following a

series of discussions about creating DIY [do-¬it yourself] community projects by participants at

our Talk Party Series. Our partners for the festival include Dr. Monk, AfroGallonism, and the

Millennium Cities Initiative – AMA Project Management Unit.

Our vision is to cultivate a wider audience for the arts in West Africa by breaking creative

boundaries and using art as a viable form to rejuvenate public spaces. The CHALE WOTE Street

Art Festival challenges both artists and community-¬based audiences to connect through art.

The festival includes street painting, graffiti murals, photo exhibitions, interactive installations, a

food and fashion marketplace, live street performances, extreme sports, African film shows,

street boxing, a fashion parade, a music block party, recyclable design workshops and much

more. More than 200 Ghana-based and international artists take part in the event every year. In

2016, over 30,000 people attended Chale Wote

Homowo Festival (May)

It is celebrated by the Ga people of the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The moral of the festival

is to commemorate the period in their history when there was a serious famine in the land. The

festival is very glamorous and showcases a great deal of traditional values of the Ga people.

Legend has it that there was a period in the history of the Ga Kingdom, when there was a severe

famine. There was no rain and the people were in great starvation.

The people instead of sitting down and wallowing in self-pity, rather embarked on a vicious

cycle of food cultivation and as they were rewarded with a bountiful harvest. They therefore

celebrate the Homowo, to hoot at hunger and rejoice in their harvest.

A Month before the celebration, there is a ban on drumming and noise making in the Greater

Accra region. The calendar of the feast which is usually in August is made by the Dantu Priest.

The festival starts when the Dantu priest celebrates his grand custom of feasting and making of

concoctions for royal family to sprinkle on them to ward away evil spirits and protect them

against diseases.

One interesting aspect of the celebration is the twin’s day. On this day all twins in the town are

dressed in white calico, and paraded around town. This is a show of pride and is very glamorous.

There is a boat race between the Asafo groups (Traditional warriors); this is just to add to the

excitement of the celebration. There is a special meal for the celebration. This meal known as

(kpokpoi) is made from maize and eating with palm nut soup.

The paramount chief of the Ga traditional area, the Ga Mantse, goes round the town sprinkling

the food on the ground. This food he sprinkles are said to be for the gods, as a show of

appreciation to them for keeping the people safe and making see another year.

Natives who have travelled return home and family issues are discussed in every household.

Disputes are settled and there is a merry making. There is also a grand durbar of the chiefs and

people of the region.

The King delivers his annual speech and advises the people to do what is right and live in

harmony with one another. The chief priest pours libation and prays for the people. The king sits

in state and receives dignitaries amidst drumming and dancing.

The grand durbar marks the end of the celebrations. The moral of the Homowo festival is to

show to the people that with hard work and determination, they can succeed in everything they

do. Just as their ancestors did, in the face of hunger and starvation, they didnt just sit down, but

worked hard to overcome the famine and starvation and that is the spirit of feast.

Hogbetsotso Festival (First Saturday in November)

Hogbetsotso Festival is a festival of the people of Anlo in the Volta Region of Ghans. The theme

behind this festival is to mark their journey from their former home in Togo, to their present

settlement in Ghana.

History has it that before coming to their present settlement. The Anlo lived under a cruel and

wicked ruler, King Agorkoli of Notsie, somewhere south of present day Sudan.

The Anlo people devised a way to escape from the town. They were led by a brave warrior

known as the Red Hunter. Notsie was fenced with a mud wall, so the Anlo women were told to

pour water on one side of the wall anytime they had to dispose off any water. This made the spot

soft, and the people were able to break the wall and escape.

To avoid being caught, they "walked backwards" so as to confuse their pursuers and even legend

has it that “The Red Hunter” turned himself into a rat and walk over all their footprints to make

them look old.

When they got to their present home, they created the festival Hogbetstso (Festival of Exodus) to

mark this event.

The festival has a host of other celebrations associated with it. There is a period of peace making.

During this period, all outstanding disputes must be resolved. The aim is to bring the people

together to live in harmony with each other.

There is also a general cleaning in the town. The whole town is swept, gutters cleaned, bushes

are cleared and everywhere is kept clean. The cleaning which starts at the estuary of the Volta

River, goes on until it reaches the Mono River in Benin.

This cleaning exercise is all inclusive and everyone in the town is supposed to take part. The

people of Anlo believe that if they keep their surroundings clean, and they live in harmony with

each other, no evil can befall.

They believe that their ancestors lived in harmony with each other all throughout their journey

and that is what helped them to arrive at their destination. Therefore if they also want to be able

to live in harmony, they must love one another. The cleaning continues for days until everywhere

is well kept.

The highlight of the Hogbetsotso Festival celebration is a grand durbar of the chiefs and people

of the town. There is drumming and dancing and merry making. The dancing is the most

intriguing part, with the very popular Borborbor dance which is very intense and fun filled.

Aboakyer Festival (First Saturday in May)

It is a bushbuck hunting festival celebrated by the people of Winneba in the Central Region of

Ghana. The name ‘'Aboakyer'’ translates as ‘hunting for game or animal’ in Fanti dialect as

spoken by the people of the Central region. The institution of the festival was to commemorate

the migration of Simpafo (tradition name given to the people of Winneba). The people migrated

from the North-eastern African town of Timbuktu in the ancient Western Sudan Empire to their

present land in the central coast of Ghana. The journey from the North-east to the Western part

of Africa was led by two brothers. The people believed that a god, who they called Otu, had

protected them from all dangers during their migration and to show their appreciation, the people

consulted the custodian of the god, a traditional priest who acted as an intermediary between the

people and the god, to ask the god for its preferred sacrifice. To their astonishment, the god

asked for a human sacrifice, someone from the royal family. This sacrifice went on for some

years but was later stopped as the people were no longer interested in human sacrifices. A

request was made to the god to change the sacrifice type, as they believed that sacrificing royalty

could eventually wipe out the royal family.The god in return asked for type of wild cat to be

caught alive and presented to it at its shrine. After the presentation, it was to be beheaded as a

sacrifice. This was to be done annually in a festival. Before the festival began the people settled

the god at a town called Penkye. After the resettlement, the god became known as Penkyi Otu, to

signify the final home for the god. To mark the festival, the people sought out the wild cat, as

had been prescribed. Many lives were lost in the process as the animal was to be captured live

and transported to Penkye. The people made a second appeal to Penkyi Otu to provide an

alternative to the wild cat. That appeal resulted in the decision to accept a mature bushbuck. This

festival is celebrated in May and it is a major event in Ghana.

The people of Simpa passed on this history to their descendants in the form of songs, and sang it

in their war chants as well as told it during moonlit nights in story form. This oral tradition went

on until the colonial Europeans arrived on the coast of the Gold Coast and with them the English

language. Scholars then translated the oral story from the language 'Fante' to English.

The festival is celebrated on the first Saturday in May. On the first day of the festival, the two

Asafo Companies (warrior groups) in Winneba take part in a hunting expedition. The first troop

to catch a live bushbuck from a game reserves used for this purpose and present it to the chiefs

and people at a colorful durbar is declared winner and is highly regarded for bravery.The

bushbuck is sacrificed and this signifies the start of the Aboakyer festival. The festival is used

also to receive a productive harvest and spiritual guidance from their gods for the coming year.

The Odwira Festival (September)

It is celebrated by the people of Akropong-Akuapim, Aburi, Larteh and Mamfi in the Eastern

Region, 30 miles from the capital, Accra. It is also a few minutes drive from the Aburi Botanical

Gardens. This is celebrated in the month of September.

The Akuapem Odwira festival was initiated by the 19th Okuapimhene of Akropong, Nana Addo

Dankwa 1 (1811-1835) and was first celebrated in October 1826. It's significance is to celebrate

their victory over the invincible Ashanti army during the historic battle of Katamansu near

Dodowa in 1826 and also to cleanse themselves and ask for protection from their gods.

Six weeks prior to the occasion, some activities are forbidden and hefty fines or serious

punishment are given to people who violate this ban. Some of these activities include, no loud

music, no drumming, no whistling after dark and most of all no eating of yams.

Odwira Festival is broken into six days and each day has a significance and a purpose. This starts

from Monday and ends on Sunday. Below is a break down of what actually happens on each day;

Monday: Men from the three royal families in the town go and clear the path to their ancestral

burial grounds. This is the sacred cemetery or "Ammamprobi". This is done to let them know

they are invited to join in the festival.

Tuesday: In the morning, the men from the royal family return to the sacred cemetery to get the

ancestors' permission to perform the festival. As they return, guarded by the "Executioners" or

Abrafo(sing. Obrafo) chanting and firing guns, the entire village gather along the streets and

cheer these men. A message is given to the chief that the festival can proceed.

The ban of all the activities mentioned above are lifted. Yams can now be enjoyed. This day is

the Splitting of the New Yam and there's a lot of merry making.

But before the yam ban is lifted and the new yam is introduced to the people, people gather in

front of the palace cheering and clapping whiles the strongest men in the town "battle" against

each other to grab one of the new yams and take it to his house to cook.

Wednesday: This is the day reserved to Mourn the ancestors and all loved ones who passed

away. This is also the day all those who died during the six week ban are buried. This is a sad

day and usually people wear red or black or both. This is the usual attire Ghanaians wear when

there's a funeral. They fast throughout the day to remember dead relatives. Basically, they wail,

drink and drum.

Thursday: This day on the Odwira calender is for Feasting. People exchange foods and other

gifts. Some people also pay homage to the chief and queen mother and give them presents of all

kinds.

The royal families prepare mashed yams with eggs to be sent to a shrine for the ancestors to eat.

This food is carried on the head by women guided by men through the principal streets to the

shrine. These women look drunk and tired, walk in an uncontrolled manner, stager sometimes,

run occasionally and stop abruptly. Some believe that these women are "possessed" by the

ancestors as they parade down the street. There's other forms of activities like eating and cooking

competitions.

Friday: This is the day of Celebration. The climax or the peak of the Odwira Festival. The Grand

Durbar is held on this day and not only the inhabitants participate, but many dignitaries, chieves

and queen mothers from all over Ghana and in fact, anybody interested come to celebrate with

the principal chief and queen mother of Akropong.

On this day, the Okuapimhene and Queen mother wear their full traditional regalia and display a

lot of gold on their heads, necks, wrists, fingers.This is a very colourful event.

They are carried by their attendants above everybody in a palanquin (a boat-like chair) and they

dance bouncing in the air, whilst there's drumming and singing going on, on the packed street.

Saturday and Sunday: These two days don't really have anything special going on. There are a

few gigs here and there but nothing official. These include soccer matches, scrabble competitions

amongst others.

The ‘Krontihene’ of Akuapem holds a special durbar on Sunday as part of the Odwira Festival.

The Odwira Festival is one of a kind and there isn't anything like that anywhere. You'll be

amazed, electrified and on top of it all, you'll be glad you took part of a rich cultural heritage in

the Ghana.

The Kundum Festival

It is celebrated by the Ahanta or Nzema people of the Western region of Ghana. It is celebrated

to thank God for the abundance of food at the time of the harvest period of the area.

The festival is believed to have first been celebrated in the 16th century. The first record of the

festival was made by Bossman, a Dutch explorer who traveled to the Gold Coast in the 17th

century and observed the festival.

According to oral history and folklore, the festival began when a hunter, Akpoley, during an

expedition, chanced upon some dwarves dancing in a circle. After observing the dance, he

returned to his town and introduced it to his people. The ritual dancing is associated with

expelling the devil and evil spirits from towns and villages. During the festival, the dance is

performed by most inhabitants of Axim and surrounding towns. It comes from Ahanta in the

Western region of Ghana.

Kundum is both a harvest and religious festival. The start of the festival is based on the day the

fruit of a certain palm tree became ripe.

Originally, the festival lasted for four weeks but due to modernity, in recent years it has been

reduced to eight days. The festivals occur separately in each town that make up the Ahanta

paramountcy. The towns each schedule independently on which Sunday their local festival will

start. The celebration consists of three main components: dancing, drumming and feasting

The people who participate in the celebration wear distinctive dress, footwear, and sometimes

masks. The festival begins by musicians taking the drums to the five different shrines on

outskirts of town. At the shrines, requests for the good of the town are made, and rum is poured

on the ground as libation.

In the traditional four-week celebration, the drummers will spend the next three weeks in the

outskirts practicing and preparing for the fourth week. No drumming or dancing is done on the

Monday of the fourth and final week. The ritual Kundum fire is lit at the chief’s palace and is

kept burning throughout the festivities. The fire serves as a center of activity and heat source for

preparing the main festival meal.

On Tuesday, sacrifices of fowl or sheep are offered in the stool room. The stool room is a sacred

palace where the stool of departed chiefs and elders are kept. All of the sacrifices in the stool

room are performed privately by a small designated group. Finally a public sacrifice of a fowl is

performed in the courtyard. Singing begins on Tuesday and on Wednesday, the chief joins

festivities. He enters on a palanquin accompanied by a parade of people singing and drumming.

Each night the people eat a large meal together, culminating in a great feast of the final Sunday.

All the food is collectively prepared by the women using the Kundum fire, and they are directed

by the elder women. The remainder of the week is spent performing the ritualized Kundum

dancing. Some dances are performed by men and others by women; others are not distinguished

by gender requirements. The dancing concludes in front of the castle in Axim. The traditional

purpose of the dancing is to drive the evil spirits and devils from the town and preserve another

successful year.

Bakatue Festival (First Tuesday in the month of July)

The Bakatue Festival is celebrated by the chiefs and peoples of Elmina in the Central region of

Ghana. The festival, established at least as far back as 1847, is celebrated on the first Tuesday in

the month of July every year.

The Dutch reported existence of the festival at least as far back as 1847 and was mentioned in a

report by Governor Nagtglas in 1860. The festival is used to mark the beginning of the fishing

season in Elmina. The name Bakatue is got from the Fante dialect which translates as draining of

a lagoon. The celebration of the festival was instituted to commemorate the founding of Elmina

by the Portuguese in the early days of the colonization of the then Gold Coast. It also is used to

offer thanks and prayers to the gods for a good fishing year.

The Elmina states set aside the first Monday and Tuesday of the month of July for the festival.

Monday: All necessary customary activities are performed on this day.

Tuesday: Women in Kente riding on the Brenya lagoon

It coincides with the annual rainy season of Ghana. The day Tuesday, was chosen as it is

regarded locally as the day for the sea god. As such in Elmina, as in many fishing communities

in Ghana, fishermen do not go to sea on Tuesdays in order to honour the sea god. During the

festival, the Paramount Chief and his sub-chiefs and the entire state of Elmina offer the sacred

festival food of eggs and mashed yam mixed with palm oil to Nana Brenya, the river god, and

pray for peace. On the morning of the festival, all members of the Elmina royal family

participate in a royal possession made up of chiefs and stool carriers. Chiefs of higher towns in

the Elmina paramount area ride decorated palanquins. After the procession and the giving of

various addresses by select chiefs and invited guest, the chief priest casts his net three times into

the Brenya Lagoon. This is followed by declarations of the end to the ban on fishing, drumming,

funerals and other social activities in the Elmina traditional area. After which there is the riding

on the lagoon by women in Kente cloth and local festive headgears. A royal procession leading

to the chief's palace amidst traditional music ends the festival. All the fish that is caught by the

net, during the ceremony, is offered to the gods as a symbol to thank them for the harvest. The

day ends with merry making after the durbar.

Dodoleglime Festival

The Dodoleglime Festival is celebrated by the chiefs and peoples of the Ve Traditional Area in

the Hohoe district of the Volta Region of Ghana. The festival is celebrated in November every

year.

Dodoleglime, means coming out of the wall in the Ewe language. The festival is used to mark

the migration of the people Notsie in Togo in the 17th Century to their present location in the

south east of Ghana. The migration occurred because the people were fed up with the rule of

Togbe Agorkoli. The people therefore use the festival to commemorate the heroics of their

ancestors who devised a secret escape through a hole they dug in the wall that surrounded the

Notsie town. Another reason for the celebration of the festival is for the people to honour certain

ancestors who played leading roles in their secret escape.

Various other activities of mutual benefit to the Ve people and visitors during the celebrations

are held. They include fund raising activities to raise monies for needed development projects in

education and health. The Ve Educational Endowment Fund was established in 2001 to support

brilliant but needy students in the area. Another activity that is organized is Public health issues

awareness. During organized fora, various health issues including malaria and HIV are

highlighted. Various sporting games such as soccer matches are also organized.

During the festival, the state of development projects is made known during the annual durbar.

New projects are also initiated. During one of such durbars, it was announced that Ve-Lukusi

Improvement Society had purchased a 15-acre lot in the area to construct a replica wall to mirror

the one through which their ancestors escaped. The purpose of the project was to serve as a

permanent reminder to all people of the struggle of their ancestors as well as serve as a tourist

attraction.

Oguaa Fetu Afahye Festival

There is more to Cape Coast than the haunting memories of African sons and daughters stored in

slave castles before being sardine-packed in slave ships across the Atlantic off to the Americas.

Yes, it is pretty much a relaxed community, but Cape Coast comes pretty much alive for the

celebration of Oguaa Fetu Afahye Festival.

According to tradition, a plague once ravaged the Oguaa community – Cape Coast was founded

as a fishing community by a man, Oguaa who gave his name to the place. Such was the

devastating effect of the plague that the people called on their gods before the plague stopped

and the land was cleansed. The word fetu is a contraction of ‘efin tu’ in the local dialect which

means clearing the dirt.

Oguaa Fetu Afahye festival is therefore a commemoration of that purification which saved the

land from the plague and a show of gratitude to the 77 gods of the Oguaa Traditional Area.

Before the start of the Fetu Afahye celebrations, the Omanhene (paramount chief of the Oguaa)

spends a week in confinement to confer with the gods. A ban is placed on drumming, dancing,

noise making and merriment within the municipality, while fishing in the Fosu Lagoon is

forbidden at this period.

A cleansing ritual is offered at the lagoon by the Amissafo (guardians of the lagoon) for the gods

to ward off bad omen, while also entreating for abundance of fish and bumper harvest of food

crop. A day is set aside for general cleaning of the environment. This day is known as

Amuntumadeze (Health Day) and all the people tidy and spruce up the community.

Dipo

Dipo is a Ghanaian traditional festival celebrated by the people of Odumase in the Eastern region

of Ghana. The festival is celebrated in the month of April every year. The festival is used to

usher into puberty, girls who are virgins and it signifies that a lady, who partakes in it, is of age

to be married.[2] Parents upon hearing announcement of the rites send their qualified girls to the

chief priest. However these girls would have to go through rituals and tests to prove their chastity

before they qualify to partake in the festival.

On the first day of the rites, the girls have their heads shaved and dressed with cloth around their

waist to just their knee level. This is done by a special ritual mother and it signifies their

transition from childhood to adulthood. They are paraded to the entire community as the initiates

(dipo-yi).

Early the next morning, the chief priest gives the initiates a ritual bath. He pours libation to ask

for blessings for the girls. He then washes their feet with the blood of a goat which their parents

presented. This is to drive away any spirit of barrenness. The crucial part of the rite is when the

girls sit on the sacred stone. This is to prove their virginity. However, any girl found to be

pregnant or not a virgin is detested by the community and does not entice a man from the tribe.

The girls are then housed for a week, where they are given training on cooking, housekeeping,

child birth and nurture. The ritual mothers give them special lessons on seduction and how to

treat their husbands right. They learn the Klama dance which will be performed on the final day

of the rites.

After the one-week schooling, they are finally released and the entire community gather to

celebrate their transition into womanhood. They are beautifully dressed in rich kente cloth

accessorised with beads around their waist, neck and arms. With singing and drumming, they

perform the Klama dance. At this point, any man interested in any one of them can start

investigating into her family. it is assumed that any lady who partakes in the rites not only brings

honour to herself but to her family at large.

Akwasidae Festival (Sunday, once every six weeks, Frequency 9 times per year)

The Akwasidae Festival (alternate, Akwasiadae) is celebrated by the Ashanti people and chiefs

in Ashanti, as well as the Ashanti diaspora. The festival is celebrated on a Sunday, once every six

weeks. The Akwasidae Festival is next only in importance to The National Day celebrations.

The Akan annual calendar is divided into nine parts, each lasting approximately six weeks but

varying between 40–42 days in a period; the celebration of this period is called the Adae

Festival. The Adae Festival has two celebration days: the Akwasidae Festival is celebrated on the

final Sunday of the period, while the Awukudae Festival is celebrated on a Wednesday within

the period. The Friday preceding 10 days to the Akwasidae is called the Fofie (meaning a ritual

Friday). As the festival is always held on Sundays (Twi in Kwasidae), its recurrence could be

after 40 or 42 days in accordance with the official Calendar of Ashanti. During the last

Akwasidae of the year, which coincides with the Adae Kese Festival, special attention is given to

make food offerings and donations for helping people.The festivals of Adae are not

interchangeable as they were fixed from ancient times.

The rites on this day relate to honouring personal and community ancestors. A gathering called

Akom occurs in which drumming, dancing and singing are a normal celebration to honour

Abosom (lesser gods in the Akan tradition) and Nsamanfo (spiritually cultivated ancestors).

Food offerings include special items such as eto (mashed African yam), garnished with hard-

boiled eggs. Every Ashanti celebrates this festival. For those Ashanti who do not observe the

festival of Odwira, the Akwasidae is very important to commemorate their ancestors.

On this day, the Asantehene (King of Ashante) meets his subjects and subordinate chiefs in the

courtyard of the Manhyia Palace. The Golden Stool (throne) is displayed at the palace grounds in

the presence of the king, and people visit in large numbers, singing and dancing. The king holds

his durbar on the occasion of the festival, and people have the liberty to shake hands with him.

Before holding the durbar, the king goes in a procession in a palanquin decorated with gold

jewelry. He also witnesses a colourful parade, from his palace grounds at Kumasi. Participants of

the parade include drum beaters, folk dancers, horn-blowers and singers. As it is festival of

paying respect to ancestors, the king visits the Bantama Mausoleum and offers worship not only

to his ancestors' chairs (stools), but also to the skeletal remains of his ancestors.[8] It is argued

that, the king do not worship the stools and the ancestors, however to pay them homage.