Major Cultural Festivals in Ghana

Tour Package includes the Following Services:

• Airport & Hotel pick up services.
• You will travel in a luxury air-conditioned coach throughout the tour.
• You will be accommodated in the top 3/4 star hotels in the cities and 2/3 star hotels in the countryside of Ghana.
• You will be accompanied by a professional & experience tour guide throughout the tour.
• Your itinerary includes free days for relaxation & shopping.
• Upon request you will be provided with three-square meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner) both African & Continental dishes.
  
  The Emergence of Cultural Festivals in Ghana
  Centuries of old traditions of the people of Ghana and the diversity of the distinct ethnic groups have created a rich culture that has become a lasting legacy of modern Ghana. To the people of Ghana the traditions of their ancestors are still important parts of their daily life. Traditional chiefs have historical authority over tribal and family matters. They are also custodians of land belonging to their respective clans or groups.
  
  Rites and rituals at family gatherings mark important event such as child naming, puberty initiations, marriage and live after death, whiles seasonal festivals bring a whole people or clan together in spectacular fashion. A common feature is the belief in life after death and in the nearness of ancestors. Festivals also recall past events and create new seasons with confidence and hope. The events have in recent times become occasions for development of projects for and by the communities.
  
  Ghana’s diverse culture is depicted through its many exciting festivals, which are held throughout the year. These festivals reflect the rich diversity of history and culture of tribal life in the various traditional groupings in the country. Many festivals are climaxed by thrilling durbars of chiefs and people, with tribal leaders and queen -mothers riding in decorated palanquins, shaded by traditional umbrellas, and supported by drummers and warriors discharging ancient muskets and cheered by people.
  
  Thousands of people including foreigners from all walks of life travel all over the country to witness these festivals which are celebrated almost every week throughout the year. Indeed festivals of Ghana have the effect of creating in the people a feeling of pride in their cultural heritage and spiritual affinity.
  
  When at a festival, try and visit a home. The famous hospitality of the Ghanaians, the warm, friendliness and sincerity as well as the distinctive charm of the Ghanaian housewife are best experienced on such festive occasions by guest in a typical traditional Ghanaian home.
  Culled from a Ghana Tourist Board handbook on Ghanaian festivals.
  
  Brief Notes on some Ghanaian Festivals
  
  JANUARY/FEBRUARY
  The Adae Festival of Asante Kingdom is important to the Asantes and others of the Akan family. As a religious festival, it is basically celebrated to remember past leaders and heroes who in a modern sense could be called saints. Though they are dead, their spirits are supposed to be alive and taking interest in the affairs of the living, watching over their doings and consulting with them at Adae. The days and forms of Adae among the Akan differ slightly. There are two main Adae festivals within forty days - the Wednesday Adae called Awukudae and Sunday Adae called Akwasidae, which are separated by 17 days. Basically, libation is poured, water, meat and food is taken to the stool room by the chiefs who with great respect (barefooted) commune with the ancestors. The biggest Adae Festival in Asante is the ninth Adae of the year - Adae Kese (Grand Adae) that previously fell on the first Sunday of October but is now subject to change. Adae Kese is the most dreadful festival of the Asante Kingdom. This ceremony depicts how Asante kings worship their ancestral stools and skeletons of their past kings, preserved at the sacred mausoleum at Bantama, a suburb of Kumasi.
  
  MARCH/APRIL
  Apoo Festival is celebrated by the chiefs and people of Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region. It involves purification of the people to rid them of social evils. It is also to gain favour from royal ancestors to ensure bumper harvest at the end of the year.
  Dipo Festival is celebrated in April by the people of Manya and Yilo Krobo in the towns of Krobo Odumase and Somanya in the Eastern Region. Adolescent girls are adored in beautiful beads and half clothed. The festival is celebrated to initiate such girls into women hood.
  
  MAY/JUNE
  Edina Bakatue Festival literally means “The Opening of the Lagoon” or the Draining of the Lagoon”. It is celebrated to commemorate the founding of the town and to ursher in a new fishing season. It is also celebrated to invoke the deity Nana Benya’s continuous protection of the state and its people.
  Aboakyer Festival literally means, “catching a life deer”. The two Asafo companies using only sticks and clubs move to their respective hunting grounds in the morning of 1st Saturday in May to climax the festival. The first company to bring a life deer for Paramount Chief to step on three times is declared the winner of the year. It is celebrated in remembrance of Winneba’s fetish war god, Apa Sekum, who was said to have helped the people in various ways. The deer is captured alive and sacrifice to the fetish god. In the morning of Aboakyer day the paramount chief, sub-chiefs, dignitaries and the public assemble at the durbar grounds to wait for the catch amidst drumming and dancing. There is jubilation through the streets until the deer is deposited at the shrine to await its slaughter the next day. This festival is reminiscent of the Jewish Passover festival, because family houses or stools receive the smear of sheep blood and sprinkling of the mix dough on the first three days before merry making begins.
  Fetu Afahye is celebrated by the people of Oguaa or Cape Coast Traditional Area. It is named after the 17th Century Fetu or Effutu kingdom located some 19 kilometers inland of Cape Coast. A main feature of the festival is the state purification rites, which include the paramount Chiefs Yam festival, and is observed in the form of offering mashed yams to the gods. There is also a display of traditional priests and priestesses on Monday night, which attracts large crowd mainly the youth and foreigners. Various fishermen’s groups in the municipality organize a regatta or boat race on the lagoon. A grand durbar of chiefs climaxes the festival.
  
  JULY/AUGUST
  PANAFEST (Pan-African Historic Theatre Festival) is a major biennial event of cultural forum for Africans and people of African descent as well as friends of the continent committed to the noble cause of Pan Africanism. It is celebrated in the historical towns of Cape Coast and Elmina. The festival is a celebration of African cultural values, history and civilization. It consists of performances and workshops in theatre, drama, music, cinema, poetry, colloquia and lectures. It showcases colorful traditional durbar of chiefs and people of African descent. Tours/excursions to places of interest such as the castle dungeons are organized. The biannual cultural festival also brings together participants from all over the world. Emancipation Day Celebration is an annual event celebrated in the 1st of August every year in Ghana in solidarity with African descendants in the Diaspora to mark the abolition of slave trade. It coincides with the PANAFEST in every two (2) years.
  Homowo Festival (hooting at hunger) is one of the colorful festivals celebrated by the people of the Ga (Accra) Traditional Area. It is characterized by rituals such as the sprinkling of “kpokpoi” (the festival dish) to the gods and ancestors for spiritual protection, procession of twins through the principal streets, traditional drumming and dancing and general merry making. A month before the celebration, there is a ban on noise making. At the climax of the festival, from 12 noon to 6:00pm any woman, no matter their status, is expected to accept a hug from a man on the festival street.
  Kundum Festival is by the chiefs and people of Sekondi between July and August. Oral tradition states that a hunter from Aboade saw dwarfs dancing to the rhythm of strange music while on a hunting expedition. He watched them for one month and later brought the dance home. Another legend states that there existed a palm tree at Aboade, whose fruits used to ripe once in a year, and with time, this period became a symbolic calendar in the lives of the people. The ripening of the palm fruit therefore became the signal for the festival to begin. The people of Sekondi adopted Kundum when they settled at Sekondi. It is celebrated to remember their ancestors and ask for their help and protection. It is also used to purify the whole state. Kundum festival may be regard as a harvest festival, as well as a period for remembering the dead, cleansing the community and setting new goals for the coming year.
  
  SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
  Ohum Festival is celebrated twice a year in June/July and September/October respectively by the chiefs and people of the Akyem Traditional Area. These are known as Ohumkan and Ohumkyire and celebrated. This festival marked the anniversary of the Akyem Nation, worshipping the ancestral stools and the spirits of those who occupied them. The celebration is also to mark the first yam harvest of the year and to ask for blessings for the coming year. Odwira Festival is one of the most famous and important cultural festivals Ghana. It is celebrated in turns by the towns on the Akuapem Ridge (Akropong-Akuapim, Aburi, Amanokrom, Larteh etc). This festival commences in September and end in January every year. The ceremonies include purification of the stools, reaffirmation of political loyalties and traditional allegiance. It is crown with a colorful durbar of chiefs and people of the area.
  
  NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
  Anlo-Hogbetsotso Festival is celebrated on the 1st Saturday of every November. A grand durbar of chiefs and people is held at Anloga, the traditional home of the Anlo-speaking Ewes. The durbar forms a significant part of the week-long festival which commemorates their exodus from the ancient walled city of Notsie in the present day Northern Togo to the south eastern coastal wetlands of Ghana. They escaped the tyranny of a wicked chief, Agorkoli, by walking “backwards” to elude their enemies who might follow them, amidst drumming and dancing to Husago and other war songs
  Kwafie Festival is a weeklong celebration held in November and December. Kwafie festival is celebrated by the chiefs and people of Dormaa. Traditional Area in the Brong Ahafo Region. It is a purification ceremony, the highlights of which are large bonfires in the courtyard of Abanprede Ase (the chief’s palace). It is believed that the Dormaas brought fire to Ghana and the legend is symbolically represented in a bonfire.