The Ga people of Ghana have marked the end of a month-long noisemaking ban in their communities with a traditional ceremony at the Gbese Palace on Thursday, June 15, 2023.
The ceremony, which involved beating the Odadao twins drums by Gbese Mantse, Nii Ayi-Bonte II, was attended by traditional leaders, government officials, Wulomei, and locals who cheered and fired muskets.
The noisemaking ban was part of the preparations for the Homowo festival, a harvest festival that commemorates the famine that afflicted the Ga people in precolonial times. During the ban, any form of noise-making, such as loudspeakers, drums, tambourines, or roadside evangelism was prohibited to respect the gods and ensure a good harvest.
The Director of Communications at the Office of the Gbese Mantse, Theophilus Wilson Adzie, said that with the lifting of the ban, all was set for the Homowo festival, which would take place on August 19.
“The Homowo festival is an activity to hoot at hunger. The Gas have passed through war, have passed through certain journeys, and they did these activities to remember their forefathers and ancestors and ask blessings from the Almighty God,” he said.
The Homowo festival is celebrated by different towns in the Ga state at different dates, starting with Lante Dzanwe and ending with Nungo and Gboogbla. The festival involves eating Kpokpoi or Kpekple, a special meal made from maize and palm nut soup, and sprinkling it within the town by traditional leaders and family heads. The festival also features marching, drumming, chanting, face painting, singing and dancing.
