Preview of Fetu Afahye Festival

 

The Fetu Afahye Festival is one of the most important traditional festivals in Ghana. It is also well known in throughout whole West Africa and will attract spectators from all over the world. It takes place in the area of Cape Coast which will be crowded with foreigners during the period of the festival.

Tradition is and was always important in Ghana and important things need to be celebrated. One of those celebrations with a deep traditional and historical background is the Fetu Afahye Festival. In its meaning and also in its important role to preserve the tradition, certainly one of the most important festivals in Ghana.

Harvest festival New Year’s festival, ancestral festival all those 3 different festivities are combined in one big festival in Ghana the FETU-AFAHYE FESTIVAl . The festival has a long history .It is a joyful, jovially and exuberant fest because it marks the end of a dreadful, gravely and tense time. It also is the new start of a traditional year the New Year will begin in the traditional calendar on the 1^st of September. Month before for the actual celebration there will be a several occasions to raise funds for the festival.

The history of the festival goes back to the time where a very devastating disease raged under the inhabitants of the Cape Coast area. The disease ravaged the land with the dead bodies of the victims, of the epidemic. The people turned to their gods to get the badly needed support in the time of the curse of the disease. They supported them and the people started to clean the area, after the consultation with gods, to fight against the disease. Fetu translated in the local dialect means Efin Tu the cleansing of the dirt, that cleansing was eponymous for the festival and is up to the present day associated with the festival. That association, with cleansing, is also integrated in the celebration ceremonies of the festival up to the present.

The paramount chief (Omanhen) of the Ogua Traditional Area is the angle point of the celebrations. For one week before the actual celebration starts, the paramount chief will adjourn to a place where he is isolated. Whilst the isolation time he will meditate to receive spiritual support by the gods, through meditation, to guide the people in a good and disease free New Year. He as role model and spiritual leader of the celebration will also take steps to be in a healthy and fit condition for the celebration, if necessary he will consult his physician.

The in general associated activates associated with celebration and Ghana like drumming dancing and noise making are prohibited in the time before the actual celebration. With absacne of such distraction a peaceful, spiritual and relaxed environment should be crated. That is an important preparation for the soon to start celebration. In the ritual tradition of the festival the silence before is important for the success of the festival.

The Fosu lagoon will also play an important role in the celebration of festival. The lagoon is sacred in the traditional believes. There will be also an important pre celebration prohibition imposed before the festival it is not allowed to fish in the lagoon to ensure a rich in fish ground for the coming year. To praise the place the guardians of the place the Amissafo will say a prayer and will execute a ritual to clean the lagoon. With the cleaning of the lagoon with a sacred liquid the Amissafo are trying to get rid of any bad omen that could harm the people. The prayers apply to the comprehensiveness of the harvest and the abundance of fish and crop for the imminent year.

Like mentioned before, the cleansing of the area has a historical important meaning and is transmitted into the celebrations with the Amuntumadeze rite. This period belongs to the cleansing of the area. All people of the area will gather and start with the important cleansing. This cleansing will every part of the area fall victim to, the gutters will be cleaned houses will be repainted or washed, so they look the best they can and streets and everything else will be cleaned by old and young. Everybody who is able too will participate in this cleansing of the area.

The actual festival will start in the night of the last Monday in the month of August. It will be lead by the chief and he and his entourage will be involved in a lot of different and traditional processions. The first important ritual will happen in the night of the last Monday in August priest and priestesses will held a procession the whole night till the first sunshine will appear. There will also be drumming and traditional dance, but it is only allowed for the traditional priest and people involved in the procession, because the prohibition for drumming and dancing still persist. The number of people witnessing the procession is huge. The next a ritual will be performed, the next day on Tuesday, by traditional priests at the Fosu shrine and a regatta will take place on the lagoon.

The ban will be lifted by a special event the Bakatue the opening of the river. The Chief will be the first person to fish in the lagoon after the ban was imposed. He will through his net 3 times in the lagoon. By that performance the ban will be lifted and this will be enjoyed to the full right in moment drumming dancing and noise making will start in the whole area. It has also an important predictive character for the people; if the net of the chief will catch a lot of fishes it means there will be plentiful harvest the coming year on land and in water.

On Thursday a ritual will start at the Nana Paprata shrine. It will include the pouring of libation and dancing it is called Adammba . The priest and priestesses will get in contact with the traditional gods and will make prediction for the future. The ceremony will end by dawn and is also the first stage of the purification process at the shrine.

A sacrifice of an animal is also part of the purification process which is expended to several days. For the purification ceremony is a bull the animal that will be sacrificed. Before the bull will be accepted as an Offering he will be kept at the Nana Tabir shrine this time applies as time for the cleansing. The ceremony will start at historic square on Friday where the Omanhen (Paramount Chief) will deliver a speech riddled with wisdoms and after that he will continue to the Nana Paprate Shrine. At the entrance of the shrine the bull will be tied. The chief will halt and will hold a ceremony including the pouring of libation and asking for the support of the seventy seven gods of Cape Coast. After that he will sacrifice the bull to honour the gods.

On Saturday they will parade through the streets of Cape Coast and will discuss important matter concerning the traditional area and the wellbeing of people living in the traditional area. There will also be a presentation of the traditional Fanti military companies with their great flag dancers. On Sunday the festival will find and end with a church service and the Dank to the god almighty for successful celebration time.