Homowo Festival
Homowo Festival
Homowo is a traditional festival celebrated by the Ga tribe in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. In the Ga language, the festival means “hooting at hunger”, (hooting to imply mocking or making fun of). It is a time to remember a great famine that fell upon the people centuries ago, during pre colonial Ghana. There was an end to this famine after the people offered prayers to the gods and rain poured for days. There was an abundant harvest afterwards which led to the Ga hooting at hunger not only for their joy but to mock the hunger that almost caused their demise.
But let’s shift from the legendary origins to how it is celebrated, and also how I celebrated the festival with my family.
The festival begins in May when maize is sown and a 30 day noise-ban is placed( no drums or songs are placed; noise is believed to stunt the growth of the plants). In August, the maize is and Kpoipkoi, which is made of maize and palm oil, is prepared. This is sprinkled across the ground by the chief of the different local districts, in procession, to the goods for spiritual protection and celebration of harvest. The ban is also lifted and there is dancing and joyous cries all over the region.
When I went back home during the summer, I got the opportunity to prepare the Kpoikpoi for the chief and prepare the feast for the aftermath of the festival. Each year, a family is given the honor of preparing this traditional food and I got the chance to be involved. I went with my cousin to join the procession, where the chief goes from town to town sprinkling the Kpoipkoi to every part of Accra. After that, we munched on the Kpoikpoi together with palmnut soup. This year, due to the pandemic, the celebrations were not as big as they usually are, but it was a great time.
Photo: After the procession, on the right, my cousin in her beautiful attire in celebration of the festivity and I( arm in the picture), eat some of the food with palm-nut soup and smoked fish (left).
Photo: On the left, a group of women mix the ground maize with palm oil (rich in the color yellow) with a bowl. On the right: they pass it through a sieve to make the Kpoi Kpoi finer.
Yaera Spraggins
B.A. | College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
University of Michigan Class of 2022