The chiefs and people of Ga Mashie on Saturday celebrated their annual Homowo festival with sprinkling of Kpokpoi, the festival’s traditional food, at heritage sites and family houses.
An agriculture-related festival, Homowo means “hooting at hunger”, and it has a historic antecedent grounded in the migration and settlement of Gas in their present location.
The legend has it that the Gas experienced famine earlier on arrival but were blessed with bountiful harvest the following year that saved them from hunger, hence the marking of the festival with merrymaking and feasting to the extent of sprinkling the traditional food as a way of sharing it with their compatriots who lost their lives during the famine.
In Ga Mashie, the festival was always kick-started with the sprinkling of the traditional food by the Lante Dzan We (Clan), which was marked earlier last week and followed with the Twins Yam celebration on Friday before the whole enclave joined in marking the festival on Saturday.
Early Saturday morning when the Ghanaian Times news crew arrived at Ga Mashie, and visited few family houses, scores of women were engaged in the preparation of the traditional meal which was served with palm nut soup, usually cooked with high-value fishes.
After sprinkling the ‘kpokpoi’, family members gathered round the meal, usually served in an earthen bowl, and shared the fishes to indicate unity and peaceful co-existence that meant that all differences were supposed to be settled.
As custom demands, Nii Ayi-Bonte II, the Gbese Mantse and the Adontenhene of the Ga State, was the first chief expected to start with the sprinkling, after which all the chiefs could proceed to follow suit.
Thus, early morning, amidst the observance of COVID-19 protocols, Nii Gbese proceeded to the Ussher Fort, usually his first point of call, to purify the heritage site, after which, he went to some of the family houses to share the traditional meal with them.
In a short message after retiring to his palace, Nii Gbese said the festival was marked taking into consideration that the world was not in normal times due to COVID-19, which has become an albatross in organising social events.
He explained that it was for the same reason many, especially chiefs from the surrounding communities were excluded from the main event at Ga Mashie.
He said it was his fervent hope that come next year when the festival would be marked, COVID-19 pandemic now wreaking havoc across the world would be history.
He entreated everybody to adhere strictly to personal hygiene and social distancing protocols to curb the spread of the virus while waiting out to get a cure for the disease, adding that it was a must for everybody to join the crusade to ensure that the country was saved from any adverse effects from the pandemic.
Nii Gbese wished all Gas a “Happy Homowo” on the joyous occasion and appealed that it should form the basis of reconciliation and unity as the ancestors preached before departing to the other world.
Yesterday, Nii Gbese, clad in all white as part of the celebration, sat in state with his councillors to receive homage from the people while in turn bestowing his blessings on them for a fruitful year in the days ahead.
BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI
