A Festival in Cape Coast

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this thus far but Ghanaians, much like San Franciscans, really love to party! A short trip down the road to the Regional Capital, Cape Coast, gave me the opportunity to see just how much.

The city was brimming with people at a yet another bumping festival. Although, I was unable to get a consistent answer about what the festival was celebrating, I believe it had something to do with the a celebration of the Fante people.

Allow me to explain: Ghana is made up of 9 or 10 regions (depend on whether you count the Greater Accra region) and it is my understanding that within each region a certain tribes dominate. I, for example, live in the Central Region where the Fante people are the dominant tribe. The legend goes that the Fante people moved to the region by conquering the Akaan people who had originally come down from Burkina Faso. The Fante people were lead by three great settlers who are represented by three animals, I can’t remember which animals at this point but I am sure I will learn a lot more about the ethnic history of my villagers as time goes on!

Anyway, this festival is a Fante Festival and it included a parade of all the Fante Paramount Chiefs, in addition to the Chief of Cape Coast who I hear is an expensive man to meet. My friend Nancy who teaches are at the School for the Deaf in Cape Coast proper, told me it will cost you about $50 and a couple bottles of Schnapps to even go and greet him. Well, I may not get to meet him but at least I got his picture!

Enjoy the photos, I sure had a great time taking them.

The Asafo Whale?

The Asafo waving a flag

Before a chief is paraded down the street he must preceded by his Asafo. The Asafo are kind of like the chief's militia, made up of the strongest most honorable warriors in the village. This is the flag of one Fante Asafo, with a crowd of warriors parading proudly as their chief makes his way through the procession. Following the Asafo is the paramount stool. This is an object of worship and represents all the power of the chief.

Here is a woman carrying one of the marble stools on her head. She is being held/dragged along by an assistant to represent the power of the stool being too much for just one human to control.

Voted by the Central Region PCVs in attendance, best dressed parader

These women and men were painted with white paint in designs all over their bodies. I am not sure what they represent but they directly preceded the Cheif of Cape Coast so...they're important!

Despite the illegality of homosexuality, no Ghanaian festival is complete without a few people dressing in drag. This guy had some killer pumps!


And Now Presenting...the Paramount Chiefs!

The Chief of Cape CoastThe Chief of Abura. He is my the Paramount Chief for the district my village is in! I yelled extra loud as he passed by.
This guy was a crowd favorite as he was throwing out candy and plastic jewelry. Clearly not his first rodeo!
Yes there are glorious Lady Chiefs too! We call them Queen Mothers instead. She was definitely my favorite of the few that were paraded.

Following the chiefs were of course a few people on stilts. I mean, what's a parade without stilts. We ended up joining in the tail end of the parade and dancing our way down the block! A good time was had by all.