NATIONAL HOMOWO FESTIVAL
NORTH AMERICA

A Non-Profit, Non-Political, Benevolent, Socio-Cultural Organization Of Gadangbe  

 
 
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Gadangme History
 

 
The Ga-Adangme, Gă-Adaŋbɛ, Ga-Dangme, or GaDangme are an ethnic group in Ghana and Togo. The Ga and Adangbe people are grouped respectively as part of the Ga–Dangme ethnolinguistic group.
The Ga-Dangmes are one ethnic group that lives primarily in the Greater Accra, Eastern Region and the Volta Region of Ghana. Others areas are Aného in Togo and Benin. Under their great leader King Ayi Kushi(Cush) (1510-1535)they were led from the east in several states before reaching their destination in Accra .This leader is the Moses of the Ga-Dangme tribe, with his seven (7) puritan laws he gave them and that has formed the basis and philosophy of the state, making the state a friendly state recognised by all in respect to making Greater Accra Region the capital of the then Gold Coast in 1877.
The Ga peoples were organized into six independent towns (Accra (Ga Mashie), Osu, La, Teshie, Nungua, and Tema). Each town had a stool, which served as the central object of Ga ritual and war magic. Accra became the most prominent Ga-Dangme towns and is now the heartbeat and capital of Ghana.[4] The Ga people were originally farmers, but today fishing and trading in imported goods are the principal occupations. Trading is generally in the hands of women, and a husband has no control over his wife’s money. Succession to most offices held by women and inheritance of women’s property are by matrilineal descent. Inheritance of other property and succession to male-held public offices are by patrilineal descent. Men of the lineage live together in a men’s compound, while women, even after marriage, live with their mothers and children in a women’s compound. Each Ga town has a number of different cults and many gods, and there are a number of annual town festivals.[
 
The Dangme people occupy the coastal area of Ghana from Kpone to Ada, on the Volta River and South Atlantic Ocean along the Gulf of Guinea and inland along the Volta River. The Dangme People include the Ada, Kpone, Krobo, Ningo, Osudoku, Prampram, and Shai, all speaking Dangbe of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages.[5] The Dangme People have the largest Population among the two related Ga-Dangme People. About 70% of the Greater Accra Regional Land is owned by the Dangmes located in Dangme East and Dangme West Districts of Ghana. Also, in the Eastern Region and Volta Region of Ghana, about 15% of lands belong to the Dangme People. These are mainly in the Manya Krobo and Yilo Krobo Districts of the Eastern Region. In the Agotime Area of Volta Region and the Dangme Area in the Southern part of Togo.
Dangme occupations are fishing, trading and farming which is based on the huza system. In this system a tract of land is acquired by a group of people, usually members of an extended family; the land is subdivided among them according to the amount each has paid, and each individual thereafter has complete control of his own section. Negotiations with the seller are carried out by an elected huzatse (“father of the huza”), who later acts as the huza leader and representative. Millet was formerly the staple food, but more common crops now include cassava, yams, corn (maize), plantain, cocoa, and palm oil. Lineage members generally return to the traditional lineage home from the huza farms several times a year to participate in the festivals of their lineage gods. There are also many annual festivals.
The Ga-Dangme are organized into clans based on patrilineal descent; the clans are subdivided into localized patrilineages, the basic units of the Ga-Dangme historical, political, cultural Tribal group.

Linguistically, the Ga-Adangbe speak the Kwa languages Ga and Adangme and are a patrilineal people. Adangme is exclusively closer to the original Ga–Dangme languages than the Ga language.
Arts and culture
The Ga people celebrate the Homowo festival, which literally means "hooting at hunger." This festival originated several centuries ago. It is celebrated in remembrance of a great famine that hit the Ga people in the sixteenth century. It is mainly a food festival which celebrates the passing of that terrible period in Ga history. It takes place in August every year and is celebrated by all the Ga clans.
The Adangbe people from Ada celebrate the Asafotu festival, which is also called 'Asafotufiam', an annual warrior's festival celebrated by Ada people from the last Thursday of July to the first weekend of August. It commemorates the victories of the warriors in battle and is a memorial for those who fell on the battlefield. To re-enact these historic events, the warriors dress in traditional battle dress and stage a mock battle. This is also a time for male rites of passage, when young men are introduced to warfare. The festival also coincides with the harvest cycle, when these special customs and ceremonies are performed. These include purification ceremonies. The celebration reaches its climax with a durbar of chiefs, a colourful procession of the Chiefs in palanquins with their retinue. They are accompanied by traditional military groups called 'Asafo Companies' amidst drumming, singing and dancing through the streets and on the durbar grounds. At the durbar, greetings are exchanged between the chiefs, libations are poured and declarations of allegiance are made.
The Adangbe people from Odumase - Krobo also Celebrate the [Ngmayem] festival, An Annual Harvest festival to Celebrate the bounty harvest of their farmers is celebrated by the Krobo people throughout the last week (Seven days) of October with a visit to their famous Ancestral home, the Krobo Mountains [Kloyom] on the last Friday of October with a climax on the Saturday with a grand Durbar of Chiefs and People of the Krobo Traditional Area. the [Konor] who is the Paramount Chief sits in state as the overlord together with his sub-chiefs, Government officials, other traditional Authorities and Invited guests.
The Ga-Adangbe music includes drumming and dancing. One of their traditional music and dance styles (albeit a fairly modern one) is kpanlogo, a modernized traditional dance and music form developed around 1960. Yacub Addy, Obo Addy, and Mustapha Tettey Addy are Ga drummers who have achieved international fame. Music of the Ga-Adangbe people also include [Klama], [Kpatsa] and the Dipo dance all of the Krobo people.
For the Shai and Krobo people, the Dipo is the formal rite of passage. Originally designed as a formal marriage training for mature women in their twenties, Dipo has evolved into a pre-marital sexual purification[8] rite that involves teenage girls conducting traditional religious rituals and putting on dance performances for the public. Initiates are partially nude throughout much of the ritual. In addition, they are each adorned with custom-made glass beads, colorful loin cloths, and various forms of woven headgear. According researcher and author Priscilla Akua Boakye, "[Dipo] was a form of vocational training for young women in which they were taught generally how to assume their roles as responsible women." Despite the ritual being designated for older teenaged girls, it is not uncommon for young pre-adolescent and even toddler aged girls to take part.
 

 



 

       
 


Total population
Approximately 2.0 million
Regions with significant populations
Ghana - Greater Accra Region & Eastern Region-, Togo
Languages
Ga and Adangme

                 


Dr. Nii  Darkufio Dodoo



 



 

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