Homowo
Encyclopedia
Homowo is a festival celebrated by Ga people
of Ghana
. The festival
starts in the month of May with the planting of crops before the rainy season starts. During the festival, they perform a dance called Kpanlogo. The Ga people celebrate Homowo in the remembrance of the famine that once happened in Ghana.
's article on Homowo. Retrieved 08 September 07 The tradition of Homowo started with a period of hunger leading to famine
due to failure of the seasonal rain
s needed by crops in the Greater Accra Region
, where the Ga people predominantly dwell. When the rains returned to normal, the Ga people celebrated by creating the Homowo festival hence it name and meaning. Homowo is greatly celebrated in Teshie. Celebration includes marching down roads and streets beating drums, chanting, face painting, singing and traditional dances. On this day there is usually a lot of traffic and roads are usually blocked off to accommodate the festival. Even though it is a Ga tradition, many other ethnic groups are welcomed and also join to celebrate.During this time there is a no noise making because it is believed that the noise would hinder the maturity of the crops.
Ga people
The Ga-Adangbe are an ethnic group in the West African nation of Ghana. It is part of the Dangme ethnic group. The Ga people are grouped as part of theGa–Dangme ethnolinguistic group. They speak Kwa languages...
of Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. The festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
starts in the month of May with the planting of crops before the rainy season starts. During the festival, they perform a dance called Kpanlogo. The Ga people celebrate Homowo in the remembrance of the famine that once happened in Ghana.
Etymology
The word homowo (Homo - Ali, wo - sleep) can mean to hoot or jeer at hunger. It is in the Ga language. The library of congressLibrary of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
's article on Homowo. Retrieved 08 September 07 The tradition of Homowo started with a period of hunger leading to famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
due to failure of the seasonal rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
s needed by crops in the Greater Accra Region
Greater Accra Region
The Greater Accra Region is the smallest of Ghana's 10 administrative regions in terms of area, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres or 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana...
, where the Ga people predominantly dwell. When the rains returned to normal, the Ga people celebrated by creating the Homowo festival hence it name and meaning. Homowo is greatly celebrated in Teshie. Celebration includes marching down roads and streets beating drums, chanting, face painting, singing and traditional dances. On this day there is usually a lot of traffic and roads are usually blocked off to accommodate the festival. Even though it is a Ga tradition, many other ethnic groups are welcomed and also join to celebrate.During this time there is a no noise making because it is believed that the noise would hinder the maturity of the crops.