Ga Mashie Celebrates Homowo

The chiefs and people of Ga Mashie on Saturday celebrated their annual Homowo Festival with a peaceful parade of traditional regalia and the sprinkling of kpokpoi (food) in all the seven quarters of Ga Mashie.

The climax of the celebration was at the Gbese Mantse’s Palace, the stool house of the Dzaase Division of Ga Mashie, from where the Gbese Mantse, Nii Ayi-Bonte II, led a number of sub-chiefs to sprinkle kpokpoi.

Nii Ayi-Bonte’s entourage, which included the Amasaman Mantse, Nii Amasa Oseiku II; the Papase Mantse, Nii Komey Papa Ase III, and the acting Akwashongtse of Gbese, Nii Ayi Ardayfio II, ended the procession at the Usher Fort Prison, where they paid homage to their ancestors.

At the Usher Fort Prison, Nii Ayi-Bonte called for unity among the people to ensure accelerated development, since “a house divided against itself cannot stand”, and asked the Almighty God and the ancestors to shower their blessings on the people.

He advised the youth against fomenting trouble and the use of harmful weapons, adding that he would soon organise a forum at which the security agencies would explain the Criminal Code to the youth and ensure that the various chieftaincy disputes were resolved amicably.

“I will do all I can to unite the people of Gbese and Ga Mashie as a whole,” he said. After the ceremony at the Usher Fort Prison, the chiefs moved to the various family houses to sprinkle kpokpoi and exchange fraternal greetings, amidst merrymaking
At Atukpai, one of the seven quarters of Ga Mashie, the Chief, Nii Tetteh Tsuru II, and his sub-chiefs from Adabraka, Kokomlemle, Newtown, Okaishie, Kwadzo Man, among others, sprinkled kpokpoi at the various family houses.

Requesting for the mercies of God, Nii Tsuru called on the people to unite to build the Ga State and pleaded with the government to set up a machinery to settle all disputes in the Ga Traditional Area for peace to prevail.

In the various homes, the women were found busily preparing kpokpoi, which is taken with palm nut soup, while the various drinking spots were filled with merrymakers.

Homowo (hooting at hunger) is celebrated by the Ga-Dangme people of the Greater Accra Region and is characterised by rituals such as the sprinkling of kpokpoi, the procession of twins through the principal streets, as well as traditional drumming and dancing and general merrymaking.