Homowo Festival

From 31 Jul 2009 to 30 Aug 2009

July-August 2009. Preceded by a week of drumming throughout Accra, the Homowo festival commemorates an ancient harvest and marks the Ga New Year. Colourful processions greet the many participants who walk for miles with freshly harvested food carried on their heads. The harvest is celebrated by dancing and the processions revolve around twins who are believed in Ghana to bring good luck to their families. The food on offer - yam, corn, chicken and fish, is blessed by priests who in turn bless the ancestors of the twins.

Please note that the festival relies on suitable weather for the harvest, making it difficult to predict the exact date. The uncertaintity of dates is compounded by the fact that once the harvest time has been established, the priests then devise a timetable by a secret system.