Lante Dzan We begin Homowo (31/7/09)

Story: Francis Yaw Kyei & Jennifer Dornoo
With bearly two weeks to the annual Homowo festival, the Lante Dzan We family in Accra Central, last Saturday, sprinkled marshed yam, otherwise known as “kpekple”, to signify the beginning of the event.
The Lante Dzan We family usually begins the festival ahead of the grand Homowo festival either late July or early August every year as demanded by the Ga tradition.
Homowo (hooting at hunger) is one of the colourful festivals celebrated by the people of Ga (Accra) Traditional Area.
It is characterised by rituals such as the sprinkling of "kpekple" (the festival dish) to the gods and ancestors for spiritual protection,procession of twins through the principal streets, traditional drumming and dancing and general merry-making.

A month before the celebration, there is a ban of noise making. A climax of the festival is that from 12 noon to 6:00pm any woman, no matter the status, should accept a hug from a man on the festival street.
Some members of the family, both home and abroad, gathered in their ancestral homes to share the ritual meal (marshed yam) with their dead and living family members.
They ate with friends and neighbours, and danced to traditional Ga tunes.
The Heads of the various houses, accompanied by other elders of their houses, went around the community and sprinkled the marshed yam for their ancestors.
The activity was also to show gratitude to the gods and ancestors for the bumper harvest and to ask for blessings in the years ahead.
Homowo, which literally means “hooting at hunger”, is the most widely observed traditional Ga harvest festival celebrated by every family in the Ga state.