Skip to main content

LESSON FOR TODAY- ODAMBEA FESTIVAL OF THE SALTPOND COMMUNITY




Today's lesson is on the ODAMBEA Festival of the Nkusukum Traditional Council held annually at Saltpond in the Mfantseman District of the Central Region of Ghana.
Odambea literary means "Strengthened Link". The festival commemorates the historic migration of the main Fantse ethnic group from the ancient Takyiman in Brong Ahafo region  and the role that Nkusukum community played in it.  
A special feature of the festival is the special procession that entails carrying the many villages and towns chiefs as well as the paramount chief through the principal streets of Saltpond and the re-enactment of ancient folklife and the mode and nature of the ancient migration with a grand durbar at the Victoria Park.
The festival is celebrated in the last week of August every year.  It is a week long full of many activities, rituals and ceremonies. It is during this occasion that the colorful costumes, ancient music traditions and cultural expressions are displayed to both local and foreign participants.




VIDEO IMPRESSIONS

ODAMBEA IN 2007

THE SEMI MILITARY ASAFO COMPANY

ODAMBEA FESTIVAL

DOCUMENTARY ABOUT SALTPOND

SPECIAL COMMUNITY MUSIC


COMMUNITY PROJECTS










Comments

Popular posts from this blog

LESSON FOR TODAY : THE CEREMONIAL CLOTHES OF THE AKAN

Traditional Clothing of Akan People Akan people of Ghana wear outfits of many different styles and materials. Their clothing choices depends on their status and local resources. Early fabrics were derived from wool and tree bark. Cotton became widespread around the 10th century, grown on northern savannas and traded along forested coasts. As the power of the Gold Coast grew with trade, materials like silk became more plentiful among the upper classes. Men who worked as farmers, fishermen, and laborers tended to wear tunics with trousers, or  fugu . Upper class men wrapped themselves in large cloths called  ntoma . These restricted their movement, asserting their status as men who did not need to work. Women wore skirts, or  lappas , wrapped around their waist, leaving the top bare. Christian missionaries encouraged the use of a blouse. A second  lappa  covers the upper body of married women, leaving the right shoulder bare. Akan women may wear pan...

LESSON FOR TODAY-060320-CEREMONIAL UMBRELLA FOR GHANA'S TRADITIONAL LEADERS

One of the interesting observations we should be making in most of the previous lessons and the videos are the use of special Umbrellas called AHENFO KYINIE.    Used by almost all Akan or Southern Ghana Chiefs as well as some parts of Ghana, the Ceremonial Umbrella is a symbol of true Cultural Heritage, Pride, Communication, Authority, Grace, Peace, Unity, Power, Intelligence, Humility and many others. The use of Ceremonial Umbrellas is the exclusive of the Royal courts/palace, and honorary community chiefs.  Private individuals CANNOT own Ceremonial Umbrellas but Professional Cultural Troupes CAN with permission from community Chief make prototype for use during cultural performances. This lesson is very important because of the Africussion Percussion Discussion group, an independent performing arts group at The Smith Center.  The group  is one of the leading School Assembly Performing companies for Southern Nevada's...

LESSON 2- THE GHANAIAN STOOL

Ghanaian stool Featured snippet from the web The traditional  Ghanaian stool  (or asesedwa in the Asante Twi language) is a carved wooden  stool  common in sub-Saharan West Africa, and especially common in  Ghana . ... The  stool  is used as a symbol of chieftaincy (particularly male) in special and private occasions, and is seen as a symbol of royalty, custom and tradition. There are as many special stools as there are chiefs and elders in all  Akan communities in Ghana.  The stools, used by the chiefs and queenmothers have special symbols that represent the family, the village or the community. Every stool has a proverbial meaning a sort of metaphor that recounts a particular history of the family, the occupant or the community. There are many other stools even for children but the royal ceremonial ones are special. They have different colors, designs and symbols depending on who owns it and what it represents.  B...