Fetu Afahye celebrations begin with regatta

The Oguaa Traditional Council has performed rituals at the banks of the Fosu Lagoon on Tuesday to lift the one month ban on fishing in the Lagoon and to begin the weeklong celebration of this year’s Fetu Afahye.

The event which is to invoke the gods and ancestors’ intervention for bumper fishing and crop harvests attracted people from all walks of life including tourists. Fetu Afahye is an annual festival celebrated in the first week of September by the chiefs and people of Cape Coast to remember their ancestors and also unite families both home and abroad. The ceremony begun with a procession of chiefs and Queen mothers, traditional priests and priestesses through some principal streets of Cape Coast with brief stops at sacred shrines where purification ceremonies were performed. The chiefs and Queen mothers arrived at the banks of the Lagoon dressed in black and red cloth with green leaves (nyanya) tied around their heads and necks. This was followed by the casting of the Omanhen's net, which was done three times amidst firing of muskets and incantations to determine whether there would be bumper harvest for the coming year.

Libation was poured to ask for the blessing of the gods on Oguaaman and its people for a fruitful and successful year. A royal procession leading to the chief's palace amidst traditional music ended the colourful event as the traditional priests went to offer the fish caught by the Omanhen's net to the gods as a symbol of appreciation for the harvest. Speaking at the event, Nana Kwodwo Adai, the Chief of Abura and a member of the Oguaa Traditional Council, called on the youth to desist from engaging in violence and acts that would mar the beauty of the festival.

He said culture and tradition gives a country its identity and helps foster development and urged the youth to learn the country’s rich history and customs.

Earlier a regatta on the Fosu Lagoon by three of the seven Asafo companies, Bentsir, Nkum and Anaafo ended in confusion but they were each presented with boxes of miksi Choco as their prize.

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Oguaa Fetu Afahye