The Akwasidae Festival - ( About , Origin And The Activities)

The Akwesasde festival is celebrated by the Ashanti people and Ashanti chiefs in Ghana. The festival is celebrated on a Sunday once in every six weeks. In importance, the Akwesasde festival is a nest only to the national day celebrations. The traditions of the Akwesasde festival is connected with the Akan annual calendar. The calendar is divided into nine parts. Each part lasts approximately six weeks, between 40 to 42 days in the period. The celebration of this period is called the Adé festival. The Adé festival has two celebrations days. The Akwesasde festival, which is celebrated on the final Sunday of the period, and the Awukudé festival, that is celebrated on Wednesday within the period. The Friday preceding 10 days to the Akwesasde is called the Fofé, which means a ritual Friday. The festival glorifies the milestone in the history of the Ashanti kingdom. Its first celebration was during the attainment of the statehood by the Ashanti kingdom, after it defeated the Dendres in the Battle of Piasin, also known as the Ashanti Independence War. During the festival, the rich cultural heritage of the Ashanti people is all shown up to attract the local visitors. The Akwesasde festival takes place in the royal palace and gathers hundreds of peoples, all dressed traditionally. The ceremony opens in the throne room, where only the initiates are allowed. According to the Ashanti cultural archive records, it is an ornate ceremony. Commemorating the day that the Ashanti golden stool was magically brought down from heaven, ritual libations of blood and snaps are poured into the thrones of the former kings as offerings to them and their ancestors. During the last Akwesasde of the year, special attention is given to make food offerings and donations for helping people. Food offerings include special items such as Eto, mashed African yam, garnished with hard-boiled eggs. On this day, the Ashanti king meets his chiefs in the courtyard of the Menchia palace. The golden stool is displayed at the playgrounds in the presence of the king. People are singing and dancing while the king holds his dabba on the occasion of the festival. During that, people have the liberty to shake hands with the king. The king goes in a procession in a palanquin, decorated with gold jewelry, and he sits under a large bright umbrella. He also witnesses a colorful parade from his palace grounds at Kumasi. Participants of the parade include drums beaters, folk dancers, hornblowers, and singers. As it is a festival of paying respect to ancestors, the king visits the Bantaman Mausoleum and offers worship not only to his ancestors, chairs, stools, but also the skeletal remains of his ancestors. He pays respect to the Hanna of Abusum, meaning the lesser gods in the Akan tradition, and Insamamphore, meaning spiritual, cultivated ancestors. In front of the king stand other chiefs in the shade of the umbrellas, sword carriers, barriers of ritual knives, armed guards with loaded rifles, and nobles with their ostrich feather fans. Sitting next to the king are found the dignitaries of the court. The royal speaker is standing by the king's side and holds in his hands a golden scepter as a symbol of the Asantehene power. The queen mother, the most important woman in the realm, is also present and sounded by her court exclusively made up of women. To accompany this ceremony, gods tell the glorious stories of the past Asante kings. Musicians play drums and ivory horns giving the rhythm to the ceremony and women rap in bright red clothes dancing and performing traditional steps. Hope you enjoyed this episode of our festival and if you enjoyed kindly hit the subscribe button, like this video, share it to your friends and families and also let me hear your voice in the comment section below. The name still remains the same, I'm Sikapuro Fisher.