Odwira

This weekend we went to the Odwira Festival in Akropong. I could not do this festival justice in a simple blog post. It is a festival in which they celebrate the New Year, the harvest of yams, a remembrance of the dead, a purification of the town, and a battle that was won sometime in the 1820s. The festival itself is a glorious mix of the traditional with the modern; simply another example of how tradition is not a static thing in Ghanaian culture, but rather something that changes and grows with the times. Things are not preserved for the sake of the tourists or for the sake of "history", but life and tradition are lived today, in a way that is best for those living today.
An interesting side note: a part of the festival is the Durbar, a time for the chiefs to tell their people of their town what has been done in the past year and what will be done in the coming year. Nowadays, with the democratic political system alongside the traditional chieftain system, the political leaders are also invited to join in the Durbar. Thus, we got to see the man running for president for the NPP party, Nana Akufo-Addo! In the states, he would be comparable with John McCain because his party is currently in power. The elections will be held here in Ghana in December, one month after the US elections. It has made studying politics here this semester that much more interesting!