Asafotsengua Kotoko Dabra V, the Kabiawe Kponor (chief warlord) of Ada, has extended an invitation to Ghanaians and foreigners to join the people to celebrate this year’s Asafotufiami festival and learn about their rich culture.
The theme for the festival is: ‘Upholding the Discipline of Our Forebears as a Tool for the Sustainable Development and Unity of Ada.’
The Asafotufiami festival is celebrated by the people of the Ada Traditional Area in the Ada East and Ada West Districts of the Greater Accra Region.
Asafotsengua Dabra, who is the head of the warlords and the chairman of the Entertainment Committee for the Asafotufiami Festival, said the festival gives a first-hand opportunity for people to get insight into the culture and traditions of the people of Ada.
He was Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) ahead of the commencement of the festival.
He said the festival, which means the firing of musketry, is celebrated annually to remember their forefathers who fought in the Katamanso, Tordzenya, Aven
orkponya, Luluvor, and Adidome Hogbah battles.
He said because the Ada people were skillful in the firing of musketry, they participated in those war
They therefore use the festival to remember, and honour fallen heroes and those who came out alive for their heroic deeds
He said on Friday, August 2, there would be a re-enactment of the battlefield and washing of feet, noting that the clans would move in war formations to the ancestral sacred forest Apleneahye at Luhuese, after which they would return with ritual dances great the paramount chief, who is known to be the fifth priest of Ada.
‘Nene Ada is the fifth priest who is in the middle of Okor Lalueh, Okor Mugbogbolo, Okor Leibii, and Okor Ablaoh,’ he stated.
He explained that their forefathers, after war, when returning home, would cross the Volta River and reaching Apleneahye, which is a Dangme statement meaning ‘look back and see if the enemy is following,’ they checked to see if the coast was cleared and afterward washed in the River to cleanse th
emselves from the blood from the fighting.
The washing of feet during the enactment of the battlefield as part of the festival is symbolic and used to wash away bad omens from their midst.
Asafoatsengua Dabra stated that on Saturday, which is the grand durbar, all warlords from the 10 clans of Ada, which are made up of four main Ada people, three each Ewe and Akan clans, would be carried in palanquins in their full traditional .
He added that the warlords would swear oaths of allegiance to the paramount chief of Ada to assure him of their loyalty.
He said a unique feature of the Asafotufiami festival is the women groupings, explaining that in the past they had groups of female warriors, which currently have been turned into women
groupings who drum and blow trumpets in colourful and skillful ways to entertain guests during the durbar.
Source: Ghana News Agency