Homowo Festival
The Ga people of Ghana 'hoot at hunger', celebrating survival, harvest, and ancestral bonds.
Homowo is usually celebrated in August, sometimes in July or September, after a month-long ban on drumming in the planting season. Each Ga traditional area sets its own dates by its traditional calendar.
When Is Homowo Festival?
Homowo is usually celebrated in August, sometimes in July or September, after a month-long ban on drumming in the planting season. Each Ga traditional area sets its own dates by its traditional calendar.
Because the Gregorian date changes from year to year, check a calendar published by the tradition or your local community for this year's date.
Why It Matters
Homowo ('Hooting at Hunger') commemorates a great famine followed by a bountiful harvest among the Ga people of Accra, Ghana. Ancestors are believed to return for the celebration.
How It Is Observed
Preparation and sharing of kpokpoi (steamed fermented corn meal, eaten with palm nut soup), libation pouring for ancestors, traditional Ga songs and dances, community feasting, sprinklings of kpokpoi at family gravesites.