You recall that Simpa Panyin previously told you that Winneba is a town of festivals? The biggest festival in Ghana has been known to be the Aboakyer festival. Aboakyer is celebrated every first Saturday of May. That is a traditional festival connected to the roots and ancestry of the people of Simpa (Winneba).
The Akomase festival, which we share with our brothers in Awutu Senya, has been defunct for sometime now, but efforts are being made to revive it. It is the only crying festival in Ghana. It is usually celebrated in September/October to remember our dead ancestors.
Anyway, it is Christmas, and I have not heard that it is Christmas. That is because in a week’s time, Winneba will come alive again. We are going to have our Kaakaamotobi music and dance festival. Children, youth, adults, visitors, and tourists will all flood the town, for one reason, to celebrate Winneba’s Christmas.
But Christmas is not part of the festivals we celebrate. No. Winneba does not celebrate Christmas. When I was a child there was never any occasion that children dressed up for Christmas, or visited friends and families for Christmas related activities. We never experienced the Christmas atmosphere. The Christmas festival is essentially ignored during the time when everyone else was celebrating.
The story has not changed. Winneba still does not celebrate Christmas. For over 60 years we have lived the life of Disneyland precision. For over 60 years we have created our own mind-blowing aesthetic living costumes fit for the gods. We have used our love for colors, our love for music, and we have combined the two to perform the most patronized paid festival in Ghana.
Winneba is noted for its unique Fancy Dress festival with Brass Band music. By nature, music is imbued in our DNA. It was therefore not surprising when the National Academy of Music (NAM), now the Central Campus of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana’s first ever public music college was established in Winneba. It used to be that every individual scholar who hailed from Winneba was expected to be able to play at least one musical instrument.
The Fancy Dress Festival is the first festival to be celebrated in Ghana. The festival is inspired by color, music, and dance. The name of the game is art in motion. The festival is the definition of color, style, and awe. We do it, and we do it in style, and this year the festival is being powered by NYCE MEDIA.
Kaakaamotobi, as the festival is locally known, is celebrated January 1st, every year. This year, for some reason, it is taking place on January 2nd, because the election pushed us to the wall, and also January 1st falls on a Sunday. The Fancy Dress festival is a competition between four groups; Nobles, Egyaa, Tumus and Red Cross. It is the most watched, and celebrated festival in Ghana, only second to Aboakyer festival.
Last modified: August 13, 2018
