Adventures of the Aboagyere Festival

Aboagyere festival is a festival celebrated by the people of Effutu in Winneba on the first Saturday of May every year. Aboagyere is explained as ‘hunting for game’ while others understand it as ‘catching a live animal’.

During the festival, there are a lot of socio-cultural activities that the people partake in to mark the celebration of the festival. They include competitions like football, tug-of-war and most importantly, they proceed to the hunting of the deer climaxing the celebration of the Aboagyere festival. The significance of the festival is to mark the successful migration of the people from ancient Western Sudan Empire to their present home.

There are various groups that take part in the hunting of the deer for the sacrifice. They are seen as warrior groups that represents each clan in Winneba. Some of these groups are; Tuafo and Dentsefo. These groups use colors to distinguish themselves from each other and they are; red, green, black and yellow. The group that presents their catch first to the durbar ground is declared the winner of the competition.

As part of the travel experience, Birikorang  Adjei Nana Kwame (BANK Snr) of thebankboys together with the team decided to visit the land of Winneba. They personally experienced the festival, made fun discoveries and met new people during the celebration. Every month, there are series of festival celebrations that takes place and they carry significant meanings. Many of us may not have heard or witnessed some celebrations here in Ghana, that is why thebankboys take every opportunity to personally work on projects such as these to exhibit the Ghanaian culture to the world through photography.

Hope you enjoy our works.