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Many indigenous people who love and promote their culture call Ghana their cultural home. The Oguaa Fetu Afahye festival is one of many vibrant celebrations.
This festival is held annually, every first Saturday in September. The Oguaa people of Cape Coast observe the Fetu Afahye in remembrance of the previous sickness outbreak that claimed so many lives.
This event honors the purification that warded off the plague and expresses gratitude to the deities of the native Oguaa region.
The Omanhene, the high Chief of the Oguaa people, spends a whole week in seclusion with the gods before the festivities start.
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During this time, it is not permitted to make noise, dance, have fun, or fish from the Fosu Lagoon. The Amisaffo, the lagoon's guardians, perform a cleansing rite at the lagoon to appease the gods and fend off evil omens while requesting a bumper crop and an abundance of fish.
Everybody cleans up the neighborhood on Amuntumadeze Day, designated for environmental cleanup. The event begins on the final Monday in August, and the attendees gather at the Fosu lagoon for a vigil during which priests and priestesses implore the gods.
Everybody cleans up the neighborhood on Amuntumadeze Day, designated for environmental cleanup. The event begins on the final Monday in August, and the locals have a vigil near the Fosu lagoon where priests and priestesses invoke the gods by dancing and drumming all night long.
The Omanhene conducts the regatta on the lagoon after the rites at the Fosu temple resume the following day. For the lagoon to access the sea and get more fish into the lagoon entails cutting through the sand bar dividing the Fosu Lagoon and the sea.
The Omanhene offers libation to Nana Fosu, the god. Then, to symbolize the removal of the moratorium on lagoon fishing, High Chief Omanhene opens the lagoon by tossing his net into the water three times.
The following year, a large harvest is predicted if the High Chief's net hauls in many fish. Muskets are then shot into the air, and festivities begin with dancing, drumming, and fun.
The natives who have traveled down to the celebration are welcomed on Wednesday. On Thursday night, a different vigil is performed at the shrine of Nana Paprat, accompanied by rituals and drumming. The High Chief purifies himself the following day by killing a bull.
The Fetu Afahye holiday is on the first Saturday in September, with various forms of revelry, dancing, and drumming. At the chapel square, an interdenominational service brings the festival to an end.