Info For You Lot The Dandy Akwasidae Festival Of The Asante People

To every African, festivals concur a special house inwards everyday life. They are occasions for re-union, remembrance as well as merry-making. Festivals are also occasions of mixed feelings equally the dead are remembered through organized rituals as well as mourning. The rituals are performed past times social groups nether clan heads who are responsible to contact the dead to invoke their blessings for the people.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene (King of the Ashantis) sitting inwards reason during Akwasidae festival of the Asante people, Kumasi, Ghana. Courtesy Anthony Pappone

Among the Akans, peculiarly the Asantes as well as its allied groups similar Denkyira, Akuapim, Akyem, Kwahu as well as others Akwasidae rituals as well as events are held every half-dozen weeks, honouring the ancestors as well as inwards the Ashanti portion the Ashanti king.

Akwasidae celebration at Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana, Courtesy imknowmadic2

All Asantes (Ashantis) as good equally the Ashanti diaspora participate inwards this cultural festival. The Akwasidae Festival is side past times side solely inwards importance to the National Day celebrations. Akwasidae, according to the Ashanti cultural archive records is an ornate ceremony, commemorating the appointment that the Ashanti Golden Stool was magically brought downwards from heaven.

  Asante daughter inwards her Kente stuff dancing at Akwasidae festival at USA

 The festival thus features a golden stool amongst the fundamental characteristic of attention, the Ashanti King, who is carried on a palanquin through the procession of Ashanti people who receive got come upwards to pay homage to him. H5N1 see to Kumasi during an Akwasidae celebration is an invitation for spectacle. H5N1 celebration which parades colourful canopies as well as umbrellas amongst fontonfrom, kete as well as mpintsin drummers, dancers, horn blowers as well as singers who perform inwards laurels of their ancestral spirits.

Asante master copy sitting inwards reason during Akwasidae festival inwards Kumasi, Ghana. Courtesy Anthony Pappone

Many receive got heard of as well as witnessed Akwasidae festival of the Akans, but why the festival is called ‘Adae’ is picayune known to them. In Akan “adae” agency residue place, so to bother y'all a bit, Akwadae is observed with a see past times the master copy as well as some of his elders to the stool-house (Royal Mausoleum) where past times chiefs had been buried to invoke their blessings for the people.
During such moments, a sheep is slaughtered as well as some of the blood sprinkled on the stools, which is accompanied past times pouring libation amidst drumming. Akwasidae takes house inwards a 40-day cycle as well as inwards some years it is observed 8 times as well as inwards others nine times.

                                King of the Asantes

Akan Calendar
The Akan annual calendar is divided into nine parts, each lasting merely about half-dozen weeks but varying betwixt 40–42 days inwards a period; the celebration of this catamenia is called the Adae Festival.

The Adae Festival has 2 celebration days: the Akwasidae Festival is celebrated on the terminal Lord's Day of the period, spell the Awukudae Festival is celebrated on a Wed within the period. The Fri preceding 10 days to the Akwasidae is called the Fofie (meaning a ritual Friday). As the festival is ever held on Sundays (Twi inwards Kwasidae), its recurrence could live after xl or 42 days inwards accordance with the official Calendar of Ashanti. During the lastly Akwasidae of the year, which coincides with the Adae Kese Festival, special attending is given to brand nutrient offerings as well as donations for helping people. The festivals of Adae are non interchangeable equally they were fixed from ancient times

                             Late Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II at Akwasidae festival

Celebration
To celebrate the Akwasidae, elderly women versed inwards traditional songs, would become to the palace continue, towards the eve of Sat called Memenedae Dapaa, to sing, memorial songs until slowly inwards the night.

H5N1 gathering called Akom occurs, hither drums are beaten as well as horns sounded to welcome the festival amidst dancing as well as merry making. In the early on hours of the forenoon the drums are resumed to rouse the dead kings (nananom/nsamnafo ahenfo) as well as their elders (nsamanfo) from their slumber to partake inwards the festival.

Between 6 a.m. as well as seven a.m., the queen woman parent with some elders would become to the palace of the paramount master copy to greet as well as want him well.
The paramount master copy dressed inwards his mourning costume would ride inwards a palanquin to the mausoleum. With the exception of the paramount master copy as well as the Banmuhene, no i is allowed to piece of occupation into wearing sandals. What actually happens within the mausoleum?

In there, the stools are placed on a raised dais as well as the paramount chief, divisional chiefs as well as elders inwards monastic tell of precedence, become inwards as well as pay homage to the dead kings. Food inwards the cast of mashed yam (eto) which has been prepared inwards the mausoleum is offered together with potent drinks to the dead kings.
H5N1 sheep is slaughtered as well as the blood which is drained into a bowl used to smear the stools with pieces of meat including the lungs placed on the stools spell the fatty is spread over the centre back upwards of the stools.

The belief is that the blood revitalizes the stools as well as the ancestral spirits, as well as the lungs; a symbol of breath of life serves the role of giving novel life to the stools. Concluding the ceremony inwards the mausoleum the paramount master copy orders drinks to live served to all introduce who afterward depart leaving the stools as well as the ancestors to swallow as well as quaff what had been served them.
After the rituals inwards the morning, a Blue Planet durbar is held at the fore courtroom of the Manhyia Palace where the Asantehene sits inwards reason for his people to pay him homage.
As early on equally seven a.m. preparations for the number had begun as well as past times 10 a.m. the forecourt is filled to capacity past times traditional rulers as well as the full general public.

The arrival of the Asantehene at the durbar grounds is heralded past times a retinue of courtiers led past times a human being carrying a brasspan containing talisman as well as herbs believed to receive away evil spirits.
Others comport the traditional sandals of silvery as well as gilded keys (the Nsafoahene).

The key, inwards folklore, signifies that when the Asantehene is out of the palace all doors are shut.
The Asantehene emerges belongings a traditional sword inwards i mitt as well as a whisk inwards some other as well as dances to traditional music as well as steps out of the palanquin.
As the procession passes, he bows gently to the chiefs as well as other subjects to admit their presence.

During Akwasidae, traditional rulers commonly habiliment mourning clothes (Kuntunkuni) but with this yr coinciding with the birthday of the occupant of the golden stool, they wore kente amongst others including Otumfuo himself who was dressed inwards a beautiful kente to jibe the occasion.
The gilded ornaments he wore that 24-hour interval made it hard for him at times to elevator his hand.
Only the Bantamahene, Baffour Asare Owusu Amankwatia V, was dressed inwards a traditional mourning cloth. This, according to tradition followed the revolt as well as subsequent capture of the Bantamahene during the days of King Osei Tutu.

As he was freed he became the best ally of Osei Tutu as well as since as well as so whatever occupant of the Bantama stool has to live inwards perpetual mourning.
Sitting inwards state, he combined the celebration of the Akwasidae as well as his birthday with pomp as well as pageantry characterized with traditional drumming as well as dancing which showcased the rich civilization of Ashanti.



Role of Asante chiefs
In the Ashanti Region chiefs are highly visible as well as organized strongly hierarchically, from the Asantehene, manlike someone monarch of Asante, at the top through the paramount master copy (omanhene), divisional master copy (ohene) as well as local hamlet master copy (odikro) to the clan or household unit of measurement caput (abusua panin).

In the literature, the someone as well as role of the master copy are really much connected to traditional religion (Busia 1951; Hagan 2003; Rattray 1969; Ray 2003b). Busia wrote inwards 1951 that ancestor-worship was the reason of the chief’s authorisation equally good equally the sanction for morality inwards the community. The belief that the ancestors were the custodians of the laws as well as customs as well as that they punished those who infringed them with sickness or misfortune acted equally a banking concern check on commoners as well as chiefs alike
(Busia 1951: 24, 136; Fortes 1962: 78. Cf Nukunya 1992: 128).

According to Rattray, the reason of the honour accorded to the master copy is non solely that the master copy derives his ability from the people, but also that the stools, skins as well as other symbols of business office receive got a spiritual significance –the master copy deriving his ability from the ancestors as well as mediating betwixt the people as well as the ancestors (Rattray 2003b: 7).






Ashanti master copy during the Akwasidae the swell celebration of the Ashanti inwards Kumasi.













































































Photosource:Anthony Pappone

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