I have spent time enthralled by TV pictures of the annual Winneba deer-catching festival that takes place in the Central Regional town of Simpa, the capital of the Efutu people, at the beginning of May each year.
Known in Fanti as “Aboakyer”, the festival is held in honour of the ancestral spirit of the Efutu people, whose power guided them safely from their original home in Western Sudan (then in the neighbourhood of Timbuktu) from where they migrated to their present habitat hundreds of years ago.
Their migration was due to the exigencies of the time (which could include warfare and natural disasters (such as drought and the resultant famine it caused).
That the people still believe strongly, to this day, in the miraculous salvation that their deity, Penkye Otu, provided them on their long journey, and their attempt to establish a new home in a strange environment, was evident from the zeal with which they danced through the streets of Winneba during the festival
One was reminded by the deeds of the people on the streets of Winneba of the fact that the people, originally, needed to be extremely valiant in spirit because, in the past, the animal to be captured alive was – a LEOPARD!
You probably have heard of this animal, known locally as OSEBO or ETWIE! No one with any brains in his skull plays with that wily hunter of an animal.
So, it was very impressive to watch the inherited lack of fear with which thousands of men, women and even adolescent children, voluntarily donned white or red clothing, and trooped behind the Asafo “Companies” (Tuafo and Dentsifo) into the deep bush, in search of live animals. Okay, it was now a deer instead of a leopard. But what about snakes in the way? Thorns lying in wait for bare feet and ankles?
No fears: their objective was to capture a live deer and present it to Penkye Otu to tell the deity that they have not forgotten the protection it gave their ancestors, which enabled Winneba to live, thrive and prosper to become the highly successful commercial town I am t
oday.
and see!”
We have nowhere else to go to. But how can we safeguard what we have? Without water, there will be NO people here. Only graves.
We need to find ingenious ways to save Mother Ghana from the extinction with which galamsey indisputably threatens her.
And they would do that at any cost, and prove to Penkye Otu – through their vigorous dancing and fierce war songs — that they would be worthy of the continued protection of the deity, in the years to come. Because they were — and ARE – grateful people.
If you are able to go to www.Youtube.com on the internet and search for “Winneba Aboakyer 2023”, I assure you that you will bless the day you bought a good computer or smartphone. Although some of the footage you will come across was shot by amateurs, you cannot help but join — in spirit — the people you see on the screen and enjoy the mirth and the carefree atmosphere provided by the varying sights they encountered and how each was dealt with.
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