The vision of the founding members of the Ga-Adangbe Association is to empower the next generation to achieve their dreams and fulfill their destiny within the context of Ga-Adangbe culture and tradition.
As the first generation of Ghanaians in Toronto, and the fact that we are already culturally well-grounded, we believe we have the moral obligation and social responsibility to pass our culture on to the next generation. We are encouraged by the tremendous perseverance they have shown in maintaining the culture, and we applaud them.
The name Ga-Adangbe applies to the linguistic and culturally related peoples of the Greater Accra region in the southern part of Ghana, which spans approximately 150 miles from Accra, the capital of Ghana, in the West of Ada in the East; and from Tema in the South of Manya/Yilo Krobo in the North across the coastal area of the Gulf of Guinea. Our history tells us that, our forefathers migrated form the North-Eastern Africa, to our present location in West Africa and which our spiritual kpa-song ‘Wogbedzeke’ clearly underscores. From Miziraim (Egypt) to Israel, from Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to the Kush or Kushie Empire (Sudan), and finally to West Africa.
Ile-Ife in Nigerial, which is the foremost of all Yoruba cities, was our first destination in West Africa. Ile-Ife remains the original sacred city and the dispenser of basic religious thought of the Yoruba people. Indeed, the use of the name Anago in the Ga language to refer to Nigerians in general, derives from another name for the Yorubas – Anagos. There are still remnants of Ga-Adangbes in Benin, Togo, Ile-Ife, and more recently Sao-Tome.
Over more than a century of this migration through different lands, we have managed to maintain our Hebrew or Jewish culture. Indeed, many of our traditions and cultural practices such as child-naming, marriage, clanship, nutrition, and worship. Ga-Adangbe towns comprising seven clans or (Akutsei Kpawo), circumcision and the Passover etc., are deeply rooted in some aspects o the Hebrew culture.
We want to remind ourselves that all African ethnic groups hold festivals that commemorate religious and cultural events.
There are various rites and rituals for all-important milestones in life, such as child naming, puberty, initiation, marriage, and death. Also, there are seasonal festivals that match the agrarian cycle that bring the entire community together and the Ga-Adangbe Homowo Festival is such an event.
The second school of thought, which seems more plausible explains that our forefathers had a similar traditional and religious celebration with all the elements of our present day Homowo, prior to the migration to their present location. Notwithstanding the origin, the similarities between the Homowo Festival and the Hebrew-Jewish Passover are clear to see:
The events of the sowing of corn, the use of unleavened corn, the application of red clay to the door post, the hurried and communal manner in which the food is eaten, the role of the High Priest (Wulomo) or Rabbi are mirrored in traditional Jewish traditions as observed in the book of Exodus 12:6-7.
Application of blood of the pascal lamb, the assemble of the congregation of Isreal to kill their lambs, use on the blood on the door posts and the lintel of the house in which the lamb was eaten. The High Priest according to Hebrew or Jewish tradition must be circumcised.
The Homowo season traditionally starts with the rainy season in May, and ends in September. In each Ga-Adangbe suburb/town, the High Priest (Wulomo) and the elders perform the ritual sowing of corn (Mmaadumo), and for thirty (30) days within the boundaries of the particular locality, there is a ban on noise-making except the traditional songs that reflect our spiritual and emotional experience.
In the Ga-Mashi township, the Homowo is celebrated on a Saturday whilst in La, Teshie, Nungua, Kpong, Prampram and Ningo, it is celebrated on a Tuesday. The township of Tema celebrates this festival on a Friday.
About a week or so before the celebration, most Ga-Adangbes who live outside the Greater Accra region head home for the festival. Finally, the Soobii or those who will arrive on a Thursday, before the festival form groups to sign and dance in celebration.