By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Aug. 15, GNA – Mr. Isaac Ashai Odamtten, the Member of Parliament for Tema East, has encouraged people of Ga origin, especially Tema natives, to keep their original family names as a form of cultural identification.
Mr. Odamtten said family names were very important in the Ga traditional system, and therefore it was the responsibility of the people to maintain their names “and proudly use them in official documentation; we must not shy away from our identity as Gas”.
The Tema East MP gave the advice when he joined his relatives from the Agbowe Clan in Tema Newtown to celebrate this year’s ꬼↄↄ wala celebration as part of the 2023 Homowo Festival, which was celebrated on the theme: “Celebrating our cultural pride in peace and unity for community development.
“ꬼↄↄ wala which literally means ‘get life, is celebrated a day after the sprinkling of the traditional food kpokpoi (steamed unfermented corn dough eaten with palm soup) to climax the celebrations and wish each other good life for the next traditional year calendar”.
It is celebrated in all 23 clan houses of Tema as members of the family, both near and far, gather, with some having matching dresses, to wine and dine while planning for the next year and also remembering the departed souls.
Mr. Odamtten stressed that family names are very important among the Ga people; “it is an integral part of their culture and follows some patterns that make it easy for them to be identified and their lineage traced to the clan house they hail from, no matter where they found themselves”.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Entertainment Desk, Mr. Odamtten, who is a former Chief Executive Officer of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, stressed that the names have the unique feature of indicating the position of the child among his or her siblings.
“Whether they are twins or follow twins, whether orphans, as well as the family to which they belonged and even the quarters they hail from in the town,” he noted.
Mr. Odamtten used the occasion to thank all family members, elders, traditional leaders, and the various clans for upholding the customs and traditions of the people through rites of funerals, marriages, and naming, among others, during the last traditional year.
He urged all natives to consciously put their shoulders to the wheel to maintain the high moral standards of Tema and also help to develop the community.
The Tema East MP as part of traditional norms presented some assorted items to the Tema Traditional Council towards the celebration of the homowo festival.
Meanwhile, the chiefs and people of Tema sprinkled Kpokpoi throughout the town on Saturday to remember their ancestors who died during the famine they encountered and to signify abundance of food and the aim of the Homowo, which is to hoot at hunger.
Red apparel flooded the town during the celebration, which the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Entertainment Desk learned was to signify the determination of the Ga people to conquer hunger and all obstacles, no matter the circumstance.
GNA