By Ernest Nutsugah/ Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
Accra, Aug. 8, GNA – Hundreds of residents of Jamestown lined the streets on Friday to witness the annual Ga traditional Twins’ Festival, ahead of the Homowo celebrations.
The festival, known as “Yeyeeye” or “Akwele Suma,” celebrates twins as divine blessings in Ga culture and is marked by traditional rites, prayers and public festivities.
Tawiah, a resident, said the festival remained significant to the Ga people, recalling that he participated in the traditional rites with his twin siblings until he was 12.
Dressed in colourful traditional attire, twins of different ages from various homes were paraded through the principal streets of Ga Mashie amid singing and drumming.
Some of the twins rode horses, while others were carried shoulder-high by their parents or relatives as residents and onlookers cheered them on.
The procession followed traditional rites performed by priests and family elders, including libation and a sacred herbal bath prepared with seawater, schnapps, an egg and other traditional herbs.
Twins appeared in identical outfits and were offered cash and other gifts by residents as part of the celebrations.
The festival symbolises long life, fertility, prosperity and good fortune, particularly for families seeking to have twins or expecting children.
Tawiah said the celebration had remained largely unchanged over the years and continued to attract people from within and outside Ga Mashie.
“The celebration has not really changed in recent times; a lot of people from far and near come to witness the celebration.
“Although the ritual is for the Gas, parents from other ethnic groups who have twins and live in the locality also join the celebration,” he said.
He said some people believed the traditional rites helped to ward off misfortune that could affect twins or their families.
Nii Joshua Acquaye of the Sempe Traditional Area in Ga Mashie said twins were regarded as spiritual beings and were therefore accorded special traditional rites to invoke blessings and ward off misfortunes.
“The rites involve cleansing the twins with herbs in water before the mixture is carried to the Korle Na to symbolically cast away negativity and misfortune, paving the way for blessings and merrymaking,” he said.
Numo Nii Sanie Gua IV, Teshie Gua Wulomo, who hails from Asene, Ga Mashie, said he believed in the traditional rites of the Twins’ Festival, describing them as an important cultural practice for celebrating twins and invoking blessings.
He said the herbs mixed with water were placed in a wooden pot to symbolically take away misfortunes and bring blessings.
Numo Nii Sanie Gua IV said the twins were then carried to the ‘Kpoenor’, while the herbs were taken to Naa Korle Na for libation and prayers for protection and prosperity.
Mr Joseph Esseh of the Gbese Traditional Area and Osu Kinkawe, who led the rites for his twin son and daughter, said Ga tradition required that twins be spiritually consulted on how they wanted to be celebrated.
He said his twins, Nathan and Natalie, had asked the family to celebrate Homowo three times, take them out and baptise them after the festival, adding that after the family fulfilled those requests the previous year, the twins this year directed them to organise a party for them.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Patrick Ofoe Nudzi