TheAboakyer festival is adeer hunting festival celebrated by the people ofWinneba in theCentral Region ofGhana.[1]
The nameAboakyer translates as "hunting for game or animal" in theFante language as spoken by the people of the Central Region. The institution of the festival was to commemorate the migration ofSimpafo (traditional name given to the people of Winneba). The people migrated from the north-eastern African town ofTimbuktu in the ancient WesternSudan Empire to their present land in the central coast of Ghana.[2] The journey from the north-east to the western part of Africa was led by two brothers.[3] The people believed that a god, whom they
A request was made to the god to change the sacrifice type, as they believed that sacrificing royalty could eventually wipe out the royal family.[2] The god in return asked for type ofwild cat to be caught alive and presented to it at its shrine. After the presentation, it was to be beheaded as a sacrifice. This was to be done annually in a festival.[3]
Before the festival began the people settled the god at a town called Penkye. After the resettlement, the god became known as Penkyi Otu, to signify the final home for the god. To mark the festival, the people sought out the wild cat, as had been prescribed. Many people lost their lives in the process as the animal was to be captured live and transported to Penkye. The people made a second appeal to Penkyi Otu to provide an alternative to the wild cat. That appeal resulted in the decision to accept a maturebushbuck.[3] Two hunting groups, the Tuafo (Number one) and Dentsifo (Number two), have since bore the task of capturing the live bushbuck and presenting it to the people at the durbar. This festival is celebrated in May and it is a major event in Ghana. The warriors catch a bushbuck or deer without a weapon but with bare hands.
The people of Simpa passed on this tradition to their descendants in the form of songs, and sang it in their war chants and also told it duringmoonlit nights in story form. This oral tradition went on until the colonial Europeans arrived on the coast of the Gold Coast and with them the English language. Scholars then translated the oral story from the language 'Fante' to English.[3]
The festival is celebrated on the first Saturday in May. On the first day of the festival, the twoAsafo companies (warrior groups) in Winneba take part in a hunting expedition. These two groups embark on the deer hunting journey very early in the morning. The first troop to catch a live bushbuck from agame reserve used for this purpose and present.
