Cape Coast Festival

We left Accra today for the Cape Coast Festival. It was good taking a trip together again and everyone was excited. Cape Coast is about a three hour drive drive from Accra. The frist night there was alot of fun. We explored the area and saw many kids running and dancing in the streets. Many of the CSU kids danced and ran with the crowds. The hotel we stayed in was pretty decent and to my utter shock, they had hot water. I was able to take my first shower with hot water since I've been in Ghana. Oh, the simple pleasures of life.

Farita found this great health food restaurant and we ordered smoothies and they were delicious. The next day the festival began and as I was having alot of problems walking because of hurting my foot about a week ago, I returned to Accra and consulted with a doctor. He ordered x-rays and stated that I should stay off of it. He gave me some medications to alleviate the pain. Not sure how to stay off of it with five classes and a big campus to get around every day though. I have to go for a follow-up today so that the Doctor can view the x-rays. So, for now, I'm having to rely on Taxi's again as the Tro Tro's are too much for me right now.

Here is a short blurb about the festival:

Fetu Afahye
when: Sep (annual)
where: Cape Coast
Ghana's colourful Fetu Afahye festival is celebrated with gusto in the Cape Coast Traditional Area. Not for the faint-hearted, it involves the ritual sacrifice of a cow, slaughtered as an offering to the 77 deities.

If you are undaunted by the sight of bovine blood, make an effort to see this festival because it is spectacular. There is a durbar, where chiefs formally meet at a public reception, followed by processions of warrior groups known as the Asafo companies, whose unique costumes fuse the Fante and European cultures that have influenced Ghana for centuries.

Colourful crowds join the Saturday procession of chiefs carried under sunshades, as the people of Oguaa (Cape Coast) give thanks for the yam harvest and the herring season. Everyone dresses in colourful clothes - indeed, the festival literally translates as the "adorning of new clothes".