People & Places: Why cocks can’t crow, goats can’t bleat in this Ghanaian community in August

Everything about the Asafotufiami festival is very interesting. This festival marked by the people of the Ada Traditional area entails a number of rites and customs.

As mentioned in the last episode of People and Places, the festival is marked by the Adas to celebrate the bravery of their forefathers and ancestors, in the various wars they fought.

As part of the celebrations, some taboos are observed, and violation of these come with consequences which are decided by the traditional leaders.

Speaking on People & Places on GhanaWeb TV, Stool Prince of the Royal Kabiawe Yumu Clan, Ayiku Akuaku told Wonder Ami that animals are banned from making noise during the period when there’s a general ban on noisemaking in August.

According to him, as part of the purification rites in the town, after the festival, a ban is placed on noisemaking which affects even animals.

During this period, for example, the cock; which is the main symbol of the Ada people is not allowed to crow under any circumstance.

“After the festival, they consult the gods, the gods will tell them that this festival we celebrated, we have some bad people in town so we will use one, two or three weeks to sack all those bad things. They will come and consult the paramount chief and he will give an order to ‘lock the town’. The main taboo starts here; no cock will crow, no goat will patrol, no sheep, no noisemaking, no drum etc. If they do, they will come and carry your animal without any permission,” he said.

He also noted that there are particular dresses that cannot be worn for the festival because they promote indecency which is against the cultural values of the Ada people.

Beyond that, there are some clothes and accessories that are donned only by royals and any individual who tries to wear same especially in the presence of royals, comes off as wanting to challenge them.

Ayiku Akuaku provided more details about the climax of the Asafotufiami festival and the taboos of the people in the video below; take a look: