I Thought It Was Just a Festival… Then I Realized Ghana Moves as One (What No One Told Me)

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]Guys, I remember the first time that I really, you know, experienced the Homowo festival. I hope I got it right, okay?

[00:00:06]Now, I did experience the Homowo festival in Katsina, and I must say that it caught me off guard. It caught me off guard in ways that I did not, you know, expect. So, it was a Sunday. I went to church and you know how church usually tends to be.

[00:00:23]But, this particular Sunday, we were told that instruments were not going to be used, okay? The instruments were not going to be used in the church. And, you know, when the instrument is not used, it gets to change the whole mood in the in the church. And, they went on to tell us that for the remaining days of the week, instruments were not going to be used because the during the Homowo festival, noise is not permitted, okay?

[00:00:50]Loud activities are not, you know, uh acceptable. And, people are going to be, you know, restricted. Anything has to do with noise. You get what I'm saying? So, the whole atmosphere in the church that day was very calm.

[00:01:03]It was, you know, quiet. You know, it was It just that had this, you know, unusual feeling about the whole thing.

[00:01:11]And, I remember very well, I sat down asking myself, "What is happening? Is this some kind of public holiday?"

[00:01:17]Because, trust me, that was the first time I was going to hear it. You know, I was like, "Is this some kind of cultural shutdown? What exactly is it that that that is going on?"

[00:01:25]Now, this was the first my first introduction to what I would later understand is the Homowo festival. And, this is something that is, you know, I want to say that the people of this area are rootly deep rooted into this tradition. Now, I would say what shocked me most was not just the festival itself, but it was the scale of it. You get it? And, this is because I'm used to festivals back home, you know, where things happen, celebration take place. You know, sometimes, the roads are usually blocked, and you get a feel that local impact. But then again, life still moves normally in some places. But for this Homowo festival that we were, you know, celebrating, if I must say, in Accra, it was different. Now, it was not just the one particular area or the other. It was like the entire region, if I must say, you get it? It was like they were all coming together.

[00:02:19]You understand what I'm, you know, you understand what I'm saying? It's like everybody understood without having to remember that this is the celebration or the festival, if I must say. So, that even churches knew that they had to, you know, be silent during that period. And this made me, you know, keep thinking that is this how this whole week is going to be in Accra?

[00:02:40]See, that whole week, you could feel the atmosphere. Now, when I say you could feel the atmosphere, I'm not talking about fear. I'm not talking about tension. It was just some kind of awareness that even you who is a foreigner, if you were to come into the country or the area that time, you were going to notice that, you know, people were actually moving around. They were talking, you know.

[00:02:58]People went about doing their things, but the noise and all of those things that are associated with a town had died down. Now, it wasn't like everything had stopped, too. It was, I would say, something more respected or something bigger than the usual. And I want to be honest, I wasn't used to this kind of cultural coordination. It really did surprise me. And there's one thing I had in my mind. I kept comparing the festival, you know, here with what I knew back home. And don't get me wrong, we also have festivals. We have big, colorful ones that take place in different states in Nigeria. But this particular, specific one here that, you know, everybody tends to slow down or keep quiet or, you know, no noise in the environment, it was kind of new for me. And it made me to realize something. That sometimes when you move to a new place, it's not the big obvious differences that you are going to, you know, be shocked to buy. It's the quiet ones, the ones that nobody ever told you about, the one that nobody gets to explain to you, the ones that you only get to understand when you are inside of it. You get me? So, my first time, you know, getting to, you know, uh experience the Homowo Festival in Accra taught me that Ghana does not just have traditions. It moves with them. And this is the point where I really didn't get to understand it in the first week.

[00:04:24]I just, you know, observed it and I, you know, you know, you get to adjust and you get to watch and see how everything around it, you know, flows. But after that first year that I got to know about the Homowo Festival, it has stayed with me, not because it was a festival, but because it was a whole way that life was getting to show itself in real time. So, if you understand basically what I'm talking about, explain to me and more about the Homowo Festival in the comments. After that first experience of the Homowo Festival in Accra, I started paying more attention, like real attention to how Ghanaians get to, you know, live and move with their culture. And one thing that I noticed quickly is that this is not something that happens once in a while. It is not an occasion that is random. It is not that big event that people come and show up for it. And when it is done, they forget about it and move on with their life. This is something that it is that is constant.

[00:05:21]You get it? These are occasions or this occasion is something that is constant.

[00:05:26]You get it? Now, the because of the experience that I had around the Homowo Homowo Festival, I started to notice that every time you turn around in Ghana, there's one form of festival, celebration, or cultural observance that is taking place somewhere or in another place. You get it? I started to notice it and this is something that I never used to notice before. Now, in all of these things, what actually stood out for me, you get it? It's not that these festivals do exist, but how Ghanaians are in line, they are in tune with them. They keep it at the back of their mind, okay? It's not something that they forget. Now, it just feels like the people here know the rhythm of the culture. Not, you know, it's not something that they have to, you know, be reminded about it. It's not something that they always have to check online.

[00:06:14]You know, this is something that is already part and parcel of their lifestyle or the lives that they get to live here. So, what exactly am I saying?

[00:06:22]I'm saying that you're going to see that in some communities you you're going to see how they prepare, how the announcements that this festival is coming up, how certain individuals have to, you know, schedule their activities without stress or without any form of confusion. Now, what surprised me even more is how different regions actually carry out their own different, you know, identities so strongly, get it? Now, what I mean is that you can actually be in one place and it's a different type of celebration. You move to another place, the the celebration there is, you know, completely different, you get it? But in all of this difference, there's still respect, you know, in the same way. Now, it made me to realize something that I did not in in initially understand, okay? I got to understand that in Ghana, culture is not something that is on display, okay? It is something that the people actually live. It is like a lifestyle. And that's when I started to hear about other festivals that actually take place here in Ghana. Now, I heard about the up and street, you know, celebration in Accra. I also get to hear about the historical commemorations, the harvest festivals that actually take place in different regions. And one thing that actually stood out is that each of them carries its own meaning, its own history, its own way of actually bringing people together. Now, let's talk about the Chalewote Street Art Festival. Now, that is a completely different side of expression. Now, when we are done about with the Chalewote, then you're also going to be hearing about gatherings like the Panafest. Now, this particular one gets to connect people back to history, identity, and it does it in a deep deep deep way, if English permits me. Now, what connects all of them is the same thing that I noticed in Caswell, you get it? People don't treat it as something that is interrupting their lifestyle, okay? Or interrupting their living their life, you get it? You know, they treat it as part of life. See, there's no "Why is this happening?" There's no complaint or, you know, you know, all of those things. And honestly, for someone who is coming from outside of Ghana, this part actually took me a while to fully process because I'm used to life being structured around personal plans, you know, having schedules that are very tight, and you actually trying to fit into a culture that, you know, you have to actually create time for, if you understand what I'm saying. But, right here in Ghana, it feels like culture is already, you know, something that is So, if there is a a timetable, it is something that has been scheduled, and the people naturally flow with it. They naturally get to, you know, align with it. And for me, the more you know, observed it, you know, the more I understood that this is one of those things that you fully don't get from outside, okay? You fully don't get to understand it if you're outside. You have to live right here in Ghana for a while for you to be able to see that this is not just an event that is taking place. This is a really This is a lifestyle that the people have actually come to, you know, enjoy and celebrate year in, year out. After spending some years right here in Ghana and I have noticed how strong the cultural rhythm is. You know, something else has actually, you know, stood out for me.

[00:09:46]Now, I won't say it was just the festival anymore.

[00:09:49]I want to say it is the people, you get it? The people of Ghana have actually, in many ways, stood out for me. And this is because And this is because the more I observe things like the Homowo festival and, you know, the different cultural events that are happening in different places, the more I started to realize something deeper. I started to realize that See, it is not just that Ghana has festivals that they get to celebrate every now and then. It's that the people here actually move together. There's some kind of, you know, togetherness. And that has actually, you know, shocked me. And this is because you could be in many places and life would feel very individual. Everyone is going about their own thing. Everybody is doing their own thing with their own time. People are, you know, looking for what is their own or focusing their on their priorities. But right here, there's a kind of shared awareness, a shared respect for time, for tradition, for community, you know, for the things that actually bring everybody together. Now, even when I heard about other events like the Chale Wote Street Festival, you get it? I started What I, you know, what I started to notice wasn't just the event itself that was, you know, taking place. I started to notice how people get to turn up for these events. How people take time out and participate in these events. They don't treat it like an optional entertainment. It feels more like this is part of us, so we must represent it. And I want to say that this is when I started asking myself, when was the last time that I saw a whole community naturally aligned like that without them feeling as if they were forced to come out, you get it? Now, even small things like how neighbors get to respond to events, how announcements get to spread, how people See, how people just know what is happening without needing too much explanation about it. All those little things are so so big that they touched me. And it You know, it all points to something bigger. It points to the fact that there's a sense of belonging here that I did not notice.

[00:11:59]And I want to think that is exactly what surprised me the most. That sense of belonging, that community kind of, you know, living. And this is because I came thinking I would just observe only the festivals and the culture. But what I am actually seeing is a way of life where community still has weight. Where community is something that is still, you know, valued. It might not be valued just in the big celebrations, but in the big awareness about the Can you get it?

[00:12:28]And I want to say that, honestly, it changed how I perceived or how I looked about the things that are, you know, about this country, Ghana, and its people.