Tue, Tue
Transcript: In Ghana, the Ga people call the celebration the "Homowo", or the "To Hoot at Hunger" festival. According to legend, their ancestors nearly starved as they migrated to Ghana. They saved each other by being unselfish and helpful. Upon reaching their destination, they planted crops, and when the harvest came, they made fun of their old conditions by dancing, singing, and drumming. In Nigeria and Ghana Tue, tue, barima tue, tue. Tue, tue, barima, tue, tue. Abofra ba, Ama dawa dawa tue, tue. Abofra ba, Ama dawa dawa tue, tue. Barima tue, tue. Barima tue, tue. The New Yam Festival of West Africa Tue, Tue If you have ever eaten yams at Thanksgiving, you have shared a tiny bit of what the New Yam Festival is like in West Africa. The Festival is all about giving thanks to the good spirits for the new crop of yams--the most fundamental, life-supporting crop in the region--and asking the spirits for abundant rain and good crops in the year ahead. Drums are the mot important instrument in these festivals. Some are made from hollowed out calabash gourds cut in half and covered in skins. Some are made from tree trunks or carefully pieced finished wood, also covered with skins. In Nigeria, there are drums called "udu" which are made of clay pots. We are thankful for our harvest. Do you want to go on down to Ghana? Do you want to come? We will sing this happy song as we travel. Nigeria and Ghana Women traditionally dig up the yams and carry them home in baskets on their heads. The women and girls cook the yams and a young boy is chosen to carry the best yams to the festival dinner. He is followed by another boy playing a drum. Chiefs wearing kente cloth usually follow closely behind the yams. As village children hear the drum, they run from their homes to join in the parade. The New Yam festival is celebrated in most yam-growing areas of West Africa. The date is set in each community to coincide with the first yam harvest. Though customs vary from village to village, most celebrations include a family reunion. There is plenty to eat for everyone and plenty left over. There are so many yams prepared that the poor are fed, too, and nobody is left out. It is a time for feasting, singing, dancing, drumming, remembering ancestors, giving thanks for the harvest and asking for help in the coming planting season. There are many more details to each of these celebrations, and many more celebrations, each with different characteristics, all as different as the communities and people of West Africa. Hopefully these examples give you a taste for how important yams are to the people of West Africa. Maybe you will even think of them when you eat your Thanksgiving dinner this year! In Nigeria, the Yoruba people call the festival "Eje" and hold two days of fancy ceremonies. In one ceremony, a new yam is cut in half. The two pieces are tossed into the air. If they land one face up and one face down, happy times are predicted for the community. If they both land the same, bad times may lie ahead instead. The "yams" that are usually eaten in the USA are really sweet potatoes that are much smaller than the yams from West Africa, whose roots can be over two feet long! A good-sized West African yam can feed a family of ten people! Though yams can be prepared in many ways, the traditional dish is boiled, mashed yams with a little butter. It is called "fufu", and is often eaten in the traditional way--WITH YOUR HANDS!
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