Family history interview with Elders of Loobia Katoo dressed in customary attire for the Yualie Festival celebrated at the harvest time for sorghum and millet. Loobia Katoo supplies the custodian of the Jafun shrine to which offerings are made during the Yualie Festival. The family brought the shrine to Banda from Senyon (Northern Region) during the time of Dabla, paramount chief of Banda. In the background (left) calabash (gourd) bowls (chrԑgbͻͻ in Nafaanra) are set out to dry. Left: custodian of the Jafun shrine, Kwadwo Kamiekunu (Jafun Bͻͻnyiifun); right: Amman Nyiimor (female head), 24 July, 1986.
Banda Research Project team members wearing blue shirts with the "Unity" logo and dresses embroidered in blue process down Ahenkro's main street from the Paramount Chief's palace to the Banda Cultural Centre for the centre's commissioning ceremony. Ann B. Stahl-- just enstooled as an honorary Queen Mother by the Banda Traditional Council under the stool name Lelɛɛ Yadwo Gongo II--is carried in a palanquin lined with kente cloth and shaded by one of the chief's royal umbrellas. A woman in local-made strip woven cloth stands left, with Binghamton University MA student Alex Caton wearing local dress to her right. To her right in blue-embroidered dresses are project team members Doris Millah and Doris Mensah. Visible in the background are the thatched and iron roofs of houses lining Banda-Ahenrko's main street. Ahenkro, 21 July, 1995.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Queen Mother; Banda Cultural Centre; Umbrella; Palanquin; Banda Research Project
Subjects Facet:
Rites and ceremonies; West African strip weaving; Thatched roofs; Metal roofing; Textiles; Clothing; Kente cloth; Litters (vehicles); Royal regalia
The glass beads considered sacred and used in the puberty (Manaa Ndiom) and marriage (Bijam) rites of Nafana women are stored within a calabash bowl, its lid lying next to it. Most of the beads are imported varieties typical of those that circulated in the Atlantic trade period. On top of two other lidded calabash bowls rests a pair of iron manacles or shackles which are included among ritual paraphernalia. Ahenkro, July 1995.
Men associated with the Kralɔngɔ Royal Palace perform a Nafana version of Kete during a heritage celebration organized by the Banda Heritage Initiative. Several men play flutes and brass rattles that oral histories say were captured from Kulango people. They are accompanied by men playing drums and (left) an iron gong. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.
Nafana women play calabash rattles as they sing songs associated with customary puberty and marriage celebrations at a heritage celebration organized by the Banda Heritage Initiative. Two women from Ahenkro are joined (left) by District Chief Executive Mary Komeh (white blouse). Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.
A Nafana hunter from Fawoman performs a hunter's dance at a heritage celebration organized by the Banda Heritage Initiative. Crouched in front of a pot that was smashed in an earlier dance, he clenches a bundle of leaves in his teeth as he assumes an animal's posture. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.
Nafana men from Fawoman perform a hunter's dance at a heritage celebration organized by the Banda Heritage Initiative. Crouched on the ground, the men enact the process of tracking an animal as women sing and men drum in the background. The man in the front holds a gun. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.
During a performance of songs and dances associated with puberty (Manaa Ndiom) and marriage (Bijam) celebrations as practiced in Boase, elder Afua Gyakari holds a microphone as she sings surrounded by other elders, including Boase chief Tolԑԑ Ligbi Wulotei (wearing a black-and-gold cap). Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.
Women from Boase sit together under a canopy at a heritage celebration organized by the Banda Heritage Initiative. Young women dressed in attire associated with marriage (Bijam) and puberty (Manaa Ndiom) celebrations are seated in the center. To the left are three large calabashes filled with water on which the women will float smaller calabash bowls. These are used as drums to accompany songs sung during marriage and puberty celebrations. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.
Heritage; Community event; Drums (musical instrument); Rites and ceremonies; Nafana (African people); Gourd, Calabash; Puberty rites; Marriage customs and rites
Kuulo women from Dompofie sing songs associated with Kuulo marriage celebrations at a heritage celebration organized by the Banda Heritage Initiative. They wear local strip-woven wraps as skirts and hold microphones as they sing. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.