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.
The courtyard kitchen area of a partially enclosed compound has two hearths with cooking equipment placed around. Several low stools and a wooden chair sit among metal pots, calabashes (gourds) and other kitchen items. A mortar and a basket sit to the right. A stack of dried blocks (right, rear) suggests that an addition to the compound is planned. More blocks are stored inside the open room whose wooden door has been removed. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
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.
The New Yam Festival (Finjie Lie in Nafaanra) marks the day when people can begin to eat the new crop of yams (finyjie in Nafaanra). Here women gather round a wooden mortar to pound cooked yam tubers to make fufu. Women pound with heavy, round-ended pestles. Working together, they use their pestles to pound and turn the fufu. Pestles hit the mortar's edge as they pound, creating a rhythmic accompaniment to their work. The musical sound of women and their helpers pounding fufu or grain was an integral part of the soundscape of village life in the earlier times. To the rear (right) calabashes (gourds, chrԑ in Nafaanra) wrapped in netting are ready to be sent to market. To the front sits a pottery grinding bowl (left), a calabash (center) and metal cooking pots (right). Ahenkro, 30 August, 1982.
Young boys (Kofi and Isaac, sons of James Anane) pound calabash seeds in preparation for making calabash seed soup (fnumu chiin in Nafaanra). They use a deep wooden mortar and pestles rounded at the base. A metal roof shelters the hearth in the background. A chicken searches for food as the boys work. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Women in the central courtyard of a house compound in Ahenkro prepare the evening meal. A woman seated in the foreground readies dishes while women in the background cook over clustered hearths. A number of low stools are placed amidst a variety of metal, plastic and fired clay containers including buckets and pots. Calabash bowls (chrԑgbͻͻ in Nafaanra) are among the containers being used. A repurposed metal drum (center, back) holds water for household purposes. A raised platform is stacked with firewood brought by the women from farm and stored until needed. Thatch- and metal-roofed rooms surround the courtyard. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Metal pots; Plastic containers; Water barrels; Women's work
A man operates a diesel-powered corn mill in a roofed shed while another adjusts a grain bag nearby. He grinds grain into a plastic container resting in a headpan. Another headpan filled with maize (corn, bledju in Nafaanra) sits in front with a calabash used as a scoop sitting on top. Other plastic and metal containers sit nearby. Diesel-powered grinding mills first began to be set up in Ahenkro in the 1980s. They have become more common over the years, reducing the need for maize and other dried foodstuffs to be pounded by hand in wooden mortars. At the same time, they have expanded the need for cash income as grinding has become part and parcel of household budgets. Ahenkro, 2009.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Diesel engine; Automation; Headpans; Plastic containers; Men's work
A wooden spindle thickly wrapped with cotton thread rests in a large calabash bowl. The bowl sits on a wooden stool adjacent to the legs of blue plastic chairs on which elder women sit at a Banda Heritage Celebration held at the Banda Cultural Centre. One woman wears a strip-woven textile made with black, white, red and yellow threads. Bottom right is the basket in which she stores her spinning supplies. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution--NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Date:
2019-06-28
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Banda Cultural Centre; Cotton thread
Subjects Facet:
West African strip weaving; Gourd, Calabash; Textiles; Spinning
At a day-long celebration of the Banda area's rich cultural heritage at the Banda Cultural Centre in Banda-Ahenkro, Kuulo people from Dompofie share customs associated with their wedding celebrations. A bride and groom accompanied by two girls sit as women sing songs of praise and dance in a circle around them. A pot containing pito (locally brewed grain beer) sits in front of them. The women wear strip-woven local cloth wraps around their waists. In an opening song, the women beat rhythms with calabash gourd drinking bowls as they dance. The gourds are placed in front of the newly married couple after the first dance. After the final dance, the calabash bowls are used to catch overflowing beer poured from the pito pot, signaling that the bride was a virgin when married. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019. Length: 00:20:21 minutes.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Date:
2019-06-28
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Performance; Kuulo, Dompo (African people)
Subjects Facet:
Dance; Songs; Music; Rites and Ceremonies; Marriage customs and rites; Gourd, Calabash; West African strip weaving; Heritage
At a day-long celebration of the Banda area's rich cultural heritage at the Banda Cultural Centre in Banda-Ahenkro, Nafana people from Boase share customs associated with their wedding celebrations (Bijam). Two young women dressed as brides wear local strip woven cloth and carry walking sticks as they approach the Banda Cultural Centre, accompanied by female relatives and young girls dressed in nubility attire. After circling the event grounds, the girls are seated and the women perform a series of songs and dances accompanied by calabash drums. Men and women well-wishers toss maize kernels in the water of the calabash drums as they dance. Afterwards, the brides, covered by cloth, dance behind an elder relative as other women prepare their path by pouring water from a bucket. Afterwards, locally made grain beer (pito) is poured into a calabash, overflowing to signal that the brides were virgins at the time of their marriage.In a final dance, female relatives dance with a bowl of food, after which gifts are presented to the bride's family. Many of the women wear locally made strip-woven blue-and-white textiles as wraps. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019. Length: 00:22:01 minutes.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Date:
2019-06-28
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Performance; Nafana (African people)
Subjects Facet:
Dance; Songs; Music; Rites and Ceremonies; Marriage customs and rites; Gourd, Calabash; West African strip weaving; Drums (musical instrument); Heritage
A woman uses a calabash bowl ( chrɛgbɔɔ in Nafaanra) to form a ball of fuura. The food is made from fermented pearl millet, which is ground and mixed together with ground spices and water. The mixture is formed into balls which are boiled. Here some of the boiled, pounded dough is being shaped into a ball, which will be rolled in ground millet before serving. This dish was prepared and served at the Olden Times Food Fair held at the Banda Cultural Centre with sponsorship from Amanda L. Logan. Ahenkro, 30 July, 2014.
A woman uses her hand to mix water into a flour made from ground dawadawa (Parkia biglobosa) beans and cassava flour held in a calabash bowl (chrɛgbɔɔ in Nafaanra). The moistened mixture will be steamed in a pot to make wehan. The cooked cake is eaten with a sauce made from shea oil, pepper, garden eggs and salt. This dish was prepared and served at the Olden Times Food Fair held at the Banda Cultural Centre with sponsorship from Amanda L. Logan. Ahenkro, 31 July, 2014.
Two textiles made from handwoven cotton strips rest on an aluminum tray, together with a spindle wrapped with locally made cotton thread, next to which is some unspun fluffed cotton. This blue-and-white cloth design is known as Mmɔlɔ Kyara. Visible at the top of the image are two baskets in which women keep their spinning equipment. To the right, a calabash ladle rests inside a calabash bowl (chrԑgbͻͻ in Nafaanra). These heirloom objects were among displays at a Heritage Day and Olden Times Food Fair held at the Banda Cultural Centre with sponsorship by Dr. Amanda L. Logan. Ahenkro, 31 July, 2014.
Two textiles made from handwoven cotton strips rest on an aluminum tray, together with a spindle wrapped with locally made cotton thread, next to which is some unspun fluffed cotton. This blue-and-white cloth design is known as Mmɔlɔ Kyara. Visible at the top of the image are two baskets in which women keep their spinning equipment. To the right, a calabash ladle rests inside a calabash bowl (chrԑgbͻͻ in Nafaanra). These heirloom objects were among displays at a Heritage Day and Olden Times Food Fair held at the Banda Cultural Centre with sponsorship by Dr. Amanda L. Logan. Ahenkro, 31 July, 2014.
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.
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