Kente Festival - Heroes and Heroines Day

We traveled to the town of Kpetoe (Pet-o-way), which is the center of the Agotime (Ah-go-tea-may) Traditional Area and home to the Kente (Ken-tay) Festival .  This is one of the largest festivals in Ghana and celebrates the Ewe (A-way) culture and especially Kente weaving which is huge to this area. This area is in extreme eastern Ghana and western Togo.

The festival is four days. On Friday, we attended the Heroes and Heroines Day celebration. This celebrates those who have fought in the many wars waged in this part of Africa.

This man is from Accra, but a native
of this area.  He is a former bishop
and acted as our guide for the days
we were there with eight other senior couples.
He gave us little of the history. One of the stories is that
raiders came to the villages, but the Ewe ran away and
hid. The dogs found their masters and betrayed them to
the enemies, so dogs are no longer welcome in the Ewe
society and there are no dogs.

These people are riding to the festival. They are
dressed in red and black because those are
fighting colors.

We didn't realize it, but this day of the celebration
took place in Togo. No check point, no passport or
 Visa check - which is a good thing as none of us
had either.

Typical villages as we drove an hour on very,
very rough dirt roads.

Very friendly.

It's really right through the jungle.

If you don't have a clothesline, use a bush.

We shared the road with the pedestrians.

Carrying plantains.

One of the cash sources is cutting wood and
making charcoal.

A big truck comes by, picks up the bags of charcoal
and takes them to the city where they are sold. A lot
of people still use charcoal for cooking.

Wearing red and black, walking to the festival.

Happy people.

Some of the royalty.

More royalty.

Some of the Queen Mothers

The players go into the center of the open field and recreate
a battle, complete with firing guns.

Our guide arranged for us to be seated in a VIP
area under a canopy, which was very nice because it was
so hot. We were invited to walk across the open
area and be greeted by the chiefs. It was kind of
cool and they were very gracious. One chief gave
me a little Ghanaian finger snap as we shook
hands and said, "You are my friend."

Then the chiefs walked around the square and
said hello to everyone.

There was a little drama as a chief from a neighboring
village showed up five hours late. The Paramount Chief
of this village sent a messenger and told him that he was
five hours late and he could enter, but not as a chief.
He was angry and went home after a lot of yelling
by his supporters.

Elder Nash, of the First Quorum of Seventies,
and Sister Nash were with us.

Then the Paramount Chief of this village took
his stroll around the square. He stopped in front
of us and did a little dance as the drums were
right next to us.

Driving back to Kpetoe.

They have a clothesline.

Drying corn (maize).

Our little caravan through the jungle. Another
hour on bone jarring roads.