Pausing my hobby to pacify the gods for a month
Imagine having to pause a hobby you love doing so much for a whole month. How you feel is exactly what I am going through till the end of the “ban on noise making” in Teshie in preparation for the Homowo festival. Music to me is life. Loud music is all I need to have a sound mind and be at peace with myself. I wake up to loud music and sleep with loud music because it’s my haven. I moved to Teshie just a week before the ban. All the noise I could make was during the week I moved because I wouldn’t be able to make noise till after the festival. The “ban on noise making” is a sacred event during the festival to observe silence and solemn mood to pray to the ancestors for a bumper harvest. It is more or less like a fasting period as observed by Christians. The wulɔmɛi (the fetish priest) leads in this. During this period, anything that produces noise is prohibited. You will hear kpãashimɔ songs (cultural songs) during this time. It is believed that it is used to praise the ancestors ...