Seraphine's food for thought
The Hogbetsotso festival (pronounced Hogbechocho) is celebrated by the people of Anlo in the Volta Region of Ghana, where I come from. The Anlo is a group of people from a tribe on the eastern coast of Ghana. Towns include Anloga (capital), Keta, Kedzi, Vodza, Whuti, Srogboe, Tegbi, Dzita, Abor, Afiadenyigba, Anyako, Konu, Alakple, Atsito , Atiavi, Deʋegodo, Atorkor, Tsiame, and many other villages.
The festival is celebrated annually on the first Saturday in November at Anloga, the customary and ritual capital of Anlo state. The name is derived from the Ewe language and translates as "The Festival of Exodus", or "Coming from Hogbe (Notsie)". It was instituted about four decades ago and is celebrated yearly as a sign of freedom and escaping from living under a wicked king Togbe Agorkoli.
To escape his tyrannical rule, they had to create a hole in the mud wall that surrounded their town. They achieved this by instructing the women to pour all their wastewater on one particular place in the wall. Over time the spot became soft, allowing the townspeople to break through the wall and escape. Tradition also holds that to avoid pursuit and make good their escape, they walked backward with their faces towards the town so that their footprints appeared to be going into the town.
The Arts Center known as Center for National Culture is a market area where to find arts and crafts. It is situated next to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park where the Kwame Nkrumah mausoleum is in memory of our first President.
