Tuesday,Benada Dapaa(holy Tuesday), is the
sacred day for the celebration of Ohum and the
remembrance of the ancestors. The day is marked
by a certain creed and several activities.
Everybody wears dark garments. There are prohi-
bitions on splitting firewood, pounding of fufu,
fighting, arguments, and crying (including
infants).Earlyinthemorning,thewomenfolkand
children take wooden chairs, stools, mortar, silver
andcopperbowls,andotheritemstotheriversto
cleanse and polish them. Everybody (including
infants)isrequiredtobatheinthemorningbefore
eating.Theeldersmakefires,gatheraroundthem,
and pour libation; after that, they go from house
to house to pay homage to other elders. By mid-
morning,etoisprepared.Theelderssprinklesome
of the eto on the courtyard and in front of their
houses.Someoftheetoisalsoputintwoearthen-
ware containers, one female and one male, and
placed in a room for the ancestors to come and
eat. At dusk, the king asks the divine drummer to
beatthesacreddrumstosignifytheendofOhum,
aswellastowelcometheNewYear.Inthepast,a
whitebird,presumablyadove,wouldcomeoutof
Mount Obootabri near Koforidua and fly over
Tafo. After this proclamation, families may then
mourn their departed members.
Awukudae(Sacred Wednesday) is a sacred day
set asidefor thecleansingof thenkodwafieso(the
stool house), paying of homage, and propitiation
of the spirits of the royal ancestors. This allows
the king and the elders to win the favor of
the ancestors and Onyame (God) in order to be
blessed with prosperity and abundant harvest in
the year. This is also a day for giving gifts to the
kings, and for public pageantry, merrymaking,
and durbar. Ohum Awukudae is first marked by
the sounds ofbomaaandatumpan(war drums).
The elders and the king gather at the stool house
andenterthestoolroomwithamalewhitesheep.
They invoke the spirits of the royal ancestors and
perform a long libation to cleanse and purify the
ancestral house of kings, as well as ask for the
protection and blessing of the king and citizenry.
Apriestessorpriestmayalsoenterthestoolhouse
to greet the king and the elders while the drum-
mers play mpintin drums. To this end, the white
sheep is sacrificed and brought out to the court-
yard to prepare food for the royal ancestors.
Subsequently, the king is in his full regalia to
receive greetings and gifts. Schoolchildren carrying
firewoodlineupwiththeirteachers,marchpastthe
kinginaprocession,anddroptheirfirewoodinthe
palace. Next in line are traders, market women
withtheirwares(suchastubersofyam,vegetables,
and eggs), and other public dignitaries who give
gifts such as white sheep. The king in turn gives
giftsforgoodcitizenship.
By mid-afternoon, some of the ahenemma run
aroundthetownthreetimeswithwardrumbeats,
chants, and merekenson on their shoulders.After
the third round, they walk in a straight line
towardthepalacesingingsombersongsaboutthe
fallen ancestors in wars. They carry with them
sradee (rich soil symbolizing riches) and drop
some sequentially on sheepskins in front of
thekingandelders,whoareseatedinfrontofthe
palace. Subsequently, they go and place the
merekenson under the Ohumdua; this observance
symbolizesthecleansingoffilth,evilness,anddis-
eases from the town and Akyem state.
Thursday is the day that Gyemperem Osofo
(Deacon of Gyemperem shrine) goes to the farm,
prays, and harvests the first tuber of yam of the
year, which he will boil to prepare eto for Kofi
Gyemperem, a powerful river god, the next day.Ohum and the Oracle of Kofi Gyemperem
Critical to Ohum is the solemn procession to the
Oracle of River Kofi Gyemperem on Friday. Kofi
GyemperemfortifiesTafoman(Tafoterritory)and
the larger Okyemen (Akyem state).Gyemperem
literally means one who takes in bullets, thunder,
and canons without wounds. During wars, Kofi
Gyemperemspirituallyleadsandprotectsthemili-
tia;sometimeshetransformshimselfintoahuman
being to lead them to victory. Today, the saying is
that no native of Tafo dies in battlefields. During
the second imperialist war (World War II), for
instance,allTafocitizensreturnedfromAbyssinia
and Burma unharmed.
OntheOhumFriday,theking,precededbycer-
tain divisional kings, drummers, priestesses,
elders, and stool bearers, amid the playing of war
drums, walks in a solemn procession across River
Afua Taako to the Oracle of Kofi Gyemperem.
Thekingridesinapalanquinwearingawhitegar-
ment with a colorful big umbrella over his head.
The priestesses, wearing white clothes, enter theOhum Festival 485