This weekend I added two more regions of Ghana to the four that I have already seen (Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta and Central Regions), meaning that now I have been to six regions out of all the ten!!!
Now I`m going to write about my experience in the Western Region, where last week the people celebrated the famous Kundum Festival. This traditional festival is celebrated by the chiefs and the people of the region: starting in Takorade, which is the capital of the region, and then followed by town to town – every week it`s celebrated in different towns and villages.
The core part of the festival is the special Kundum dance, when people dance around and around to the beats of the drums played in the middle of the circle. Earlier it used to be also a time to show off with beautiful dresses, although today most of the people don`t wear their traditional dresses any more for the festival.
Well, we spent two days here, in the Western Region, during which I could get a taste of the festival: I got to experience the drumming and dancing both in the evening and early in the morning. I didn`t see too many people in traditional dresses, instead some of them were wearing crazier and crazier outfits: some people had white paintings on their faces, while others were wearing strange helmets. Some of them where dancing around with children sitting on their children, others had whistles to provide some additional beat to the drums. Although first I felt more like an outsider trying to take pictures of this extraordinary event, soon I found myself between some of the people of the village, moving around the circle too and trying to imitate their dance. It was really a lot of fun, although again, I couldn`t really avoid getting into the center of the attention – it seems my skin was glowing too much in the dark… :)
Anyway, I think pictures can tell you more details than words, so here are some shots taken at Kundum Festival:
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